A new strategy in the fight to reduce smoking
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Most public-health controversies follow a standard political script. The left fights to protect us from toxic corporate interests (Big Tobacco, Big Sugar and the like), while the right fights to protect us from Nanny State intrusions on individual freedom. But some health threats are clear enough to bridge the divide. Smoking may be one of them.
This week two Western states—bluish Colorado and deep-red Utah—embraced a strategy straight out of the People’s Republic of New York City. Lawmakers in both states voted up bipartisan proposals to raise the legal smoking age to 21. If these bills become law, they could open a new frontier in the national effort to shield teens from a demonstrably lethal addiction.
Most states allow retailers to sell tobacco to anyone 18 or older. But four states (Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah) have raised the legal age to 19, and three local governments (New York City, Needham, Mass., and Hawaii County, Hawaii) have pushed it to 21.
Utah and Colorado would be the first entire states to raise the smoking age to match the drinking age, but they probably won’t be the last. Lawmakers in Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Jersey are all considering statewide “Tobacco 21” bills as well.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/new-way-fight-big-tobacco
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