Needham, Massachussetts 10-year study shows drop in teen smoking after raising tobacco age of sale to 21 in 2005.
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The Boston Globe reported on a 10-year study published in Tobacco Control Journal on June 12, 2015.  Brown and Harvard University researchers collected data over 10 years from 2005 to the present, surveying more than 16,000 high school students. In 2012, some neighboring communities enacted a similar law. The study showed that Needham Massachusetts’ teen smoking rates dropped after a local ordinance was enacted that increased the age to sell tobacco products to 21:
- Teen smoking rates decreasing from 12 to 7% in Needham, vs. only a 15 to 12% drop in towns from surrounding areas that did not have a tobacco 21 ordinance.
- Based on the findings, researchers suggest that all neighboring towns enacted the same policy, 3 million fewer smoking-related deaths might occur.
- Tobacco 21 remains one of the main ways to curb teenage smoking.
You can read more from The Boston Globe.