High Life A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Iowa Moves to Snuff Out Teen Puffing

On a mild summer night, 15-year-old Sara Meeker and her friends like to sit around shooting the breeze and smoking cigarettes.

Now, though, the conversation might not be as lighthearted as before--because they’ll be breaking the law if they light up.

Anyone under 18 caught smoking, chewing or even possessing tobacco in Iowa is subject to fines of up to $100 or a spell of community service. Teen-age smoking there recently became illegal; Iowa became what is probably the toughest anti-tobacco state in the union.

“I think it’s a bunch of garbage,” Sara said. “I’ve been smoking since I was in fifth grade, when I was 11 years old. This new law ain’t going to change a thing. I smoke, I’m addicted, and that isn’t going to change.”

Iowa’s anti-smoking law is believed to be the toughest of any state, said Carol Sipfle, director of programs for the American Lung Assn. in Des Moines.

“Part of this law also has to do with making it harder for kids to buy cigarettes in the first place,” Sipfle said. “I think it will make a difference, probably not a big difference, but we see this as progress that needs to be made in small steps.”

Also recently taking effect were measures in Virginia, Vermont and Wyoming that raise the legal age for buying cigarettes to 18 years, said the Tobacco Institute, a trade association in Washington. That’s also the legal age for smoking in California.

Like spinach or booster shots, these regulations may be good for them--but that doesn’t guarantee kids will like it.

“I want to get a protest going in the middle of the downtown mall where we all can sit and chain smoke, but everybody’s afraid of getting caught and paying 100 bucks,” said Iowan Brian Hampton, 15.

“I know one thing: We won’t stop smoking. We just won’t do it in front of cops.”

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, an ardent nonsmoker, wanted even tougher standards. He had asked for an increase in the legal age for buying cigarettes to 21, but legislators rejected that.

“It is more profitable for your congressman to support the tobacco industry than your life.”

--Jackie Mason, comedian