The Seattle Times Editorial Board Endorses Raising The Smoking And Vaping Age Requirement In Washington State To 'Save Lives'

Some of you may have heard this argument before on why the age requirement on smoking and vaping products should be raised, but if not, the editorial board at the Seattle Times newspaper has more or less reiterated the argument once again in the form of an op-ed piece that they published on their website earlier this month.

In it, the editorial board indicated quite plainly that legislators in the state of Washington should raise the smoking and vaping age requirement from 18 to 21 if they care about the state’s youth.

Further clarifying their stance, they wrote that the state’s lawmakers “need to vote to make it illegal to sell tobacco, either for smoking or vaping, to anyone under 21.”

“State lawmakers who care about the health of Washington youth need to vote to make it illegal to sell tobacco, either for smoking or vaping, to anyone under 21.”

As we assume the editorial board at the Seattle Times to have chosen their words carefully, which is why when we read this, we assume that they intentionally used the word “tobacco” while leaving out any reference to the liquid nicotine used by e-cigs that is known as e-liquid or e-juice. But perhaps we are wrong to assume that the exclusion of such language was intentional on the part of the Seattle Times editorial board. With that in mind, there seems to be a reasonable chance that the exclusion of language pertaining to vape juice was unintentional as the op-ed, in part, lays focus on HB 1054, a bill which aims to raise the age requirement on both tobacco as well as vapor products.

In regards to the bill, the board penned in their op-ed that the fiscal note indicating that the measure would cost Washington state $12 million–the result of revenue loss stemming from the drop in cigarette and vapor product sales that raising the age requirement would induce–is “a bargain compared to the long-term health costs related to smoking.”

Justifying their position on the matter, the board cited research from the New England Journal of Medicine predicting just shy of a quarter-million less premature deaths as a result of raising the tobacco age requirement to 21 across the nation. The board also cited new data indicating that raising the age limit to 21 in some areas has already begun to exhibit a positive impact.

As there is evidence to suggest that vaping is likely far less harmful than smoking and that smokers, in turn, may benefit from the switch, one can’t help but wonder what impact such legislation would have on current smokers under the age of 21 that are looking towards vaping as a way to quit smoking.

What do you think, should Washington raise the age requirement on vaping and smoking products? Share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.