PD Editorial: Lowering health costs by raising the smoking age

Governors commonly include a message when signing or vetoing significant legislation. But Gov. Jerry Brown gave no explanation on Wednesday when he approved a bill raising the legal age to buy tobacco for smoking and vaping in California from 18 to 21.

He didn’t need to. The need for this change is evident.

Studies show that more than two-thirds of smokers had their first cigarette before their 18th birthday. According to the Institute of Medicine, 90 percent of daily smokers began using tobacco before turning 19. So the idea is simple. Cut down on the number of adolescents who start smoking and you cut down on the number of people who develop health problems later on life - problems associated with chronic smoking. More than reducing medical costs, this is legislation that will save lives.

And the evidence supports this idea. More than a decade ago, the city of Needham, Mass. was one of the first communities to raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 21. A study published last summer found that, as a result, the number of teens in Needham who smoked had declined from 13 percent to 7 percent.

More than 100 jurisdictions have since raised the legal age to buy tobacco products to 21, including San Francisco, Santa Clara County and Healdsburg, although some, including Healdsburg, backed down after receiving threats of legal action from tobacco companies.

With California now joining Hawaii in adopting a uniform age restriction of 21, that threat should now be eliminated. It also undermines the argument that raising the age will put merchants at a disadvantage as, before, young consumers could simply go to the next community to buy cigarettes.

Brown also signed four other tobacco-related bills, including one that will re-classify e-cigarettes as tobacco products, making them subject to the same restrictions as cigarettes.

He also signed legislation that will make a crime to sell tobacco to anyone under 21, although there will be an exemption for active military personnel.

The reclassification of e-cigarettes was particularly needed.

In the absence of any real regulation, the use of e-cigarettes has taken off, particularly among young people. It is now a $3.4 billion industry, and these devices are now the most commonly used tobacco products for those under the age of 18.

But that may change.

On Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration introduced a host of new steps to crack down on the use of e-cigarettes as well as cigars, pipe tobacco and hookah tobacco - all products that have been growing in popularity among youthful consumers.

California’s law will take effect on June 9 while the new federal rules will take effect about 60 days after that.

For those tobacco companies and merchants who complain that this is just going to make it harder on them to do business, we can only offer this: We hope so.