Local bans on tobacco sales to individuals under age 21 yield substantial reductions in smoking among 18-to-20-year-olds, according to a new study from the Yale School of Public Health.
Published online in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, the study examines how “tobacco-21 laws” affect smoking among 18-to-20-year-olds residing in metro areas that include an urban center with at least 10,000 residents.
The researchers found that, all else being equal, the smoking rate among 18-to-20-year-olds declined when the percentage of a geographic area covered by tobacco-21 laws increases. This trend was not evident for 23- to 25-year-olds, said the researchers.
Specifically, between 2011 and 2016, 18-to-20-year-olds living in metro areas with at least one municipal tobacco-21 law exhibited an average drop in their smoking rate of 1.2 percentage points, relative to those living in areas with no such law. Factoring in the proportion that the 18-to-21 age cohort represents among all smokers, this reduction is equivalent to a 10-percent aggregate decrease in smoking.
“Smoking is responsible for over 400,000 deaths in the United States alone every year, with the vast majority of smokers initiating use before age 21,” said lead researcher Abigail S. Friedman, assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Yale School of Public Health. “Our analysis indicates that tobacco-21 laws are an effective way to reduce such take-up, even when they are implemented at the local level.”
As of July 18, 2019, 18 states and more than 400 municipalities have passed laws banning tobacco sales to individuals under age 21.
This study was co-authored with recent Yale College graduate Rachel J. Wu. The research was funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Evidence for Action program.
