Don't raise the smoking age

The implementation of age restrictions for vices like drinking and smoking is a societal necessity.

But societal necessity or no, the argument of how old somebody must be before they can legally buy a beer or a pack of cigarettes will likely volleyball back and forth for as long as people drink and smoke.

New York City will, in all likelihood, have a new law raising the minimum age to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21. As a non-smoker and a non-resident of New York City, this issue doesn’t affect me directly.

But this law affects anyone who, like me, sees no use in taking an already glorified and adult-associated behavior and placing it on a taller pedestal.

A driving force behind underage drinking and smoking culture is the fact that people — especially youths — inherently want to engage in activities in which they aren’t
allowed to partake.

I didn’t drink before I was 21 because I enjoyed the taste of alcohol or because I thought it would better my life. I drank because my older friends did and I thought they were cool.

I don’t regret this. I think it’s a rite of passage for any teenager to rebel a bit, as long as they remain smart and safe.

But teenagers develop this mentality because we glorify alcohol and tobacco by putting it on the highest shelf and wagging a disapproving finger at them.

This is why 4,000 people younger than 18 will try their first cigarette today, and why one-fourth of those minors will continue the habit every day.

We’re afraid to educate and instead choose to restrict and shelter children from what we deem bad for them.

Whether New York City legally restricts a larger group of young people from purchasing cigarettes, those adolescents who want to smoke will find a way to do so.

Let’s allocate our resources to educating teenagers on the dangers of smoking and let them make their own choices on the matter.

Laws that just make the pedestal taller treat the instantaneous symptoms and not the ongoing problem.

­— wdmcdona@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Dane McDonald on Twitter @W_DaneMcDonald.