FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 27, 2003) - A recent survey of Kentucky middle and high school students shows a decrease in current tobacco use.

However, tobacco use among Kentucky’s young people is still high when compared to the national average.

The 2002 Kentucky Youth Tobacco Survey is the second report of its kind. Like the first survey in 2000, the results will be used to develop youth smoking prevention efforts.

Among the findings in the 2002 survey:

Commissioner. "While the changes are not big, they are clearly in the right direction. I congratulate those young people and the adults in their lives who are helping them stay away from tobacco products. They are taking steps to keep the next generation healthy and…prevent some of the unrelenting increases in health care costs."

Each year, 20,000 Kentucky children become new daily smokers. Since 90 percent of all smokers begin before they reach the age of 18, the legacy of Kentucky tobacco related deaths begins here. At current rates, almost 114,000 Kentucky kids will die prematurely from smoking. The state’s high school smoking rate is 34 percent compared to the national average of 28 percent in 2002. That is the fourth worst high school rate in the nation.

There are two things that evidence points to that will reduce tobacco consumption: higher prices and a sustained statewide media campaign, according to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (February 2001) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of Smoking and Health. Until these two strategies take place, it will continue to be a struggle to significantly reduce youth initiation.

Kentucky’s Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program allocates tobacco settlement funds to local health departments to promote community interventions to decrease youth initiation. Local interventions include working with schools to teach prevention curricula for alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (such as LifeSkills®), promote peer education programs such as Teens Against Tobacco Use, encourage schools to adopt 100 percent tobacco-free policies, and other evidence-based strategies.

The Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation program receives funds for Master Settlement Agreement and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For a copy of the executive summary, contact Irene Centers, Program Manager, Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program at irene.centers@mail.state.ky.us mailto:irene.centers@mail.state.ky.us. (or 502-564-7996, ext 3808)