Gov. Holcomb is calling for raising the age to purchase tobacco and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21 and enhancing enforcement to prevent underage buyers as a part of his 2020 Next Level agenda.

Indiana has a higher than the national average rate of high school smoking, and an above average rate of adult smoking as well. An estimated 151,000 children now under the age of 18 will eventually die prematurely due to smoking, with 3,700 children becoming daily smokers each year. The result is an annual health care cost of $2.93 billion that is directly caused by smoking, and another $3.17 billion in lost productivity. The state spends only 12.1% of the CDC recommended amount on tobacco prevention.  

On average, U.S. youth try cigarettes for the first time at age 13.7.
The primary source of tobacco products for underage smokers are their 18 to 20 year old peers.
Because 80 percent of high schoolers turn 18 before they graduate, youth have easy access to tobacco  through their peers.

When properly enforced, Tobacco 21 laws disrupt the social availability of cigarettes and other tobacco products to young people. Since the adolescent brain is not fully developed until the early twenties, preventative measures to keep Nicotine away from young minds is one of the best tools for long term success.

“Tobacco 21 works by putting the legal purchasers outside the social circles of most high school students, making it more difficult for 15 to 17 year-olds to pass as legal purchasers or have legal purchasers as a friend.” -Rob Crane, MD President Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation 

To find out more about Tobacco 21 laws go to tobacco21.org