OLYMPIA – Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson wants to raise the legal age for smoking tobacco to 21.

Ferguson said the increase would help protect young people from the dangers of voting. He announced a proposed bill Wednesday that would make Washington the first state in the country to raise the legal age for purchasing and possessing tobacco and vapor products to 21.

“The damage tobacco does to the lives and health of Washingtonians is devastating,” Ferguson said.

“Research shows the young adult brain, still developing between 18 and 21, is highly susceptible to nicotine addiction. We must do more to protect our youth from tobacco’s grip, and this bill is an important step toward keeping nicotine out of the hands of kids and young adults,” he said.

The attorney general noted that smoking kills 8,300 people in Washington state every year, and said $2.8 billion in health care costs are directly attributed to tobacco use in the state.

Washington taxpayers also pay nearly $400 million in taxes to cover state government expenditures caused by smoking, he noted.

The bill has been introduced in this year’s Legislative Session as agency-request legislation, and the proposal — Senate Bill 5494 and House Bill 1458 — is sponsored by Sen. Mark Miloscia (R-Federal Way) and Rep. Tina Orwall (D-Des Moines).

“We know that tobacco is highly addictive, that most smokers begin to use nicotine in their teens and can later develop tobacco-related illnesses like cancer, emphysema and heart disease,” Orwall said. “By restricting use during youth we hope to break this cycle of addiction and, ultimately, save lives.”

“As one of the most risky, addictive and harmful activities a young person can engage in, smoking should be a decision they make once they have had a chance to grow and mature,” Miloscia said. “This action could drive a major decline in smoking addiction, help save human lives and reduce health care costs.”

Officials said the percentage of middle and high school students who have used vapor products more than doubled nationally from 2011 to 2012. By 2014, 17 percent of high school seniors had tried e-cigarettes.

Four states — Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah — already prohibit the sale of tobacco products to persons under the age of 19, and some cities and counties have increased their smoking ages to 21.

Needham, Mass., became the first city to raise the legal age to 21 in 2005 and has seen its high-school smoking rate drop by more than half between 2006 and 2012, officials said.