Raising smoking age to 21 covers all bases

Hawaii lawmakers have made strides for public health by approving a bill that raises the smoking age to 21 statewide, for all forms of tobacco and electronic smoking devices. Gov. David Ige should sign this measure into law.

Raising the smoking age from 18 will deter young adults from an addictive and deadly habit at just the impressionable age when marketers work so hard to hook them. As an internal R.J. Reynolds memo revealed: "If a man has never smoked by age 18, the odds are three-to-one he never will. By age 24, the odds are twenty-to-one."

This issue is especially important amid a national movement to legalize recreational use of marijuana and the skyrocketing use of e-cigarettes among Hawaii youth. The devices are used to smoke nicotine-based liquids, cannabis oil — without emitting the tell-tale odor of leaf marijuana — and other substances. Bringing conventional tobacco products, e-cigarettes and alcohol all under the same age requirement makes sense.