State survey reveals fewer kids smoking

LYNN – According to a new study conducted by the state Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Department of Education (DOE), cigarette and cigar smoking has declined in middle and high school students since 1995.The results, the first released from an extensive statewide Youth Behavior Risk Survey conducted last year, show sharp declines in nearly every grade level, ethnicity and social group.According to the study, current smoking in high school students has declined nearly 50 percent, from 35.5 percent in 1995 to 17 percent in 2007. The amount of students who have tried cigarettes at least once is down 35 percent to 46.4 percent, and frequent smoking has decreased by 55 percent in the 12-year span.At the middle school level, the number of students who tried cigarettes was down from 27 percent in 1995 to 15.5 percent in 2007, with only 2 percent of children under 13 admitting to the act of smoking.”We are especially pleased about the decline in tobacco use among Massachusetts adolescents,” said DPH Commissioner John Auerbach. “Fewer young people are smoking before age 13, fewer are experimenting with cigarettes, and fewer middle school students are smoking.”The survey also broke down smoking habits by race and ethnicity. At the high school level, white students have the highest percentage among students who smoke regularly at 19 percent, followed by 13 percent of Hispanic students, 9 percent of African American students and 7 percent of Asian students.Hispanic students make up the largest percentage of middle school smokers with 26 percent, followed by 24 percent of African Americans, 12 percent of white and 10 percent of Asian students.Other findings include that nearly 10 percent of young people reported smoking Black and Mild brand cigars, which are less expensive than cigarettes, and most students do not consider them cigars. The survey found that African American and Hispanic students were more likely to try the small cigars.Officials cited the work of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program as the primary factor in these lower numbers, due to increased funding for local programs and an intensive effort to crack down on tobacco dealers that sell to minors.In compliance checks performed by the North Shore Tobacco Control Program last month in Lynn, only eight of 121 permitted merchants were fined for selling tobacco to minors. Six of those eight were hit with their first offense, which results only in a $100 fine. A second offense results in a $200 fine and a temporary suspension of the tobacco license.”We try to do as much outreach as possible, especially merchant education in the hopes to prevent the sale of tobacco to minors,” said North Shore Tobacco Control Program Director Joyce Redford. “We have an under 27 campaign where merchants have to ask for IDs for any person under the age of 27. The misconception is that they try to make judgments on kids that are 16, 17 or 18 to figure out if the kid is 18 or not. Kids at that age look much more similar to one another than they do when they are 27.”Overall, Lynn has a 98 percent compliance rate, which Redford says is “great” for a city the size of Lynn.Redford said that the organization used to have a position funded to go to the schools for tobacco outreach, but the Lynn Public Schools are no longer involved in that program. Now, tobacco education comes to students in health and gym classes.In 2007, the DPH and DOE coordinated the administration of two Youth Behavior Risk Surveys in a representative sample of public schools in Massachusetts. The complete list of statistics can be found at www.mass.gov/dph/mtcp/reports.