Cigarettes, cigars, and pipes have been around for many centuries. Recently, vaping has become a popular alternative for those who are trying to quit smoking or want the ability to smoke without the stench. In most states, the legal smoking age is 18. Now, if you live in California, you will have to wait until you are 21.

According to Jonathan J. Cooper, California lawmakers voted on Thursday, March 10, "to raise the legal age for purchasing and using tobacco and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21, putting the nation's most populous state on the brink of becoming only the second after Hawaii to bar teenagers from lighting up, dipping or vaping."

In addition to Hawaii and California, cities such as New York and San Francisco have already opted to raise the smoking age to 21 in order to prevent people from getting addicted to smoking so young.

Senator Ed Hernandez said, "We can prevent countless California youth from becoming addicted to this deadly drug, save billions of dollars in direct health care costs and, most importantly, save lives."

However, this law may not prevent minors or even young adults from smoking. In fact, most smokers begin smoking before they even turn 18. Cooper states that "Making illegal for 18-year-old high school students to buy tobacco for their underage friends will make it more difficult for teens to get the products." So in a way, this may aid in the prevention of getting addicted to smoking at such a young age; only time will truly tell.

While I have never smoked in my life and cannot even begin to understand the power that tobacco has over someone, I hope that one day, smoking is banned altogether. Sure, it is a person's (not the state's) right to determine what they do to their body, but the fact that smoking affects other people should be reason enough to eventually ban it.

According to the CDC, "Since 1964, approximately 2,500,000 nonsmokers have died from health problems caused by exposure to secondhand smoke." Those were 2.5 million innocent lives that were taken by secondhand smoke. This is something that we should recognize more as a society. We need to continue to push anti-smoking campaigns so that the generations that come after us smoke less and less until it is something that nobody wants to light a cigarette.

I wish I could say that California, Hawaii, New York City, San Francisco, and dozens of other cities were taking a step in the right direction, but I don't know if this addictive habit will ever go away unless the tobacco companies are put out of business or lose customers altogether. To be completely honest, raising the legal smoking age probably won't do very much; if a minor or young adult wants to smoke badly enough, they will find a way no matter if there is a law in place.

Hopefully, there will be a day when everyone can breathe and not inhale cancerous air. Until then, let's keep educating everyone (not just children) of the harmful effects of smoking and keep supporting those who are trying to quit. Life is precious, and surrendering it over to tobacco is incredibly tragic.