NY Proposes Raising Smoking Age - 3 views

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  #2 Sophia Ellingson on 12 Jun 13

   

  one part of this article that stuck out to me was the idea that raising the legal age at which you could buy cigarettes to 21 "...could cut the smoking rate for 18 to 20-year-olds by 55 percent and decease the smoking rate for 14 to 17-year-olds by 67 percent, NY1 reported." I honestly don't think these percentages are accurately predicted, because they are such large numbers and the true statistics of underage smokers can be hard to portray.
  
  Overall, I think this proposal, while definitely motivated with essential and important goals, might be taking on too much too soon. what I mean by this is that perhaps instead of changing the legal age to 21, New York should first try out 19 or 20 like in Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah. This would still put a slightly stricter law in place, but give people time to adjust.
  
  Also, as kids of binge valley, we know that just because the law may technically prohibit one from partaking in a certain behavior, such as smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, that doesn't neccessarily stop the problem and for the most part such behaviors still go on regardless of age. Because of this I think that New York's campaign to raise the age for smokers should be a little more tactful in their approach to the subject.

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">one part of this article that stuck out to me was the idea that raising the legal age at which you could buy cigarettes to 21 "...could cut the smoking rate for 18 to 20-year-olds by 55 percent and decease the smoking rate for 14 to 17-year-olds by 67 percent, NY1 reported." I honestly don't think these percentages are accurately predicted, because they are such large numbers and the true statistics of underage smokers can be hard to portray. <br /> <br /> Overall, I think this proposal, while definitely motivated with essential and important goals, might be taking on too much too soon. what I mean by this is that perhaps instead of changing the legal age to 21, New York should first try out 19 or 20 like in Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah. This would still put a slightly stricter law in place, but give people time to adjust. <br /> <br /> Also, as kids of binge valley, we know that just because the law may technically prohibit one from partaking in a certain behavior, such as smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, that doesn't neccessarily stop the problem and for the most part such behaviors still go on regardless of age. Because of this I think that New York's campaign to raise the age for smokers should be a little more tactful in their approach to the subject.</div>

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