The first day of July marked two more states across the nation that raised the age to buy tobacco, electronic cigarettes and other alternative tobacco methods to 21.
One of those states, Illinois, borders Missouri. By next year, another border state, Arkansas, will have a similar age limit.
By 2021, 16 states will have such a law in place.
While Missouri and neighboring states have yet to put such a limit to access on those products, local towns are and have seen such impact.
Scott Hall
Scott Hall, senior vice president of civic and community initiative for the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce was the guest speaker at the Park Hill Community Alliance for Youth luncheon on Wednesday, June 26 at the Platte County Community Center South in Parkville.
In the Kansas City metro area, a little more than 1.5 million reside in the 21 communities that have passed a tobacco 21 law.
There are towns in the county — Platte Woods, Riverside and Northmoor were highlighted — that still allow tobacco sales to 18 year olds.
Hall noted studies have showed the number of tobacco users in the towns that have passed tobacco 21 have seen a drop from 14.8 percent to 10.1 since 2014.
The tobacco 21 project has been backed by the chamber prior to its passage on Nov. 19, 2015.
“It is very challenging to regulate tobacco use,” Hall said. “It is much easier to do it at point of sales. We can have an impact on youth use by restricting sales. Cigarettes are bad for your health and we have known that as a country for 50 or 75 years, depending who you ask. We all pay for tobacco use. The costs aren’t just worn by those who use.”
Needham, Mass., a suburban community in Boston, was the first city in the United States to pass a Tobacco 21 initiative in 2005.
“Needham isn’t much different than Parkville,” Hall said. “It is largely like a lot of suburbs you will find in the Kansas City metro.”
The community saw a 46 percent decrease in teenagers using tobacco and the neighboring 16 communities saw a 20 percent decrease even though they didn’t initially follow suit. The amount of tobacco users in Needham is 56 percent below the state average, the town has a 90 percent lower average use among pregnant women and lower cancer rates across the board.
“You may ask why is the chamber of commerce is so interested in this idea?” Hall said.
He provided graphs and numbers on how tobacco use hurts businesses, as the average smoker accounts for $5,816 per year in health costs and lost work to smoke breaks or presenteeism .
“We have members as small as a single person and we have Cerner,” Hall said. “Regardless of your size, if you are an employee using tobacco that is a lot of money. If you have 10 employees and two use, that is $11,000 every year. If you are Cerner and you have thousands that use, that is millions each year. It is meaningful to the chamber.”
Hall stated that research shows that you are more likely to get addicted to nicotine if you experiment as a teenager compared to being in your mid 30s.
A slide presented during the luncheon showed that 95 percent of current smokers started before they were 21. Hall noted that research shows that those who have had their first cigarette by the age of 18 are almost twice as likely to become lifelong smokers as those who have not tried by age 21.
Smoking in youth and adults in Missouri exceeds the national average and research by truth.org targeted 13 states for its high usage. Missouri made the list with mainly southern and southeastern states. The health conditions from tobacco use are more closely aligned with health issues of third-world countries than the other 37 states.
The U.S. average for youth and teen smoking is 9.2 percent, while in Missouri, the average is 11 percent.
The adult smoking rates for adults, nationwide, is at 15.1 percent. In Missouri, that number is 22.3 percent.
One of the new issues is the rise of use of e-cigarettes, especially in the high school level.
When the Tobacco 21 project started locally, Hall said those weren’t much of an issue but between 2017 to 2018, research from the American Heart Association showed a jump of 78 percent in usage among teens.
The marketing of e-cigarettes/vapes have flavors targeted toward a young generation compared to older users. There are some towns stepping up to make changes, like San Francisco, that is banning certain flavors.
Vapes.com sells a flavor called unicorn poop, while JUUL has fruit medley and crème brûlée and cool mint.
“Tell me who that is being marketed to?” Hall asked. “Unicorn poop isn’t being marketed for a 55 year old trying to stop smoking. Unicorn poop is for high school sophomores.”
The AHA noted that 30.7 percent of teenagers start smoking within six months of using an e-cigarette/vape and 66 percent don’t know what is in the vape (aerosols and not water like some believed).
In terms of marketshare, electronic cigarettes have made big leaps from 2015. That year, they accounted for about 1 percent of the market. Now, that number is almost 75 percent.
The way vapes are made, to look like a USB card and can fit in your palm, makes it easier to use without detection compared to normal cigarettes.
The Tobacco 21 law could help deter a rapid rise of e-cigarettes.
“High school is important to raise that age,” Hall said. “Sixteen year olds are sophomores and seniors are 18 years old before they graduate and they are in the same building every day. Most of the time, 21 year olds don’t hang out with 16 year olds, they are off doing something else. The social structure is set up that an 18 year old can buy an electric cigarette and serve as a pipeline to those younger, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12 year olds. Twenty-one-year olds don’t have the same social connection. They aren’t in the high school every day and they don’t hang out socially with that group.”