Increasing the minimum age to buy cigarettes to 21 could help decrease the prevalence of tobacco use and save lives, a recent study showed.
The policy changes could significantly delay, or even prevent, tobacco use, the National Academy of Sciences reported. The impacts would likely be most beneficial to individuals between the ages of 15 and 17. New York City and several other locations around the country have already raised the minimum age to purchase to 21.
The researchers pointed out that most 15 to 17-year-olds obtain tobacco products from social sources, so raising the minimum age of legal access (MLA) to 21 as opposed to 19 would significantly reduce these sources among this age group.
"While the development of some cognitive abilities is achieved by age 16, the parts of the brain most responsible for decision making, impulse control, and peer susceptibility and conformity continue to develop until about age 25," said committee chair Richard J. Bonnie, Harrison Foundation Professor of Medicine and Law and director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Out of people surveyed who have been daily smokers, 90 percent tried their first cigarettes before the age of 19, and almost all were introduced before the age of 26. This suggests that if a person does not become a regular tobacco user before the age of 26, then they are unlikely to become one at any point.
"By assessing the public health implications of raising the minimum age for accessing tobacco products, this report aims to provide the scientific guidance that states and localities need when evaluating new policies to achieve the ultimate goal - the reduction and eventual elimination of tobacco use by children and youth," said Victor Dzau, president of the Institute of Medicine.
The findings were published in a new report from the Institute of Medicine.
