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Changing smoking age to 21 could slow future smoking generations

Posted at 10:24 PM, Apr 30, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-01 14:03:12-04

Raising the age of cigarette purchasing from 18 to 21 could have massive impacts on youth smoking. 

"This would be the number one thing I would do in New York state," Roswell Park Health Behavior Chair Dr. Andrew Hyland said. 

According to Hyland, if the age were to go up three years, the number of young smokers would decrease. 

"If you raise the age from 18 to 21 we're going to see 25% fewer kids becoming cigarette smokers" Hyland said. 

There would be less smokers due to the fact that 18 year old brains are still in development. Hyland says it would be unlikely for someone to just start smoking at 21 as opposed to 18 or 19. 

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