Guest Column: It's time to define when 'adulthood' is

The minimum age to purchase tobacco is now 21, a move that has been applauded on both sides of the aisle as a means to prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths. Yet the same people implementing the new law don’t seem to mind sending another wave of 18-year-old men and women to war, some of whom will die as a result.

Seem contradictory? It is. As a country we have yet to get on the same page as to what constitutes adulthood.

Yes, raising the age to purchase tobacco makes sense on the surface as it parallels the state’s marijuana and alcohol consumption age and has been linked to seriou...