Editorial: Age 21 to buy cigarettes? What're they smoking?

The City Council is blowing smoke if it thinks raising the minimum age for tobacco sales to 21 will stop younger people from lighting up. It won't, any more than laws against marijuana keep kids away from weed.

What the measure might do is make the city's black market for cigarettes even more robust.

That's no small trick. New Yorkers are already more likely to buy smokes on the black market than legally, says the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group.

The black-market buyers want to dodge the nation's highest tobacco taxes -- a $5.85-per-pack levy in the city that hikes the price of a single pack to as much as $12.

While a companion council bill strengthens enforcement against illegal dealers and tax evaders, don't hold your breath for a major turnaround -- not while the city is strengthening black-market demand at the same time.

Give Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn credit for trying to keep young people from getting hooked.

That's a genuine concern.

But unfortunately, like the mayor's failed effort to ban sugary soft drinks of more than 16 ounces, the 21-year-old minimum for smokes is an overreach.

There's a thin line between being an ardent public health advocate and turning city officials into health cops -- and the mayor and council are stepping over it.

By giving us the highest minimum age among big cities for buying tobacco products or e-cigarettes, the council is giving us a law that's not likely to be effective but is likely to increase illegal activity.

The city can do research and relentlessly put facts before young potential smokers. It can mount major advertising campaigns to warn about smoking. But legal fiats are a limited tool. How will they stop a 20-year-old who really wants to smoke?

Imagine a cigarette vendor trying to tell soldiers just off the plane from Afghanistan they're too young to buy cigarettes here. It contradicts common sense.