Teen cigarette smoking, has decreased by 25 percent over the past two years. A Florida Department of Health survey released in March found cigarette smoking over the past two years had dropped by 54 percent among middle school students and 24 percent among high school students.

Ninety-five percent of students in the Department of Health survey said they were aware of the campaign, which is funded by the state's $13 billion settlement with tobacco companies.

The goals of Florida's Tobacco Pilot Program are to:
1. Change attitudes about tobacco;
2. Empower youth to lead community involvement against tobacco;
3. Reduce accessibility and availability of tobacco to youth; and
4. Reduce youth exposure to second hand smoke.
(Florida Tobacco Pilot Program. Formal Strategic Plan. June 30, 1998)

When the “Truth” campaign was barely a year old, Jeff Hicks, an advertising agency executive with Crispin, Porter & Bogusky said it is exceeding its goals. “We have almost 93% awareness of our campaign and of “Truth” in the state, which is just unbelievable, to have launched a ‘brand’ and have that kind of awareness in such a short amount of time.”

The Holtz Report  gives an in-depth look at the goals and exemplary progress of the "Truth" campaign. In Dec.1999 Holtz followed up with an update covering the events of the past year of this program and how the program ran up against politics and ultimately a funding cut. He notes that "new restrictions imposed by the legislature may cripple the program's efforts to prevent teens from smoking."

In his report Holtz says, "In order to achieve their goals, public health advocates need to do a better job of navigating political channels. To say tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death is correct, but insufficient. Both the goals and methods of public health programs, especially controversial ones such as tobacco control, must be presented persuasively to political and voters who may have other priorities."

In order for the public health of this country to suffer less devastating losses from the effects of smoking in the future, politicians and voters should not be waffling about investing in smoking prevention and cessation where the future lies... with our teens and pre-teens. What could have more priority than the health of our children?

I think back to the times I experimented with smoking as a 15 year old girl wanting to rebel against my parents,  look cool and hang with the "in" crowd. In the light of what we know today, I am quite sure I would not have continued to smoke had I found out the truth that cigarettes kill a third of the people who use them. Had I known that cigarettes would kill 11 minutes off my life every time I smoked one, I don't believe I would have become a two pack a day smoker for many years. That means I lost over 7 hours of life every day that I smoked two packs. But, tobacco companies never told us that. They told us "You've come a long way, Baby!" and that we were cool and grown-up!

National Youth Tobacco Survey

The American Legacy Foundation, in conjunction with the CDC Foundation ,(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) conducted the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) during the fall of 1999. In their report of January 28, 2000, it was found that smoking may have peaked in terms of the rates of smoking among high school students. However, it may have been due to the increase in cigarette prices raised to offset the national tobacco settlements, or perhaps the banning of billboard ads for cigarettes, or the laying to rest of Joe Camel and other cartoon characters designed to appeal to youngsters. Something has helped to start a decrease in teen smoking in any event.

The report's good news was that high school student smoking was at 36.4 percent in 1997, but in this latest report, just 28.4 percent of the survey reported using tobacco products in the past month.

Additionally, the same report shows that almost 13 percent of Middle School students said they had used some type of tobacco products. Increased usage of kreteks and bidis, wrongly thought to be safer than cigarettes, may lead to a worsening situation and increased numbers of children smoking. The director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health's, Michael Eriksen said " If current patterns continue, 5 million children under the age of 18 alive today in the United States will die prematurely as a result of addiction to cigarette smoking."

 See table and report showing Percentage of students in middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) currently* using tobacco products, by type of tobacco product, sex, and race/ethnicity.

Teens are Fighting for The Truth

Two developments that are sure to aid in the reduction of teen smoking has already gotten Philip Morris' firm rattled and upset.

Teens are the guiding force behind an ad campaign that according to Cheryl Healton, CE of the American Legacy Foundation "is the largest counter-marketing campaign in public health in our country." It is even bigger than the federal governments' anti-drug campaigns, which spent $155 million last year.

The campaign's logo "TRUTH", is prominent in their commercial television ads, and their associated Web site which is slick and eye-appealing. The truth rings true on this site and they keep you up to date on what they plan for future activities. Be sure to take a look at the new commercials online. They are edgy and they go for "the truth".

Healton said that $185 million will be spent on advertising, community activities, the new web site and other ways to discourage children and teens from ever starting to smoke.

Cigarette Sales Abuses tracked on FDA Web Site

With the crackdown on merchants all across the country who continue to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to minors, comes a way of embarrassing them and cutting off their coffers. To find your friendly neighborhood vendor of cigarettes to kids in your neighborhood, you may now look them up on the Web. You might even like to let them know that you will no longer buy anything in the stores of those who would encourage smoking to our kids.

There have been 36,757 merchants who recently were caught red-handed making illegal sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products to teens and they are now listed on the new Food and Drug Administration Web site. To find out how local retailers are faring in not selling cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to children, and to view state and national compliance statistics, please visit our New Compliance Checker.

 There are 3.3 million Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 who light up every day and every day 3000 new teens and pre-teens try it. One of every three of those will die from tobacco caused deaths in the future. Allowing them to smoke is a deadly rite of passage into the adult world.  At least a third of those that smoke won't have the same quality of life or length of life of those who never smoked. Some reward for being a curious kid who wants to be "cool".

Related Resources and Links:

Struggle to Quit 
A surprising number of teens want to quit smoking but have a particularly difficult time doing so, in part because most programs are geared to the needs of adults, not kids. LA Times 2/14/00 This article is a must-read!

Teen Smokers More Hooked
The later a teen starts smoking, the sooner they are likely to quit, but will probably puff for at least 16 years.

How to Talk to Your Young Children About Not Smoking
Provide a Tobacco-Free Environment. Give Clear, Consistent Messages. Sort Out Conflicting Messages. Set Rules About Not Smoking. Be Aware of Influencing Factors. Be a role model for your child.

Genetic Damage in Young Smokers Is Linked to Lung Cancer
"If we're right," said Dr. John K. Wiencke, who led the research effort, "it says that something happens in adolescence that changes you, perhaps forever."