Essay on Raising of Age to Purchase Cigarettes in the State of Minnesota

A number of state laws are enacted but are unable to be implemented fully because some of them are not effective or the policy makers do not enact the effective implementation strategies as well. There are many laws limiting the youths from engaging in drug abuse and other immoral acts across all the states in America; however, it is not easy to deny the possibility that the youths till gain access to the illegal drug substances despite the laws being available. Therefore, no matter how much the laws may be enacted to bar the youths from using illegal drug substances, it is not possible to prevent them from obtaining the drugs. The current discussion about raising the age limit through which the youths can start to access the cigarettes in Minnesota is almost impossible to implement at 100% rate because these teenagers may still access the cigarettes through the social sources. This paper will examine the argument about Minnesota raising the age limit to access cigarettes from 18 years to 21 years.

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The discussion to raise the age of accessing cigarettes and other illegal drug substances among the youths in the United States had started almost two decades ago (Clark et al. 729). Although a number of states have tried to implement the laws to bar the youths below the 21 years from accessing the cigarettes, but the implementation has been a challenge because the laws do not look after every youth across all the states in America. As Biyani and Craig explain in their journal article "E-cigarettes: An update on considerations for the otolaryngologist, it is not possible to watch the movements of every youth on a daily basis; therefore, it is not realistic to complain that Minnesota can make laws that bar or prohibits the youths from accessing the cigarettes until they reach 21 years. Some states such as Arizona, California, and Hawaii are among the states in the United States that have enforced the legal tobacco sale age of 21 years (Elief 1).

The impact that the law may have on the lives of the youths in Minnesota is quite significant because it will bar over 30,000 children from lighting up every year. It is estimated that approximately 90% of the adult tobacco smokers begin the habit of smoking when they are between 15 and 18 years of age (Elief 1). Therefore, the most effective and appropriate effort to reduce and prevent cigarette consumption in Minnesota and across the United States is to; fast enact laws that can target the adolescents (McMullen 1). Vaccinating the adolescents when they are still young so that they do not grow into becoming smokers is the best alternative that can help reduce cigarette consumption. As Ahmad, Sajjad explains in "Closing the youth access gap: the projected health benefits and cost savings of a national policy to raise the legal smoking age to 21 in the United States, over 50 states have attempted to enact such laws that can protect and prevent the adolescents from reaching out to cigarettes; however, very few have managed to succeed in implementing the policies. However, it does not mean that the already adopted laws in the states have been fully implemented. Among the challenges that prevent full implementation of the laws include the inability to watch over every youth. Therefore, instead of just enacting laws that might end up not serving the intended purpose, the policy makers should also consider others ways to seal all the loopholes where there is a possibility that the children can access the cigarettes. It is not easy to watch over children especially the teenagers. Most of the children get into using the illegal drug substances out of peer influence (Biyani & Craig 2). Therefore, they do not buy the drugs in the shops, but they are given by their peers who might be of age and is able to access the cigarettes. The most important are to consider how the loopholes like the social sources can be sealed so that the laws can work. However, just enacting the laws banning the sales of cigarettes to individuals younger than 21 years old may not work as it has failed in some states.

As much as the implementation of the program may not be easily possible, it is important to note the significance of the laws banning the access to cigarettes to younger people with less than 21 years. The nicotine in cigarettes or Tobacco has been identified as the leading cause of the most lethal and dangerous disease, cancer, that causes thousands of deaths in the United States every year and millions worldwide (King et al. 583). Since most of the adult smokers did not start the behavior while they have grown to adulthood, but when they were still in adolescent or teenage level. This, as a result, exposes them to greater risks of getting addicted as compared to someone who started at the age of 21 years (Elief 1). Since most teenagers are in high school level and in their circles they are not likely to have someone over 21 years, the law might be helpful protect them from reaching the addiction stage.

