Will Tobacco 21 laws lead to lower smoking rates among Ohio’s young adults? James researchers aim to find out. Ohio’s new Tobacco 21 laws, which raise the legal tobacco buying age from 18 to 21, are intended to prevent cancer, in part by reducing use among young people. To help determine the laws’ efficacy, James expert Megan Roberts, PhD, is leading a study at The Ohio State University to determine the impact of the laws to help determine if tobacco usage can be reduced — or even prevented — in those 21 and younger. “Part of our project is looking at how that is impacting undergraduates here at Ohio State,” Roberts says. “We started it two years ago, surveying several hundred students when they were freshmen, and now we’re surveying them now that they’re juniors. We’re also recruiting new freshmen into this study so we can evaluate how tobacco use has changed before and after Tobacco 21 went into effect.”