When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently revealed that fewer Americans are smoking cigarettes, the news could only be viewed as a positive.
It’s no secret that cigarette use causes myriad health problems for both smokers and bystanders, and that smoking increases health costs that are borne by all. In the past, medical officials have quantified that the risk of coronary disease and stroke are two to four times higher for smokers than for nonsmokers, and that the risk of bronchitis and emphysema are 10 times higher for smokers.
The new data showing that the percentage of adults who smoke fell to 15 percent in 2015 is a good sign for the nation’s health. And it also should serve as a notice for lawmakers in Washington to raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21. If a reduction in smoking is unequivocally positive for public health, shouldn’t the Legislature take reasonable steps to further reduce the number of smokers?
That long has been the opinion of state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who has pushed lawmakers to adopt such a change. “This is only going to go in one direction,” Ferguson told The Columbian’s editorial board earlier this year. “More and more states are going to move to 21. We can either be at the front of that or the back end. It’s up to the Legislature, but I think that movement is happening.”