The outdoors are a gift of life. Every LT student can relate to the joy of the day weather permits the South Campus courtyards to be reopened, heading out to do a lab in the biology courtyard your freshman year, or eating lunch with friends in the sun. You can get a breath of fresh air before heading to your next class. However, no less than 30 years ago was smoking allowed on these open-air school grounds, and that was the norm nationwide.

This reality is one that is so estranged from our own that it’s hard to fathom. Our world growing up was one that had already established the need for employees to not smoke in the workplace and an era where substantial legislation was being pushed for large health warnings to be placed on tobacco products. A very small percentage of our student body consumes tobacco products, due in large part to widespread social awareness and understanding of the risks involved. Despite this fact and that cigarette smoking is at 15.7 percent amongst teens, the lowest in 22 recorded years according to the Center for Disease Control, illegal tobacco consumption is a major issue that demands the need to raise the legal age.

Whether it be cigarettes or e-cigs that threaten pulmonary and heart health, or chewing tobacco (typically used by athletes that can raise mouth, gum and tongue cancer risks tenfold according to government cancer statistics), tobacco consumption at a young age is detrimental. It can be easily generalized to a nail in a coffin. Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs there is, so it’s no wonder that almost all adult smokers began as kids or young adults.

Federal law mandates the purchase and consumption of alcohol is illegal until age 21. Alcohol, as we know, is extremely dangerous to the brain and body as well, as it is responsible for over 88,000 American deaths a year. Why not raise the smoking age to match it?

Why do we let people choose to inhale poison at 18, but wait until they’re 21 to drink it? Of course, no law will fully stifle underage consumption of any drug, especially alcohol, the most prevalent drug we have aside from caffeine. The argument that raising the age would change nothing is shortsighted and plain wrong. Coupling a higher legal age with thorough education on the severe health risks of tobacco consumption, be it from a pack or a can, can lead us to even more historically low lows.

At LT, it is a rare, rare sight to see anyone light up and throw clouds walking to or from their parking spot. This wasn’t always the case, and that in and of itself is a milestone. When even media providers like Pandora and Spotify frequently have ads warning of the control that cigarettes can have on someone who takes their first puff, I think it’s safe to say that it’s time we have legislation passed to better care for the wellbeing of our general population and our future.