House-Passed Budget Deal Raises Age to Buy Cigarettes to 21
Reason cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on e-cigarettes.
As Michelle Minton, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, pointed out in a November blog post, these extraordinary declines in teen smoking in Needham were temporary. Teen smoking was soon falling faster in neighboring towns that had not adopted a higher smoking age. Indeed between 2012 and 2014, teen smoking in Needham actually increased.
Minton speculates that by cutting those under 21 off from buying e-cigarettes, a proven smoking cessation product, Needham’s policy simply encouraged young smokers to stick to illicit but more readily available cigarettes.