March 13, 2019 — By American-Statesman Editorial Board — If a specific threat to public health was responsible for the deaths of 28,000 Texans each year, killing more people than car accidents, murders, suicides and illegal drug use combined, we would expect our lawmakers to do something about it. Especially when that threat also targets teenagers.
The danger comes in the form of cigarettes and candy-flavored e-cigarettes, which remain legal despite the well-documented dangers of smoking and nicotine addiction. We urge the Legislature to protect the most susceptible users, and curb some of the costs that smoking imposes on taxpayers, by raising the age to buy tobacco or vaping products from 18 to 21.
The aptly numbered Senate Bill 21 by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, with companion House Bill 749 by Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, would follow the lead of San Antonio and a half a dozen states that have set 21 as the minimum age to buy these products (though people currently over 18 would be grandfathered in). The rationale for this measure, one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s 30 priority bills, is grounded in scientific fact: With brain development continuing into the early 20s, young people are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of these products — and more prone to getting hooked on highly addictive nicotine.
An estimated 95 percent of smokers started their habit before turning 21. While teen use of cigarettes has been declining thanks to greater awareness of the health dangers, sales of e-cigarettes have shot up 75 percent among high schoolers and 50 percent among middle schoolers over the past two years, prompting Surgeon General Jerome Adams to warn last December that the U.S. faces a youth vaping epidemic.
The nicotine-infused vapor in e-cigarettes can hinder brain development and damage respiratory health. Plus, people who use e-cigarettes are at greater risk of developing a regular cigarette habit, which over time doubles or even quadruples a person’s chance of developing heart disease and makes a person 25 times more likely to develop lung cancer.
The annual health care costs in Texas directly related to smoking top $8.85 billion, and even nonsmokers shoulder some of that bill. Smoking-related illnesses cost taxpayer-funded Medicaid nearly $2 billion a year in Texas, and the state and federal taxes that pay for smoking-related expenses average $747 a year per Texas household.
Raising the age to buy cigarettes and e-cigarettes won’t prevent all underage smoking, but it will make it harder for teens to get hooked on a product that costs us all in the long run. Lawmakers should approve SB 21.
