Saving this Generation

714 Words2 Pages

Smoking has become a huge health issue in America. Every year, Utah spends $345 million alone in health care costs related to tobacco use. Some states have been debating raising the smoking age to 21; not only would this cut down on the number of smokers in the 18-21 age rage but it would also reduce under-age smokers. Many states are on the fence on whether or not to raise the age, but doing so would save the lives of thousands. Raising the age would not be the perfect solution to keeping all young adults away from cigarettes, but it could keep generations from throwing their lives away.
Most smokers try their first cigarette at age 11. When an 11 year-old tries one cigarette it seems like not much of a big deal, not good but one isn’t the end of the world. You would think they hate it and would never go back but in every cigarette there is enough nicotine to get someone addicted. A person will inhale 1 to 2 milligrams of nicotine from each cigarette which is just enough to start an addiction. This means that a 5th grader could be addicted to cigarettes for the rest of their lives. Out of every 3 young smokers only one will quit, and one of the remaining will die from a tobacco related disease. This means that out of every three smokers under 21, one will die. 90% of smokers bergin before 21 so that means that 30% of all smokers will die.The Surgeon General reported that 90% of all smokers started smoking before the age of 18. America needs a way to keep teens from cigarettes and one way to fix it is to keep the legal age a little further out of reach. If the age was pushed then it would be much more of a challenge for teens to get cigarettes resulting in less smokers by the age of 21. At 20, experimental smokers become regular ...

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...smokers down. With so many regulations, the numbers of smokers and packs sold must go down and hopefully so will the number of tobacco related deaths.
Many states want to raise the smoking age to 21 to help lower the number of smokers in America. The age needs to be raised in order to help keep young adults away from cigarettes. Smokers become regular smokers aroung the age of 20 so this law will keep many from addiction. Raising the age will also keep many under-age smokers away from tobacco. Also, new laws will make it nearly impossible for people under 21 to obtain cigarettes. Many people think it is unfair to raise the age when 18 year-olds cand serve our country. However, do we want them to also have them risk their lives by smoking? Every cigarette smoked shortens your life by 11 minutes so we need to pass this law before 11 minutes is just a drop in a bucket.

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