Dear editor,
I read with interest Virginia Machas comments Wednesday in the Register about the impact of the Tobacco 21 policy on her business.
Macha said raising the legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21 cost Jump Start Travel Center around $100,000 in sales during the first month.
Lets say a pack of cigarettes cost around $4.75 in 2016, when Iola passed Tobacco 21. If my math is correct, thats the equivalent of 21,052 packs of cigarettes.
With 30 days in a month, thats 701 packs of cigarettes per day.
Were that many young adults aged 18-21 really purchasing one pack of cigarettes per day at Jump Start?
If these numbers are true and 701 young people were actually smoking one pack per day from cigarettes purchased at Jump Start, then it serves as even more proof that the policy was much needed, because then 701 Iola kids were discouraged from purchasing cigarettes.
Tobacco 21 is therefore a truly laudable achievement for a very serious problem.
Tobacco use remains the top cause for preventable death and costs the U.S. an estimated $170 billion in healthcare expenses.
This is why the greater good sometimes at the expense of the individual should be our goal as a society.
Sincerely,
Judy Works, APRN
Iola, Kan.
