County Legislature should back Tobacco 21
When I was in high school, cigarettes were cheap, easily available, and considered cool. People smoked all around us, in restaurants, at home, in the movies and on TV, in magazine ads and even in school. The adverse health consequences remain a substantial burden on our health care system, even though a lot has changed over the last 30 years. In New York State, cigarette use rates between 2000 and 2016 dropped among adults from 22 percent to 14 percent and from 27 percent to 4.3 percent for high school students. It’s not surprising that very few, if any, of my pediatric patients answer yes when asked if they smoke cigarettes.
To understand my patients better, I recently asked a friend’s son about vaping which I heard was increasingly popular among kids. Our 45-minute conversation opened my eyes to the prolific use of e-cigarettes (electronic cigarettes) in high schools and colleges. In fact, a recent survey found that one in five NYS high school students has ever smoked an e-cigarette. Their use is so popular and increas- ing so quickly that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration just recently identified youth use of e-cigarettes as an epidemic. There were more than two million middle school and high school students using e-cigarettes in 2017. E-cigarettes are reversing the gains society has made to nearly eliminate youth tobacco use.
Since e- cigarettes are still new, we are only beginning to understand the many ways they harm health, but we do know that they are not safe. The likelihood of addiction to nicotine increases the earlier a person starts using any nicotine-containing products. In fact, nine out of 10 tobacco- dependent adults began using before age 18. Each day, more than 3,200 people younger than 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette in the United States. And now ecigarettes such as JUUL, which contain high levels of nicotine, are addicting young people, increasing their risk for both future use of traditional cigarettes and a lifetime of nicotine addiction.
As a pediatrician and parent, I want to support strategies that will successfully get us back on track to eliminate the public health burden placed on us by tobacco. What has proven to work is making all nicotine- containing products less available, less accessible, and less attractive to young people.
Evidence-based strategies include increasing tobacco taxes; promoting clean indoor and outdoor air policies; changing the social norms regarding smoking; and increasing the legal age for the sale of tobacco products. An 18-year- old peer, sibling, or fellow high school student is typically more accessible to a young teen than a 21-year- old. Also, NYS has “under 21” clearly indicated on driver’s licenses so vendors would have a simplified screening process by raising the legal age for the sale of tobacco from 18 to 21. The Rensselaer County Legislature should vote ‘ yes’ on Tobacco 21 to make it more difficult for youth to obtain these products and regain the strides we have made to reduce youth tobacco and e- cigarette use.