Raising the smoking age to 21 could save Washington money

Legislators in Olympia are considering a bill to raise the age to buy tobacco in Washington from 18 to 21.

The man behind the bill is state Rep. Paul Harris (R-Clark County). When explaining why the bill would be helpful, he cites studies from the National Institute of Medicine which indicate that increasing the smoking age would reduce the number of young adults who start smoking and ultimately reduce deaths.

“If they start early it’s much more difficult for them to quit,” Harris told KTTH’s Jason Rantz.

A bill to increase the smoking age was introduced in 2015 with the support of Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a Democrat. But Harris says conservatives can support this legislation too because it would save the state money in the long run.

“We can save huge Medicaid dollars by making sure kids never get introduced to tobacco,” Harris said.

Fiscal analysis of the bill shows the state would take about a $5 million hit in tax revenue due to the decrease in tobacco sales, but Harris says that amount is negligible especially when the state economy is growing so much.

The bill still has critics, even in Harris’s own party. Senator Ann Rivers (R-La Center) told KOMO News she’s worried the change won’t have much impact because native retailers wouldn’t have to adhere to it. Harris said it’s still worth passing.

“I think the other thing that’s fascinating is looking at how many tribal properties there are that are actually selling cigarettes,” Harris said. “It’s still going to be extremely, extremely difficult for youth to purchase cigarettes, just generally, within their own neighborhood.”

The biggest threat to this bill might be tobacco lobbyists.

“The tobacco lobby is unbelievable up here,” Harris said. “I reached out to the Future Farmers of America and their organization, most of their kids actually chew or smoke, which is tragic, they didn’t want to get involved because they have members in Kentucky and North Carolina where they grow tobacco and they felt conflicted on the issue.”

The bill is still alive, technically, but it’s not looking promising. The deadline for bills to be passed out of their respective chambers was last week. The only hope for this bill is if it’s deemed necessary for implementing the state budget.

“I have the votes in the House for it to pass, I need to go over and work in the Senate and see if I can get people such as Senator Rivers, who was on the bill originally, to take a look again,” Harris said. “I have some work to do, I’m not going to lie to you.”

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