FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Joe O’Leary | Joe.OLeary@cga.ct.gov | 508-479-4969

Today, East Hartford’s Sunset Ridge Middle School hosted leaders State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor), State Representative Henry Genga (D-East Hartford), East Hartford Mayor Connor Martin, East Hartford Superintendent Thomas Anderson and Sunset Ridge Middle School principal Daniel Catlin as they addressed students to reflect on the five-year anniversary of Connecticut raising the age of access to tobacco products from 18 to 21.

This move, which came as part of an effort led by Sen. Anwar and was overwhelmingly approved by state lawmakers in spring 2019, going into effect on October 1 of that year. The move was prescient and ahead of larger national trends, as it preceded the federal age of access rising to 21 in December 2019.

“As a lung doctor, I have worked on a number of patients who experienced lung damage from smoking at a young age,” said Sen. Anwar. “For smoking, the younger you are, the higher your chances of lifelong addiction which can harm your health. Making tobacco harder for youths to access is an important step forward for our state and nation in improving public health and preventing future health consequences for so many.”

“In the last five years, the rate of youth smoking has declined from 27 to 12 percent,” said Rep. Genga. “That represents thousands of students, thousands of people, who every year are less likely to have
negative health impacts because they never started smoking. I was hoping there would be a coffin here so we could bury smoking for good, but we will continue working to improve outcomes for years to come.”

“Today, we’re marking a significant milestone,” said Mayor Martin. “This critical step will help the health and well-being of our youth. The consequences of youth access to tobacco increase addiction rates and harm public health. In East Hartford, we have also launched a local protection council to achieve more positive outcomes for our youth. Our community working together sets us up for a better future. Here’s to a healthier East Hartford.”

Raising the age of access was important for lawmakers to fight youth and underage smoking, which had grown significantly among high schoolers and youth in the mid-to-late-2010s. Rates of Connecticut high schoolers who used vapes doubled from 2015 to 2017, hampering efforts to fight youth smoking and spurring fights to limit access to addictive tobacco products.

Since the increase in the state’s age of access for tobacco, Connecticut is seeing success in limiting youth smoking. Rates of high school students smoking cigarettes daily dropped more than 18% from 2019 to 2023, according to the state’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, with daily use of vapes and e-cigarettes down 40% in that time among high schoolers.

According to the 2023 Youth Tobacco Survey, Connecticut high schoolers using tobacco regularly declined from 27.6% in 2019 to just 12.7% in 2023.

Preventing youth smoking is a vital aid for public health, as most smokers pick up the habit before they turn 18 or 21. Making this worse is that nicotine can harm developing brains, meaning youth smoking can reduce attention spans, lower impulse control and increase long-term odds they develop addiction – a factor that’s made worse when vapes can deliver more concentrated levels of nicotine than regular cigarettes.

According to 21 for a Reason, an organization dedicated to preventing youth smoking, 85% of adults who smoke daily started doing so before they turned 18, while 80% of regular smokers develop the habit before they turn 21. Statistics show that Connecticut sees a burden of more than $2.3 billion per year on smoking-related health care costs.

While progress continues to be made, tobacco products are still used by more than one in nine students statewide, concerning as tobacco smoke is the leading cause of preventable death and disability in the country each year. Connecticut loses nearly 5,000 residents per year to smoking-related illnesses.

Caption: Senator Anwar speaks at Sunset Ridge Middle School to students, faculty and East Hartford leaders.