Despite more awareness of the dangers of tobacco, people continue to smoke.

• 16% of Maine high school students smoke—that’s over 12,000 children.
• 27,000 thousand Maine kids (currently under age 18) will die early from using tobacco.
• Nationally, college-age smoking rates rose dramatically in the 1990s. Today, almost 27% of college students smoke in the U.S. The rates are higher among young adults who leave home and go straight to work—more than 37% of them smoke.
• Here in Maine, our young adult smoking rate is similar to national levels. Almost one out of three kids in our state will have become an addicted smoker by the time he or she has reached young adulthood.
• Cigar smoking is also on the rise among college-age adults. According to national reports, young adults 18-25 are more than twice as likely to report smoking a cigar than are teenagers or adults over the age of 26.
• Social smoking among youth and young adults is also increasing. The federal CDC defines social smoking as “some day smokers” because they claim to only smoke while hanging out with friends, partying, etc. Among 18 to 24 year olds, almost 29% report being “some day smokers” to the CDC, which is a higher rate than any other age group.

The tobacco industry keeps spending to hook new smokers.

• In 2003, cigarette companies spent $15.2 billion annually, or more than $41 million per day, on advertising and promotion. Cigarette advertising and promotional expenditures have more than doubled since 1998.
• In Maine, the portion of the total spent promoting tobacco is more than $73 million annually.
• Dollars spent marketing through sponsorships, company web sites, and the telephone increased 147% from 1998 to 2003. Direct mail increased by 60.9%.

The tobacco industry targets children.

• Almost 90% of adult smokers begin smoking at or before age 18. Nearly two-thirds of them become regular, daily smokers before they turn 19.
• Research at the Harvard School of Public Health found that the tobacco industry uses candy- and sweet-flavored ingredients to mask the harsh taste of tobacco smoke to make products more appealing to youth.
• 81.3% of youth (ages 12-17) who smoke prefer Marlboro, Camel and Newport—the three most heavily advertised brands.
• A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that teens are more likely to be influenced to smoke by cigarette advertising than they are by peer pressure.
• Kids are more than twice as likely as adults to recall tobacco advertising. While only 28% of all adults recalled seeing a tobacco ad in the two weeks prior to the survey, 53% of kids aged 12 to 17 reported seeing tobacco ads, according to the Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids.
• A study in the American Journal of Public Health showed that adolescents who owned a tobacco promotional item and named a cigarette brand whose advertising attracted their attention were twice as likely to become established smokers than those who did neither.
• As much as a third of all youth who experiment with smoking do so because of effective tobacco industry marketing.

“Young adult smokers have been the critical factor in the growth and decline of every major brand and company over the last 50 years. They will continue to be important...”
–1984 RJ Reynolds marketing document

“The ability to attract new smokers and develop them into a young adult franchise is key to brand development.”
–1991 Philip Morris report

“It is during the teenage years that the initial brand choice is made.”
–A Philip Morris report on smoking trends

“Younger adult smokers have been the critical factor in the growth and decline of every major brand and company over the last 50 years. They will continue to be just as important to brands/companies in the future…”
–1984 Lorillard memorandum

They deny and deny, but they’re guilty.

On August 17, 2006, US District Judge Gladys Kesseler issued a federal opinion in the federal government’s lawsuit against major tobacco companies. It was found that the tobacco companies (the defendants):

• violated civil racketeering laws.
  
• defrauded the American public by lying over decades about the health risks of tobacco.
  
• did market to children.
  
• continue to deceive the public by “recruiting new smokers (the majority of whom are under the age of 18), preventing current smokers from quitting, and thereby sustaining the industry.”

Kids are very vulnerable to the highly addictive nature of tobacco.

It is important to keep the topic of addiction in the ongoing conversation with your kids. Take a look at these shocking statistics from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

More than a third of all kids who ever try smoking a cigarette become regular, daily smokers before leaving high school.

Moreover, a September 2000 study found that symptoms of addiction—strong urges to smoke, anxiety or irritability, or unsuccessfully quit attempts—can appear in young kids within weeks or only days after occasional smoking first begins, and well before daily smoking has even started.

Although some kids who become regular smokers quit before leaving high school, almost three out of every four regular smokers in high school have already tried to quit but failed.

To learn more about addiction, see this fact sheet from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

If your kid is currently smoking, help him or her stop.

Call the Maine Tobacco HelpLine for information on helping teens quit at 1-800-207-1230 or visit the How to Quit page at the Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine.