Face-to-Face is a feature that allows two members of the Redwood Community to grill each other, argue, or simply converse about a relevant issue or event. We provide the topic, and they do the rest. This month’s participants are seniors Michelle Lewis and Katie Isaacson, and they discuss their views on what the legal smoking age should be.  On March 2, San Francisco legally changed the smoking age from 18 to 21 in an effort to stop teen smoking. The law will take effect starting June 1, 2016.  In a survey conducted by the CDC in 2014, 26.4 percent of high school students reported using tobacco in the last 30 days.

Should the smoking age be raised from 18 to 21 on a larger scale?

Katie Isaacson: “It should not be raised from 18 to 21. It should be 18 because if you’re willing to be drafted into the war or be able to decide what you are going to do in college or just in your career in general, then you should be able to have the responsibility to choose whether you want to smoke a cigarette.”

Michelle Lewis: “I believe that we should change it to 21 because you are putting toxic chemicals into your body by smoking cigarettes. Most high schoolers have access to it but if [the age] were 21 it would be less likely for people to become addicted and try it.”

Do you think a lot of smokers are underage?

KI: “I do, unfortunately. But I think there are other ways to prevent people from smoking other than making it illegal.  The U.S. actually has made a lot of progress in reducing teen smoking. For example, Europe has way higher rates of people smoking in general.  And I think through education and awareness we can reduce teen smoking, rather than changing the law.”

ML: “Yes, and I believe it is because if you start smoking and trying things at a younger age you’re more inclined to start liking it and become addicted to it. People want to try cigarettes and they have access to it, unlike alcohol, which is harder to obtain.”

Do you think that changing the age will actually stop underage smoking?

KI: “I think that it will decrease it but I don’t think that it’s going to stop it and people are just going to go against the law and make fake IDs. People will be more likely to break the law if the age is no longer 18.”

ML: “I think that it will help decrease it. If you’re 21 then you will probably see it in college, but I think that it will decrease in high school because it will be harder to get. It should decrease the number of smokers you see by a lot.”

How do you think smokers who now smoke legally will react once they can no longer buy tobacco legally?

KI: “I think that if you are a smoker you are most likely going to be addicted, so if the smoking age were increased to 21, you aren’t telling people to break the law but they are going to be more inclined to break the law. And it is going to be like underage drinking—the fact that the age requirement is 21 hasn’t stopped it.”

ML: “It will probably cause people to break the law but I think that it might also help prevent more addictions from happening. If you start smoking at a younger age you are less inclined to become addicted to it so it may help fewer addictions from happening.”

What do you think is more dangerous: alcohol or tobacco?

KI: “I think drinking is more dangerous, just because you are more likely to overdose, which can cause death. There is more social pressure to drink.”

ML:  “I definitely think that tobacco is more dangerous because it has toxic chemicals in it, which cause cancer, unlike alcohol, which you can overdose from. But it is less likely to die from alcohol poisoning than to get lung cancer, throat cancer or even tongue cancer from chewing tobacco.”

Do you think e-cigarettes are attracting younger people to smoke?

KI: “Yeah, I think it’s just because they are so accessible and I think that people have this idea that it’s more hip and for some reason they have this mindset that it’s not dangerous. But it is because they have all those chemicals in it, which are even worse than your typical cigarette.”

ML: “I believe that it is attracting a lot of teens, especially here at Redwood. I think that instead of having an actual cigarette, people think that smoking vapor is a healthier way to do things and experiment. But I think that if you smoke vapes you might actually want to try cigarettes.”