Williston Park trustees voted last week to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco and electronic cigarettes from 19 to 21.
In doing so, they joined the Town of North Hempstead, which raised the tobacco purchase age in its unincorporated areas effective March 1. Which in turned joined New York City and Suffolk County in this movement.
We understand the motives of the municipalities, but remain puzzled by their logic as well as the logic of other age-based legislation.
North Hempstead officials have cited research from the Public Health and Tobacco Policy Center showing 90 percent of daily smokers start before they turn 18, and that most people who give tobacco to minors are between the ages of 18 and 21. No argument here.
But the benefits of prohibiting people from smoking after 21 are also clear.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, and for every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
But neither the Village of Williston Park nor any of the other municipalities are proposing a ban against tobacco for those above 21. Why not?
Lives would be saved if the ban was extended to people 22 and younger, 23 and younger and 80 and younger. Why 21?
Some might cite evidence that the brain is not completely developed until age 25.
Research shows that as the cognitive skills of adolescents are developing, adolescents’ behavior is often impulsive and adolescents lack the ability to focus on the consequences of their behavior.
So why not make the age 25?
True, some people have more sense at 20 than others at 60. And we know that at a certain point in someone’s age, the mind and the decision-making process often take a step or two back.
But if judgment is an issue 25 would make more sense.
The same can be said for alcohol, but the Prohibition Era has apparently taught everyone to tread lightly on that one.
New York now limits drinking to those 21 and over, after once limiting it to 18 and over.
But we do give permits to those 16 to drive, junior licenses to 17-year-olds and full licenses to 18-year-olds. And we know that young drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents.
We also allow 17-year-olds, with their parents’ consent, to join the military.
Which means that a teenager from Williston Park could be trusted to risk his or her life fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan or some other combat zone but could not buy cigarettes or a beer when he or she got home.
What’s the logic in that?
All of which leads to New York’s disgraceful handling of the age of incarceration.
New York is the only state in the country other than North Carolina that prosecutes all youths as adults when they turn 16 years of age.
To be the only state to share a law with North Carolina these days is a clear sign that something is very wrong. North Carolina’s recent contributions to jurisprudence include the infamous bathroom law, race-based voter registration laws and the stripping of the governor’s powers by the Legislature after a Democratic governor was elected.
But the statistics in New York tell an even sadder picture.
Nearly 28,000 16- and 17-year-olds are arrested in New York State and face the possibility of prosecution as adults in criminal court each year. And more than 600 children ages 13 to 15 are also processed in adult criminal courts.
In some cases, they end up in adult prisons.
But they cannot buy cigarettes or alcohol in the unincorporated parts of North Hempstead.
Raise the Age legislation is pending in the state Legislature that would keep children under the age of 18 out of adult prisons, ensure the presence of a parent or guardian during questioning and sentencing and ensure that juveniles will not be imprisoned for breaking parole — if they are not a danger to others — as well as require family support centers and special care for children with significant behavioral health issues.
The legislation is backed by the leaders of both houses and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
This is a logical and humane piece of legislation that should be approved immediately.
That would make a ban on cigarette sales to 21-year-olds a little more palatable to us.
