In the past decade, smoking cigarettes has become a tough habit to keep if you live in New York. Aside from the numerous bans of smoking in certain public places, and the ever increasing tobacco-tax, now the City Council has decided (35 to 10) that the smoking age should be raised to 21. The Council approved it because of beliefs that raising the age will discourage teens from picking up the habit in the first place. New York is not the first place to do this, as the article sites numerous other states and counties that have raised the ages to 19 or 21.

Despite the raising of the age, a 16 year old from Manhattan thinks that this will have little affect on discouraging teens from smoking. She describes how she started smoking at the age of 13, and half of her friends in school smoke. Obviously,  someones age won’t inhibit them from ‘bumming’ a cigarette off of a friend or stranger. Personally, I think it’s ridiculous that, as a 19 year old, I can vote for our president, die in a war, go to prison, and fill my body with whatever sugary and fatty foods i like. However, 35 people who I didn’t vote for are telling me I can’t smoke because they care about my health and well-being.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/nyregion/new-york-approves-law-to-raise-tobacco-purchasing-age-to-21.html?ref=nyregion