Saratoga County Looking to Change Cigarette Laws

According to research, most adult smokers started when they were teens so Saratoga County is the next in a line of others in the area who have decided to change the laws on cigarettes.

Saratoga County is the latest in the area considering changing the legal age of cigarette purchases from 18 to 21, according to WNYT NewsChannel 13. The law applies to not only cigarettes but chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes, and other smoking paraphernalia. One in five high school students smoke and this change would hopefully change that statistic.

Tobacco products are already taxed really high to deter people from smoking but that just makes people turn to buying them in other ways. When the law passed in Albany and Schenectady counties, people just purchased cigarettes elsewhere. California, New Jersey, Maine, Hawaii and Oregon have statewide laws, does this lead us to believe that New York may be next?

In my opinion, and I don't support cigarette smoking, but if you're going to change the law from 18 to 21 citing that we're not mature enough to make those adult-type decisions at the age of 18, what does that say making the age of going to war 18 years old? Are we sending kids to war too early or does that mean if they're old enough to go to war, they're old enough to decide if they want to smoke or not?