No puffs equal cool stuff

Fewer N.C. teens start smoking, study says -- here's incentive for the others to quit

Fewer North Carolina teenagers are taking that first puff. That's the word from the 2005 N.C. Youth Tobacco Survey, the annual study of teen Tar Heel smoking habits by the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund.

The survey of 6,000 students at 177 middle and high schools in the state found 74.2 percent of middle school students and 45.7 percent of high school students who say they have never smoked a cigarette. In 2001, only 64.9 percent of middle schoolers could make that claim while just 35.8 percent of high schoolers had never put butt to lip.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, who runs or walks an hour each morning before facing a day that includes presiding over the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, was excited by the findings: "What this says is the prospect for real long-term success in preventing teens from starting is great."

One reason cited for the drop is increased awareness of the hazards of smoking, from programs such as the fund's "Tobacco. Reality. Unfiltered." ad campaign and the state's Tobacco-Free Schools policy. Of the former, 8 of 10 high school kids and 7 of 10 middle schoolers said they had seen or heard an anti-smoking message in the media over the past month. Of the latter, schools with a 100 percent Tobacco-Free Policy -- no smoking allowed anywhere on campus -- reported 40 percent fewer smokers.

We can't help but wonder, though, how how big a role economics might play in this reduction. And that led us to a little exercise: to let those remaining teen smokers see where their cigarette money might go should they kick the habit.

The survey asked those who had smoked within the past 30 days -- 20.3 percent of high schoolers and 5.9 percent of middle schoolers -- what their cigarette of choice was. Listed below are their top three choices, with their per-pack price (at the BP gas station in the Pleasant Valley Promenade Shopping Center on Raleigh's Glenwood Avenue, gas stations being the favorite place for teens to score their smokes):

1. Marlboro: $3.54.

2. Newport: $3.49

3. Camel: $3.69

Of those who had smoked within the previous 30 days, the survey asked how often they had smoked. Of the 20.3 percent of high schoolers who had smoked in the past month, their frequency was such:

* Less than 1 cigarette per day, 3.3 percent

* 1 cigarette per day, 3.3 percent

* 2 to 5 per day, 7.8

* 6 to 10 per day, 2.9

* 11 to 20 per day, 1.6

* A pack a day or more, 1.4

Tell the pack-a-day smoker who lights up Camels that he could save $3.69 a day, $25.83 a week, $110.70 a month or $1,346.85 a year by going cold turkey, and you might well get his attention. Better yet, we figured, show smokers what they could buy with that money and you'd definitely get their attention. (Of course, this approach will be a little tougher with the 6 percent of kids who say they mooch their smokes from friends.)

Our findings follow. For purposes of example, we've cited the most common frequency category, two to five cigarettes a day (we averaged it out to 3.5 cigarettes a day) and used the most popular cigarette brand, Marlboro, at $3.54 a pack. (Based on 20 cigarettes in a pack, that works out to 18 cents per cigarette, or 63 cents a day.)