Too many kids smoke: teen smoking rates have fallen, but there's still work to be done in trying to keep kids from becoming addicted to tobacco.

• Author: Gordon, Diana

It is a good news/bad news scenario. The good news is that teen smoking rates have fallen, tapering off from 36.5 percent among high school seniors in 1997 to 26.7 percent in 2002, according to Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study, an annual survey of tobacco and drug use by high school students.

The bad news is that more than 2,000 Americans between 12 and 17 become new cigarette customers each day with 4.5 million under 18 considered "current smokers." Those are the figures behind the 26.7 percent of high school seniors who smoke, in part due to peer pressure and in part to the youthful sense of invulnerability, behavioral experts say.

Three factors--high stress, frequent boredom and too much spending money--contribute to teen use of cigarettes, alcohol and illegal drugs, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

But there's a reason kids keep smoking: They quickly become addicted. A new McGill University study says that, contrary to what was once believed, it does not take several years of heavy or daily smoking to become dependent on nicotine. Kids become addicted earlier and faster than originally suspected.

STATE EFFORTS

The states spent $231 million in tobacco settlement money in 2003 for programs to educate adolescents about the dangers of tobacco, as well as an additional $265 million for tobacco use prevention.

Arizona's kid-oriented campaign that portrays tobacco use as a "tumor-causing, teeth-staining, smelly, puking habit" has raised teens' awareness about the ill effects of smoking and chewing, says Cathy Bischoff, head of the state health services department's tobacco education and prevention program. Since the campaign was launched in 1996, close to 80 percent of Arizona's young people now say they know smoking affects their health.

Bischoff says the campaign continues to be refined. The newest angle targets girls, who were identified by the Columbia study to be more susceptible to stress and more likely to use spending money on cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. With the help of the Phoenix Mercury women's basketball team, the campaign is aimed not only at discouraging smoking, but building girls' self-esteem and body image by focusing on disciplined, skilled athletes.

"Hits" to the anti-tobacco campaign Web site between July and September rose from 101,000 to 182,000, "so we know we're communicating," Bischoff says.

California is working to make sure retailers know it's against...