Tobacco products are addictive drugs and nicotine addiction is a pediatric disease.
Indeed, while the prevalence of smoking among adults in Wisconsin declined between 1985 and 1993, smoking rates among youth have been on the increase. Despite Wisconsin laws prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to persons under age 18, it was estimated that over 5 million packs of cigarettes were illegally sold to children in the state in 1995. And studies suggest that anyone who does not begin to use tobacco as a child or adolescent is unlikely to start as an adult. The SMS also supports the new FDA rule, issued in August of this year, called Regulations Restricting the Sale and Distribution of Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco to Protect Children and Adolescents. In fact, the SMS not only supports restricting sales of cigarettes to minors, but supports increasing the enforcement of punitive measures for sales of cigarettes to minors.