Peterborough Public Health supports recommendation to increase legal smoking age

A report commissioned by the province of Ontario recommends raising the legal smoking age to 21 and doubling the price of cigarette cartons.

Peterborough Public Health says the recommendations, which the province is considering, are a step in the right direction when it comes to butting out in Peterborough.

“Tobacco is lethal, it’s a carcinogen,” Medical Officer of Health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra said. “There is no safe dose.”

Right now, about 17 per cent of the population smokes. The federal government wants to lower that to five per cent by 2035.

Salvaterra says raising the legal smoking age from 19 to 21 will help Canada reach that goal, pointing out that teenagers who pick up smoking tend to continue smoking into adulthood.

“We know that after the age 24, very few people initiate tobacco use. So the longer you can protect them and the closer you can get them to 24, the better we’ll be at preventing that use in the first place,” she said.