The state of Hawaii is seriously considering joining NYC and a few other localities here and there in raising the tobacco smoking age to 21. We at Twenty-One Debunked have already discussed in previous posts why we oppose raising the smoking age any higher than 18, just like we support lowering the drinking age to 18 and legalizing cannabis for everyone 18 and older as well. Old enough to fight and vote = old enough to drink and smoke. 'Nuff said.
That said, if alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis were all currently legal for everyone 18 and older, and we had to pick ONE of them to ban (or raise the age limit to 21), I would nonetheless pick tobacco hands-down since it is the least useful and most harmful of the three. It kills more people than all other drugs combined, and there are essentially no significant health benefits to cigarettes that cannot also be had by other means. With perhaps some very rare exceptions, the risks of smoking tobacco far outweigh any possible benefits. Unlike alcohol and cannabis, tobacco (at least in the form of traditional cigarettes) is typically not a recreational drug so much as it is an extremely addictive poison, and the only product that kills half of those who buy it. And in terms of environmental destruction, pollution, and wasting resources, the other two substances don't even come close.
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It would be a great shame if Hawaii raised the smoking age to 21. The smoking age in every part of the United States should be 18-19. New York City, Columbia, Missouri and many towns in Massachusetts have an ageist minimum age for smoking tobacco. Congress should pass a bill which would ban tobacco companies from putting in chemicals into cigarettes. That bill should also ban the use of some pesticides in the production of tobacco. The nicotine limit should be reduced; as said in a previous article here. If such a law was passed, then cigarettes would be less harmful for people who smoke them. Elected officials should stop trying to take away the rights of young adults.
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