Youth smoking way down

The latest data from the ASH survey of Year 10 students is encouraging.

• Only 3.2% of Year 10 students smoke daily, down from 15.6% in 1999
• Only 8.5% of Maori Year 10 students smoke daily, down from 30.3% in 1999
• Only 6.8% of Year 10 students smoke regularly, down from 28.6% in 1999
• Only 14.7% of Maori Year 10 students smoke regularly, down from 42.8% in 1999

Most Year 10 students are 15, so ideally the smoking rates should be 0%. There’s still a fair way to go, but the trend is encouraging. It’s one thing for adults to decide to smoke (fine so long aas they pay the costs of their healthcare, not me) but a very bad thing for teenagers to start smoking.