24th August 2015— If a person remains tobacco-free until they reach age 21, chances are that he or she will never give in to the habit for the rest of their lives, says medical experts. Hence, raising the age of buying tobacco to 21 will protect teenagers and youths from the dangers of nicotine addiction, thus, reducing the number of deaths and diseases caused by tobacco usage.
Malaysian Mental Health Association deputy president Datuk Dr Andrew Mohanraj Chandrasekaran said people aged between 18 to 21 were most susceptible to the addictive effects of nicotine because their brains were developing.
“This is why most chronic smokers would have first experimented with cigarettes around this age and not later.
“Experimenting with cigarettes during this age allows the brain to ‘learn’ to be addicted compared with a more resistant ‘mature’ brain at an older age. When such an experiment is delayed, there is less likely for addiction to develop,” he told the New Straits Times.
He said the need to experiment with new things, seeking acceptance in a group or just being “cool” were some of the reasons why young people started smoking. He said some also felt that smoking was a form of social rebellion.
The news article was first published in The New Straits Times Online on 24th August 2015.
For full article, please read http://www.nst.com.my/node/97499
Dr. Andrew Mohanraj 