New York City has proposed raising the age limit to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21 years old, California should do the same.

According to Nytimes.com, “The proposal would make the age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products the same as for purchasing liquor, but it would not prohibit people under 21 from possessing or even smoking cigarettes.”

This restriction, although allowing people under 21 year old to still smoke, could possibly have health benefits to young adults.

Making buying cigarettes harder to do could prevent people from starting smoking in the first place and getting into a bad habit.

As people get older the decisions you make are more wise, as a young adult it is often that the consequences of smoking aren’t apparent and therefore not something they think about.

As you get older the thought of getting sick from smoking or worse is much more apparent then when you are young because adults often think about that much more.

By the time people turn 21 their decision to smoke or not might have more thought to it, and a better decision could come from just being a little more mature.

Although many people are against this because it is the responsibility of an adult, at the age of 18, to make the right decision for them whether it is to smoke or to not smoke. It is the right of Americans to be able to do what we want.

According to the Nytimes.com, discussing this plan to restrict the smoking age to city council members, “At 18, New Yorkers are old enough to fight in wars, to drive and to vote, but if the smoking restriction passed they would be prohibited from deciding whether to take the risk of smoking.”

Although those all are valid points, restricting 18 year old’s from just buying cigarettes but not from smoking them seems fair and could potentially be a healthy outcome.

Ultimately, the only thing that could come of this plan and if it were to be in California as well, is a healthier generation. With the hopes that young people oblige by this law if it were to come into effect.