Sri Lanka raises minimum age for tobacco sales to 24

Sri Lanka's National Tobacco and Alcohol Authority (NATA) has announced that it will introduce several new tobacco control measures in 2022. These include raising the minimum age for the sale and purchase of tobacco products from 21 to 24 years as of 1^er January 2022. The country will be the first in the world to impose such a high legal age across its territory[1].

NATA President Dr Samadhi Rajapaksa told the media that several amendments would be made to the National Tobacco and Alcohol Act (adopted in 2006 and governing tobacco control in Sri Lanka) in 2022. In addition to the legal age, the country also wants to increase taxes on tobacco products and ban cross-border advertising of tobacco products, particularly on social media.

A measure that would reduce smoking initiation and prevalence

Dr. Rajapaksa says he wants to raise the legal age to 24 because studies have proven that 24 is the age at which the brain is fully and properly developed. Research shows that most adult smokers started using tobacco in their teens, and the younger you start smoking, the harder it is to quit. Raising the legal age of sale makes it harder for young people to access tobacco products. This measure helps reduce smoking initiation and prevalence. Raising the legal age should be combined with other measures to reduce youth smoking rates, such as tax increases, smoke-free spaces, advertising restrictions, and so on.

Adolescents typically exhibit risky behavior because the prefrontal cortex, needed for planning and impulse control, doesn't fully mature until around age 25. A 2016 report from the U.S. Surgeon General[2] pointed out that nicotine exposure during adolescence can disrupt the development of brain regions that control attention, learning, and susceptibility to addiction.

In the United States, where many states have raised the legal age from 18 to 21 and the law is being properly enforced, tobacco use has declined dramatically. In 2006, the community of Needham, Massachusetts, raised the legal age from 18 to 21, and the prevalence of smoking among high school students decreased from 13 to 71% (a decrease of 47%).[3]A 2019 study found that the Tobacco 21 law would reduce the risk of becoming a daily smoker by 39% among 18-20 year olds.[4].

Keywords: Sri Lanka, legal age, tobacco, youth, adolescents, tobacco 21

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[1] Pamodi Waravitan, NATA proposes 24 years as legal age for liquor, tobacco purchases, The Morning, December 30, 2021, accessed January 3, 2022 [2] E-cigarette use among youth and young people adults: a report of the surgeon general. Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2016 [3] Oyston, John. “A fresh approach to tobacco control: raising the minimum legal age for access.” CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal = journal of the Canadian Medical Association flight. 189.8 (2017): E293-E294. doi:10.1503/cmaj.161489 [4] Friedman AS, Buckell J, Sindelar JL. Tobacco-21 laws and young adult smoking: quasi-experimental evidence. Addiction. 2019 Oct;114(10):1816-1823. doi:10.1111/add.14653. Epub 2019 Jul 24. PMID: 31342591; PMCID: PMC7233410. National Committee Against Smoking |