ChapterThree

Link: http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20081120/OPINION03/811200315

Summary

This article talks about Stephanie Hoy’s goals to reduce the influence tobacco companies have on youth and promote tobacco-free lifestyles. Stephanie Hoy is part of the Louisana Youth Prevention Services in Alexandria and she stated that youth could have a great impact for those who smoke. To support this fight against youth smoking, youth around the state are joining the youth-led anti-tobacco movement called Defy. One of Defy’s campaigns is Raiseup. What the campaign is trying to do is to raise the excise tax on cigarettes by $1. Studies show that for every 10 percent increase in the excise tax, youth smoking decreases by 7 percent.

Connection
The concept that connects this article to chapter 3 would be excise taxes. The purpose of this excise tax isn’t to provide the government with more money but instead its main purpose is to stop teens from starting to smoke. For the teens who are working and earning around $6 an hour, they wont have enough cash to spend on things like clothes or food, if the excise tax increase by $1. If the increase is put into place, the teens will probably think twice before spending their earnings on cigarettes.

Reflection

I think this increase in excise tax is a great idea to stop teens from smoking but the problem isn’t the price; it is how the teens are getting the cigarettes in the first place. There are many possible ways for underage teens to get their hands on cigarettes, like a person of legal age buying it for them. This then brings up the question, “Should the legal age of purchasing cigarettes be raised again?” In my opinion, I think they should raise the legal age of purchasing cigarette again and also I believe that they should create more school programs to inform the teens of the effects of smoking. So with the help of excise tax, a raise in legal of age and information about smoking, teens will probably lose their interest to start smoking.