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Minimum ages of legal access for tobacco in the United States from 1863 to 2015

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  • Apollonio, D.E.
  • Glantz, S.A.

Abstract

In the United States, state laws establish a minimum age of legal access (MLA) for most tobacco products at 18 years.We reviewed the history of these laws with internal tobacco industry documents and newspaper archives from 1860 to 2014. The laws appeared in the 1880s; by 1920, half of states had set MLAs of at least 21 years. After 1920, tobacco industry lobbying eroded them to between 16 and 18 years. By the 1980s, the tobacco industry viewed restoration of higher MLAs as a critical business threat. The industry's political advocacy reflects its assessment that recruiting youth smokers is critical to its survival. The increasing evidence on tobacco addiction suggests that restoring MLAs to 21 years would reduce smoking initiation and prevalence, particularly among those younger than 18 years.

Suggested Citation

  • Apollonio, D.E. & Glantz, S.A., 2016. "Minimum ages of legal access for tobacco in the United States from 1863 to 2015," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(7), pages 1200-1207.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2016.303172_8
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303172
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    Cited by:

    1. Bertrand Crettez & Régis Deloche, 2021. "Time-inconsistent preferences and the minimum legal tobacco consuming age," Rationality and Society, , vol. 33(2), pages 176-195, May.
    2. Page D. Dobbs & Jason B. Colditz & Shelby Shields & Anna Meadows & Brian A. Primack, 2022. "Policy and Behavior: Comparisons between Twitter Discussions about the US Tobacco 21 Law and Other Age-Related Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-10, February.
    3. Ren, Yanjun & Castro Campos, Bente & Loy, Jens-Peter & Wang, Xiaobing, 2020. "Start Smoking Earlier, Smoke More: Does Education Matter?," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304237, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Tennekoon, Vidhura S.B.W., 2023. "Purchase restrictions as a tobacco control policy: An analysis of the effect on adverse birth outcomes," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 967-974.
    5. Erica Louis Mtenga & Michael F. Pesko, 2024. "The effect of vertical identification card laws on teenage tobacco and alcohol use," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(11), pages 2525-2557, November.
    6. Savage, Michael, 2017. "Do youth access control policies stop young people smoking? Evidence from Ireland," Papers WP572, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

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