Should the Legal Use Age of Tobacco Be Raised Essay Example
Should the legal use age of tobacco be raised?
The use of tobacco has become a custom in the American lifestyle. The number of people that use and/or are addicted to nicotine is at an all time high and the number of teenagers that use it is growing even greater. So knowing these facts the question has started to arise, should the legal use age of tobacco be raised? Throughout this paper we will discuss what the pros and cons would be if the legal use age were to be raised.
The pros of this happening are very upfront in most cases. If the smoking age were raised from 18 to 19 it would greatly affect our high schools with kids getting and becoming addicted to tobacco. In high school teenagers that are 18 will offer a small fee to go get a minor tobacco after or during school. With the average age of high school seniors being 18 there is no way to catch this besides for school personnel to see it. If the age were raised to 19 years old it would lower the number of seniors that are able to go out and buy it, which will make it harder to get. Also just having access to buy them while still in high school makes the urge to buy them, grow more. A lot of your peers in high school pick up on habits easily and if you see somebody smoking that could influence you and also influence the lower grades to try smoking and easily get them addicted.
Starting to smoke at such a young age has been proven to be more addictive than starting it later in your adult years. A study done found that “more than a third of all kids who ever try smoking a cigarette become regular, daily smokers before leaving high school.”1 Clearly the issue of high school students smoking is a big issue to tackle and it is only growing. Another study found that “every day more than 3,500 kids under 18 try smoking for the first time, and about 1,000 other kids who have already experimented with cigarettes become new regular daily smokers.”2 So if we were to raise the legal age this would make it harder for
The use of tobacco has become a custom in the American lifestyle. The number of people that use and/or are addicted to nicotine is at an all time high and the number of teenagers that use it is growing even greater. So knowing these facts the question has started to arise, should the legal use age of tobacco be raised? Throughout this paper we will discuss what the pros and cons would be if the legal use age were to be raised.
The pros of this happening are very upfront in most cases. If the smoking age were raised from 18 to 19 it would greatly affect our high schools with kids getting and becoming addicted to tobacco. In high school teenagers that are 18 will offer a small fee to go get a minor tobacco after or during school. With the average age of high school seniors being 18 there is no way to catch this besides for school personnel to see it. If the age were raised to 19 years old it would lower the number of seniors that are able to go out and buy it, which will make it harder to get. Also just having access to buy them while still in high school makes the urge to buy them, grow more. A lot of your peers in high school pick up on habits easily and if you see somebody smoking that could influence you and also influence the lower grades to try smoking and easily get them addicted.
Starting to smoke at such a young age has been proven to be more addictive than starting it later in your adult years. A study done found that “more than a third of all kids who ever try smoking a cigarette become regular, daily smokers before leaving high school.”1 Clearly the issue of high school students smoking is a big issue to tackle and it is only growing. Another study found that “every day more than 3,500 kids under 18 try smoking for the first time, and about 1,000 other kids who have already experimented with cigarettes become new regular daily smokers.”2 So if we were to raise the legal age this would make it harder for