吸菸的人一輩子會多花200萬美金

Some 95% of lifetime smokers pick up the habit before their 21st birthday, so Oregon lawmakers yesterday passed a law making it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase cigarettes in the hopes of nipping the bad habit in the bud. "By the age of 25, this addiction is cemented in the brain and it becomes very difficult—almost impossible—to quit," State Rep. Greg Smith, told KGW.

95%的終身菸民21歲前就開始吸菸了，因此，昨天俄勒岡州的立法機構通過了一項法案，禁止未滿21歲的人吸菸，想借此將吸菸的苗頭扼殺在搖籃裏。衆議院議員格瑞格·史密斯（Greg Smith）告訴媒體KGW：“人25歲的時候，煙癮已經在大腦里根深蒂固了，要想戒菸幾乎不可能。”

Oregon is not the first state to do this, and it probably won't be the last. No one under 21 can (lawfully) buy cigarettes in Hawaii, California,Oregon, Washington, D.C., and Guam to date. It also passed in New Jersey, but noted beachcomber Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the bill—although it could still become law there. According to the American Cancer Society, at least 250 localities across the country have passed similar local ordinances.

俄勒岡州不是第一個立該法的地區，也不會是最後一個。夏威夷、加利福尼亞、華盛頓、哥倫比亞特區都禁止未滿21歲者吸菸，關島立法也指日可待。新澤西州也通過了該法案，但是新澤西的州長克瑞斯·科瑞斯特，這位有名的海濱拾荒人，卻反對該法案。當然，他的反對並不會阻礙法案成立。美國癌症協會（American Cancer Society）稱，美國至少有250個地區通過了類似的條例。

Not smoking is also a great financial move. A lifetime habit costs between $1 million and $2 million. Smoking-related costs also further overburden the health care system. According to a 2014 analysis, 8.7% of all health care spending, or $170 billion a year, is for illness caused by tobacco smoke, and public programs like Medicare and Medicaid paid for most of these costs. If Medicaid is slashed as proposed in the Republican health care plan, states could be left footing the bill, so raising the smoking age just makes good economic sense.

戒菸還能省下一大筆錢。終身吸菸將花費一百萬到兩百萬美元。吸菸相關的開支也會增加醫保體系的負擔。2014年，一項分析顯示，8.7%的醫保支出用於治療由吸菸引發的疾病，具體金額爲每年1700億美元，醫療保險和醫療補助這樣的大衆項目成爲了這筆花銷的“報賬人”。一旦共和黨關於大幅削減醫療補助的提議被採納，政府就得填補空缺。這樣看來，提高可吸菸年齡對經濟來說確實是百益無害的。