Teen Smoking Is Dropping but...Yes, we are all happy that more and more teens are avoiding smoking. The fact is, however, too many are still engaging in this behavior. While we want to avoid being negative about hearing (even the smallest of) changes in teen smoking behavior, the facts still indicate...
...that out of approximately 700,000 teens in Minnesota, over 140,000 have smoked in the past 30 days!
Here's a copy of the new MDH report:
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced results of a new survey showing that tobacco use among Minnesota's teens continues to decline. The 2008 Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey provides a wide range of data on tobacco use among teens over the past three years.
Among the findings:
- The percentage of middle school students who used any tobacco products in the past 30 days fell from 9.5 percent to 6.9 percent.
- The percentage of middle school students who smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days fell from 5.2 to 3.4 percent.
- The percentage of high school students using any tobacco products fell from 29.3 percent to 27.0 percent.
- The percentage of high school students who smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days fell from 22.4 to 19.1 percent.
