Right: Children selling cigarettes in an Indonesian street. The age at which many countries allow children to smoke is often as low as 14.
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Further implications
Australia has been a world-leader in taking initiatives to reduce the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Graphic product warnings and plain packaging are measures that were first introduced in this country.
The disincentives Australian governments have put in place to discourage Australians from purchasing cigarettes have been successful and the number of Australians smoking and taking up the habit is at record low. However, it is difficult to predict the impact that instituting a further measure, lifting the age at which cigarettes can be legally purchased, would have.
Increasing the legal smoking age may, as its proponents argue, create a clear divide between school-age potential smokers and all other smokers, as no one of school age would any longer be legally able to smoke. Illicitly acquiring cigarettes from slightly older friends and siblings would be more difficult for school-age young people to achieve.
However, it seems unlikely that the effective legal age would actually be 21. 18, 19 and 20 year-olds interested in experimenting with cigarette smoking will probably find occasions where they can do so. The discrepancy between the legal drinking age and the legal smoking age is likely to be keenly felt. The different onset ages for smoking and drinking among post-school age consumers may well result in less supervised drinking (and smoking). There are already bans on smoking in a wide range of public venues; however, totally prohibiting smoking among those between 18 and 21 may well drive the practice further underground and take a substantial proportion of young people's social drinking with it.
There is the possibility that a ban on legal smoking until the age of 21 may foster a rebellious backlash, provoking more young people to experiment with cigarettes because they regard the limitation on their freedom of choice unjust. A great deal of productive work has been done educating the general public about the dangers of cigarette smoking. It would be regrettable to take any action that might reduce the impact of this campaign.
The real world implications of making cigarettes harder to obtain for those under 21 may have other unintended consequences. Research has already indicated that those who become dependent on cigarettes have a greater likelihood of becoming dependent on marijuana. This may simply indicate that dependent personalities will become dependent on whatever substance is available to them.
In a situation where marijuana and cigarettes are both legally prohibited to young adults, one consequence of the cigarette prohibition might be an increase in marijuana smoking.
There remains some dispute over the relative harm caused by the most commonly used recreational drugs. A 2015 study found that alcohol presents the highest risk of death, followed by nicotine, cocaine and heroin. Marijuana was found to be significantly less deadly, though not without harmful side-effects.
Marijuana use is increasing in the United States at the same time as prohibitions on cigarette smoking have become greater. Cari Nierenberg, in an article published in Live Science on August 10, 2017, stated, 'One explanation is the growing perception that marijuana has few risks.'
It will be interesting to observe the relative status in Australia of marijuana and tobacco-based cigarettes as perceived public health risks. Any changes in their respective legal status will also be interesting to note.