Following the lead of Kansas City, Olathe has become Johnson County's first city to raise the age at which people can purchase tobacco.
The Olathe City Council voted to raise the age to 21 from 18 earlier this month. The U.S. Surgeon General recently said 90% of smokers have started smoking by the time they are 18.
Most council members supported the amendment because they believe it will improve the health of the community. One council member, Marge Vogt, revealed something most of her colleagues did not know – she is a nurse practitioner. She says she has never had one of her patients tell her they were happy to be smokers; instead, they were struggling to quit. She believes preventing the habit in the first place is an idea that has great merit.
Jim Randall, another council member, agreed adding he was particularly concerned about Olathe's young people. He noted that teenagers' brains are not fully developed, so people in this age group are more susceptible to becoming addicted than adults.
Members of the general public supported the measure, as did Roy Jenson, the University of Kansas Cancer Center's director, who said cancer has now passed heart disease as the leading cause of death in Kansas.
City official could work with a poster printing company to create placards for businesses to display in their windows supporting the measure.
