It’s late at night in Arlington, Virginia, Fall of 2010. My
friend, then a high school senior, walks into the local corner store with five
dollars, and buys a pack of cigarettes to kick off his 18th birthday
celebration. A high school kid, a social influencer perhaps, with a legal pack
of cigarettes in his backpack. He drew a cigarette out of his pocket, after
class at the train station, with the suave of a 1950’s movie star. That is the problem, Dr. Northam, then a
state senator, would argue. At the time, most Virginia restaurants had just
gone smoke-free, at the insistence of Dr. Northam. He had a larger agenda in
his sleeve.
While negative effects of tobacco use have been known for 50
years, youth smoking as a pathology has only garnered attention for the past
quarter-century. The smoking age in the greater DC area, and much of the South,
was 16 into the 1990’s. For a few years that decade, there was a five-year gap
between a smoking age of 16 and a drinking age of 21. Smoking just wasn’t a big
deal.
Who would’ve thought that Virginia, with its four centuries
of tobacco history, and continued influence of Big Tobacco, would be among the
first to raise the smoking age to 21? It’s more surprising in light of a
political culture that makes the Commonwealth “behind the times” on legislating
social issues, from clean government reforms, to LGBT issues, boater education,
semiautomatic rifles and handheld cell phones while driving. This new tobacco
law, passed in February, will take effect in July. It is a very comprehensive
law- on the proportions of Singapore or Sri Lanka: this change raises the age
to both purchase and use of nicotine.
Neighboring Washington, DC raised its tobacco purchase age last
year. Presumably, the many DC college kids interested in a tobacco fix would
walk half a mile across the Key Bridge to Arlington, Virginia. Some of
Georgetown University’s dormitories are actually in Virginia instead of DC. But
this arbitrage in smoking age, a possible boon for small retailers, is nothing
to be protected in what is an emergent science-driven economy. After all,
Arlington, VA just snagged Amazon’s second headquarters. So legislation based
on science (“smoking is bad for your health”), not superstition and
presumptions (“protect tradition”) gets an upper hand in a New South state.
Raising the smoking age in Virginia probably wouldn’t have
happened if but for a perfect alignment of political power. A governor who is a
pediatrician, a house majority leader who is a school teacher, and Big Tobacco
(Altria of Richmond, VA) that approves the change. Dr. Northam, the Democratic
governor, made changing the state’s tobacco culture a legislative priority.
Kirk Cox, the Republican house majority leader, recalls the days when middle
school students smoked in the school bathrooms, and is concerned about the current
rise of the Juul e-cigarette. Other states are trying to pass similar bills to
raise the smoking age, but they most often failed after passing one house of
legislature: with apparent exception of Virginia, it is not a pressing priority
outside of the Northeast and West Coast, places where “Nanny State” legislation
is in vogue.
Virginia will allow active-duty military to continue
purchasing tobacco at 18. With a carveout for military members, I predict loose
enforcement of a higher smoking age in the military-heavy Tidewater region. It
remains to be seen how this law will be enforced in college towns: the specific
target of Tobacco 21 is high school smoking and vaping, while younger college
students are merely “collateral impact” of the new laws. In the advent of Virginia's unique approach of a dual smoking age*, (18 for some, 21 for others), major retailers such as Walgreens and Wal-Mart have decided to stop selling nicotine products to young adults under 21, nationwide.
* California allows on-base sales at 18, while retaining minimum age of 21 "outside the gate". Maryland and Vermont will soon join Virginia with a dual smoking age
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