This discussion has been argued in various columns and people have expressed their concerns about whether it is possible or realistic to have a law that can prevent teenagers from obtaining cigarettes before they reach the age of 21 years. Some people have claimed how ridiculous the adoption of such laws may be. Some people have argued that such policies are pushed and enacted by selfish politicians who do not have any experience or idea of the citizens. Some people like the State representative and the Chairman of the House of Health and Human Resource Service Committee Mr Matt Dean have criticized the bill terming it controversial (McMullen 1). Mr Matt claims that the implementation of the policy may be expensive and will be a waste of taxpayers money. He claims that instead of enacting such laws, the state should come up with idea that prohibits the selling of tobacco like raising the cigarette taxes (McMullen 1). However, it is important to note that the laws or policies enacted by politicians, but they are not implemented by politicians. Sometimes it is not good to politicize everything and force other people to look at it from the political point of view. Indeed, some politicians may be drafting laws for their selfish gains. At the same time, it is important to understand that the laws may have a positive impact on the lives of thousands of Minnesota residents. However, the politicians were elected by the citizens to represent their ideas and interests in the government. Therefore, when they come up with something good that can protect the society from losing its sanity to drugs and other illegal harmful substances people should appreciate and support. It is not necessarily that the politicians be perceived with the negativity that most people look at them. Some of the laws they enact may be out of selfish interests and gains, but something that concerns the livelihood of the citizens should be embraced and received with open arms. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report of 2010, cancer is becoming a menace that might wipe out the entire human race if nothing is done to prevent such thing from happening. Some of the laws like barring teenagers from accessing cigarettes before they reach the age of 21 years are one of the most effective preventive strategies that can prevent the preventable but dangerous and number one killer disease from wiping out the entire human race within no time. It is important also to note that the laws are possible to implement and can work. Based on the statistics and studies on the areas where the laws have demonstrated a significant result like Needham, MA. Needham was one of the states where the laws that prevent future tobacco users in the United States were recommended by the American Medical Association in the late 1980s (Winickoff et al. 1). However, the laws did not work until 2005 when Needham passed the resolution that was recommended by the American Medical Association in 1986. Five years later after the implementation of the policy prohibiting the teenagers from accessing cigarettes until they are 21 years old, its positive impact can be seen and demonstrated when it is reported that high school smoking had dropped by approximately 47% (Winickoff et al., 2). This is a significant figure that if it can happen within five years then it is possible to adopt the law across the states in America.

The use of cigarettes and other illegal drugs substances such as alcohol has become a pandemic in the United States. In Minnesota, over 30,000 young teenagers are exposed to the risk of becoming cigarette or alcohol addicts by the time they are 30 years because they have access to these products at the early age (Elief 1). The fact that the current laws only prohibits teenagers below 18 years of age to obtain cigarettes makes it difficult to prevent over 30,000 youths from becoming unproductive and hopeless in future after their lives have been destroyed by cigarettes. A country or a state can only develop when its members are productive. Illnesses and lack of skills because the citizens are not educated are among the key reasons that prohibit the state from growing or developing from all the three pillars of development- social, economic, and political. Cigarette causes both illness and lack of education. When someone gets cancer because he/she has been smoking, he/she becomes a burden to the society because he is no longer productive but has become dependent on the productive people. Again, addicted people are unable to concentrate on other things especially education that may require someones attention fully. It is not the hard drugs such as bhang, cocaine, heroin, and alcohol that can be addictive and destructive to the mind. Cigarettes can also be addictive as well; therefore, it can also affect the individuals life equally as other hard drug substances listed above.

It is important to understand the concept of addiction before one can claim whether the bill to ban under- 21 from obtaining access to cigarettes is wrong or bad or good. McMullen in her article Raise Smoking age to 21? Minnesota Students Lobby Lawmaker explains that, the tobacco industry targets the teenagers especially from 18 years going up to 21 years. Therefore, as much as people might claim that the bill that bans individuals below 21 years from accessing tobacco products in Minnesota is bad, it is also important to look at the brighter side of the policy. Some of the candy flavoring, magazine advertisements and event sponsorships used by the tobacco are nothing positive but moves to lure the youths to cigarettes. The action taken by Minnesota legislatures to ban access to cigarettes to individuals below 21 years is good and positive; it aims at protecting over 30,000 teenagers that will form the face of Minnesota in the next 15 years (Elief 1). Of course the implementation of the law will most likely hurt the tobacco industry and its branches in Minnesota, but it is better to take the preventive measures like this than regretting 15 years later when over 30,000 individuals who should have been productive to the states economy are ill, dead or even languishing in poverty because they did not finish their education out of addiction. Hawaii and California are among the states in America that have taken significant steps to ensure that the teenagers are protected from getting destroyed by raising the age to purchase tobacco or cigarettes to 21 years (King et al. 584). Again, with the fact that it has proven to be successful in some states like Massachusetts in Needham where it was adopted in 2005 and five years down the line the positive fruits it has inculcated can be evidently seen through the 47% drop in cigarette consumption among the high school teenagers.

As much as the law barring the under-21 from p...