Petition to federally raise the tobacco purchase age to 19, reducing the amount of youth smokers in America

Nine out of ten tobacco in the United States start using before the age of 18. Allowing 18 year olds to purchase tobacco simply opens the door for many high school students to obtain tobacco and therefore become lifelong addicts. Raising the federal age of tobacco purchase to 19 will ultimately lessen tobacco's prevalence in schools, as the majority of high school students do not become older than 18 while in secondary school. This will ultimately do something in the future to lessen the over $100 billion spent by the public health care systems each year on tobacco related medical care and save many lives from a premature death.