Should Smoking Be Raised - 968 Words

Smoking is often viewed as a bad thing that definitely affects your health, but some teens believe that when you begin to smoke you become more popular. â€Å"90 percent of smokers began before the age 19 and about 30 percent of teen smokers continued smoking and died early from a smoking-related disease. On average, these smokers died 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers† (â€Å"11 Facts about Teen Smoking†). The idea of smoking is a very controversial topic in communities and the legal smoking age needs to be raised to an age where smoking won’t affect you in some of the harsh ways it affects teens. Yes, it is obvious that smoking will still affect a person some. The age for buying and using tobacco should be raised to 25. The first reason†¦show more content†¦Some even cause others to think they should smoke. As stated by Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, â€Å" Everyday 1,200 Americans die from smoking, and each of those people are being replaced by two young smokers.† That is nearly 2,400 young smokers daily. They go about their day smoking thinking they are so popular, but they are destroying their brains. By changing the age to 25, the brain can fully develop and teens will be able to reason better with themselves and help others reason too. In addition to affecting brain function, many teens care a lot about their appearance and smoking will ruin that. In a poll done by the American Cancer Society, â€Å"Almost eighty percent of boys between the ages of twelve and seventeen said they didn’t want to date someone who smokes. 70 percent of girls said they felt the same way† (Panther). Smoking can also cause a person to look a lot older than their actual age, cause bad breath, bags under the eyes, stained fingers and nails, tooth loss, gum disease, and skin cancer. According to a 2007 study, if you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day for ten years or less, psoriasis risk goes up 20 percent; 11 to 20 year s and your risk is sixty percent or higher; and for those who pass the two-decade mark, the psoriasis risk more than doubles (â€Å"15 Ways Smoking Ruins Your Looks.†). The last reason the legal age to use and buy tobacco should be raised