Over the summer, the Bexley City Council passed an ordinance raising the purchasing age of tobacco products to 21.
Consequently, students at Capital must go outside of Bexley city limits to purchase tobacco products if the students are less than 21 years of age.
Back in April of this year, Bexley City Council was contacted by Dr. Rob Crane. As an associate professor at The Ohio State University and President of the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, Crane reached out to Bexley to join the Tobacco 21 movement.
The foundation pushes for change in tobacco laws on the local, state, and national levels. The Tobacco 21 movement has gained momentum since this past June, when Hawaii became the first state to raise its tobacco purchase age to 21.
Crane gave a presentation to the city council at one of its meetings to explain the rationale behind the movement.
Bexley Mayor Ben Kessler was impressed with Crane’s presentation and the data it provided.
“I began as a skeptic, but the data presented was compelling. It was a data driven reasoning for my signing of the ordinance,” Kessler said.
Kessler believes in the evidence that has been found in studies of Tobacco 21 communities.
“Impact studies in comparable communities [in terms of population and size to Bexley], have shown that the strongest corollary to tobacco addiction is underage smoking,” Kessler said.
According to the foundation’s website, studies show that although 18-20 year olds purchase only two percent of cigarettes sold, they are 90 percent of the supply of tobacco to younger kids.
“Therefore if we delay teen introduction to tobacco, there will be less likely of a chance for addiction,” Kessler said. “We want to prevent tobacco consumption in the formative years of a teen’s life. The ban will certainly reduce usage in local high school students.”
Feedback regarding the law has been only positive at city council meetings. Kessler has yet to receive any complaints regarding the new ordinance.
Tom Geist, the regional director of the foundation, points to the progress the foundation has made since its beginning.
“The foundation was started in the early 2000s as part of the effort for smoke-free work place ordinances,” said Geist. “Members would make presentations to city councils in Greater Columbus and throughout Ohio until a smoke-free work place ordinance was passed statewide.”
The Foundation, after the smoke-free ordanince passed, became dormant for a few years. About a year and a half ago, the Tobacco 21 initiative began. The popular support for the Tobacco 21 movement has been evident.
“Two years ago there were only ten to twelve cities with Tobacco 21 laws nationwide. Today, there are 92 cities nationwide, including New York City and all of Hawaii. Tobacco 21 laws are being passed at a rate of nearly one city a week,” Geist said.
Geist believes that this law certainly pertains to college students.
“College can be a time of increased risk-taking and experimentation. Kids that start tobacco use early believe they are capable of breaking the habit in their middle to late 20s, but for most such is not the case,” said Geist. “The point of the movement is to align the law with neurological development. The human mind matures in the mid-20s. It makes sense biologically.”
Geist also points to political reasoning as gambling, and purchase of alcohol, handguns, and marijuana, requires an individual to be 21 years of age.
The Tobacco 21 law is currently being proposed statewide in California. There are four other suburbs in the Greater Columbus area also considering the ordinance.
