There may be a simple solution to significantly reduce teenage smoking, according to a new study.

With more than 80 percent of smokers beginning before they are 18, raising the age when people can buy tobacco may be an easy solution to lowering rates of youth smoking.

The study found that raising the age at which someone can buy tobacco from 18 to 21 decreased sales among youth from 18.4 percent to 11.6 percent over a seven-year study in Needham, Massachusetts.

The study aimed to see if there was direct evidence that raising the age when people can buy cigarettes would affect youth smoking.

While the surrounding communities kept their tobacco sales age at 18, Needham’s was raised to 21. Researchers then surveyed 16,000 high school students four times over a six-year period in Needham and in 16 surrounding communities.

The results showed that the surrounding communities that kept selling tobacco to 18-year-olds saw only a small change in sales regarding the younger set, decreasing by only four-tenths of a percent.

When the study started in 2006, 12.9 percent of students in Needham reported smoking in the past 30 days. By the end of the study, the number of students who reported smoking had decreased to 5.5 percent.

The researchers concluded that the decrease in smoking in Needham was significantly greater when compared to the other communities. It also concluded that cigarette purchases among current smokers had declined significantly during the study period.

The researchers say blocking access to cigarettes is one easy way to keep kids from picking up the habit.

If you are already a smoker, it’s never too late to quit. If you are looking for help to kick the habit, visit smokefree-dot-gov for resources to help you live a smoke-free life.