Media Release

For: Immediate Release
Date: March 16, 2006
Contact : Betty Harvey, MA, MS, Tobacco Control Program Manager 401-222-6054

Rhode Island Reaches Youth Smoking Milestone Ahead of Schedule

Providence, Rhode Island, March 16, 2006 – Today, the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) announces the tobacco use results of the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) that monitors health-risk behaviors among public high school students.

“Youth smoking rates have been decreasing over the past 8 years. The YRBS 2005 data shows that Rhode Island has met an important milestone ahead of schedule. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Healthy People 2010 goal is 16% for adolescent smoking. Rhode Island has reached 15.9% adolescent smoking among high schools students. Clearly, Rhode Island youth are getting the message about tobacco,” said David R. Gifford, MD, MPH, Director of Health.

The 8-year trend documents continuing declines in youth smoking from 35% in 1997, to 25% in 2001, to 19% in 2003 and now 15.9% in 2005. In addition to the drop in smoking prevalence, the number of adolescents who have tried smoking, even a puff or two, has decreased from 69% in 1997 to 45% in 2005.

Even with this good news, the sobering reality is that over 8,000 high school students in Rhode Island are still smoking, and 22,600 of these adolescents still report that they have tried smoking. Because of the highly addictive nature of nicotine, many of these young people will become adult smokers, and one-third of them will die prematurely from tobacco. The smoking rate for girls is higher than for boys: 17.2% for girls and 14.7% for boys. In 1997 smoking rates were the same for boys and girls, but beginning in 2001 rates have been consistently higher for girls. This is a disturbing trend.

“I am glad to see that Rhode Island youth are doing so well on this health indicator, but we still have our work cut out for us. Because every year a new group of potential smokers enters early adolescence when smoking seems so enticing, we cannot let up on the intensity of our effort. It is essential that we counter the $54 million tobacco companies spend in Rhode Island per year trying to increase smoking, especially among youth who are their replacement smokers for those who quit or die. We need to continue to get the anti-tobacco message to youth. This is a life-long investment,” said Dr. Gifford.

“Knowing what works has made this dramatic success possible. There is no magic bullet, no one thing that has created this change. As we have tracked what is working in other states and compare it to our success in Rhode Island, we see that the recommended Best Practice from the CDC really works. We have combined four Best Practice strategies that have been shown to reduce youth smoking: 1) media campaigns that expose tobacco industry targeting of youth, effective when we combined them with tobacco prevention activity in the community and schools, 2) legislative action creating strong laws that protect children and youth from having access to tobacco, 3) strong enforcement of those laws and 4) raising the cigarette excise tax” said Betty Harvey, Tobacco Control Program Manager.