By Christopher Jimenez
Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill to raise the age of buying tobacco to 21 on Wednesday.
While the law does help to decrease bad health habits, it also has an impact on young adult smokers.
California is the second state to raise the age of buying tobacco products, after Hawaii. This bill will take effect on June 9.
As a 20-year-old student who has smoked cigarettes since the age of 16 and stopped now, stopping was a choice I made decrease financial and health issues.
Many college students start smoking in their freshmen year and become addicted.
I do not promote smoking. Addiction to tobacco is difficult to deal with and quit, but it is possible in many cases.
California’s law to raise the age to purchase and use tobacco at 21 is absurd. It is our choice to stop or keep on smoking.
Most tobaccos users start smoking before the age of 21 and plenty of people try tobacco before the age of 18.
Smoking tobacco and chewing tobacco is nothing new to this world. It has been going on for nearly 2000 years. It has also been growing in the Americas for 8000 years. Using tobacco is choice many individuals have made.
It is wrong to increase the age of buying any kind of tobacco.
Around East Los Angeles College, there are students who smoke and vape, and there are some who look around the ages of 18-20.
I was addicted to cigarettes since the age of 16, and I recently quit easily. My way of quitting an addiction this harmful to my health was to exercise, eat well, and focus more on what the money can be used for in the long run.
Spending about $10 or more for two packs of cigarettes every other day would leave me broke for the rest of the month.
That meant not going out with friends and enjoying myself because of my lack of money.
This was a choice of mine.
People can smoke all they want and live how they choose.
There is a craze for people to vape. Vaping can be a solution to quitting cigarettes.
There are cases in which people have gotten into vaping and showed zero addiction and evidence shows less harm comes from vaping.
Now that the law is passed and will go into effect, vaping will also be banned in schools, restaurants, movie theaters and other places where smoking cigarettes is also banned.
People know that tobacco is unhealthy and there are plenty of anti-tobacco ads and commercials. It also says so on the package of any tobacco products.
The anti-smoking ads like thetruth.com show teens being peer pressured into smoking cigarettes.
Thetruth.com try to drive into the trend such as “#finish it,” and many other hashtags. “#Finish it,” is a saying this organization says for this generation to stop smoking for good.
Also, people who are under 21 will not be able to purchase tobacco, but also e-cigarettes, and vaping products.
The use of e-cigarettes and vaping in many public places will be banned on June 9.
This law will send an uproar throughout the state of California, because there are many young adult smokers.
This law has given impetus to many anti-tobacco groups to gather signatures to increase the taxes of cigarettes from 87 cents per pack of cigarettes up to $2.
Though many would disagree with me, a solution to this problem would be to let people decide for themselves.
We are mature enough to stop this addiction in colleges, schools and homes.
Individuals can seek help if they choose to, and that is their choice in life.
We cannot force others to stop what they crave in everyday life.