Twenty years ago, the small town of Needham, Massachusetts did something bold. It raised the legal sales age for tobacco to 21, becoming the first jurisdiction in the world to directly confront the industry’s dependence on adolescent addiction.

What began as a local ordinance became a global movement.

Today, all or parts of 14 countries – representing more than 1.1 billion people – have adopted Tobacco 21. The policy is straightforward, economical and powerfully effective: stop industry access to kids, prevent addiction, save lives.

In the United States, more than 600 cities and 44 states acted before federal law made Tobacco 21 the national standard. The impact was rapid and measurable. Within two years of nationwide implementation, high school vaping, the primary nicotine product used by kids, dropped by 60 percent.

Tobacco 21 works. And the movement is just beginning.