Award-Winning Essay

What should the Federal Government’s role be in regulating age of purchase for many product categories sold in convenience stores such as tobacco, vapor, CBD, and energy?

BY RYAN BERG

There has been a growing movement against products in convenience stores such as tobacco, vapor, CBD, and energy products. The Centers for Disease Control and the Federal Government are two of the biggest entities attacking these products. Most recently, in September of 2019, Trump administration announcing that he would attempt “to prohibit the sale of most flavoured electronic cigarettes” (Kaplan 1) There have also been talks to raise the legal age to buy these products to 21. The Federal Government should keep the purchasing ages at 18, due to how changing the age would be ineffective and unfair to US citizens. Their role should be to maintain the current age restrictions on these products.

People throughout society are purchasing and using the products listed above more than ever. Correspondingly, there has been an increase in the availability of these products, which means that acquiring them is easier than ever. Although raising the legal age seems like a simple solution to limit product use, it is not. Back in 1984, the US Government was confronted with a similar issue, but the dispute was over the minimum age to purchase and consume alcohol. Congress passed a law raising the legal age to purchase and consume alcohol from 18 to 21. In theory, this solution seems like it would work, but not to the extent that the Government expected. To this day, alcohol is still being acquired and consumed by people of all ages. In colleges and high schools, students who are younger than 21 are still drinking, because there is always a person looking to profit off of others. Even after the age limit was raised, people of all ages are still consuming alcohol; the same can be expected with the products above. Raising the age won’t change a thing. I have seen first hand the extent to which students will go to get their hands on JUUL products. Most of these students are younger than 18, the legal age to buy this product, yet they still can acquire them. It is for this reason alone that changing the age to buy these products won’t change a thing. There is always another person willing to sell products to underage people and make a profit, and this will be the case forever. Now, it is the seniors in high school who are all almost 18; later, it will be those who are 21 and are willing to sell to minors to make a profit. No matter what they change the age to, there will always be a person to step in and provide minors with these products.

For years, a person has been considered an adult if they are 18 years old. Altering the purchasing age would be unfair to young adults in the US, and make the federal Government appear hypocritical. When you turn 18, you are entrusted with key responsibilities in society. You can vote in elections, serve on a jury, and, most importantly, you can fight for your country. The Government believes that you should be allowed to fight and die for your country when you become an adult. If the age restrictions on these products is raised, it would mean that the Government believes that you are old enough to die for your country, but not old enough to make decisions to use these products. The Government has decided that people shouldn’t have a choice in what they are able to do in their young lives, because it is harmful to them. At 18, young adults need to be able to make their own decisions and learn from them. They are eliminating people’s freedom of choice, and should realize that they are adults. In the end, restricting the age of those purchasing products such as tobacco, vape, CBD, and energy products would eliminate a portion of the populations freedom to choose what they wish to do, and shows where the Governments ideals lie - they would rather its young adult population go off and die in another country before they would let them buy these products.

Although a role of the Federal Government is to protect the US population, they should not alter the legal age to buy age restricted products, like these. Changing the legal age would be pointless. It has been shown throughout US history that raising the age restrictions on products only provides a minor road block for people trying to acquire them. There will always be a person willing to sell to minors, further keeping them accessible. Finally, changing the legal age to buy tobacco, vape, CBD, and energy products would cause further disputes between the Government and its people. Reducing the age would make it look like the Government only cares about its own personal interests, because they will allow people to fight for their country, but won’t allow them to make a personal decision like this. The Federal Government needs to realize that once people turn 18 they are old enough to make their own decisions, and learn from their choices.

Work Cited: Kaplan, Sheila. “Trump Administration Plans to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Sept. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/ health/trump-vaping.html.