I suspect that the "80% of adult smokers started when they were under 18" figure is obsolete. Most younger smokers I know didn't start until they went to college, or the post-high school job market.

Better health education is a factor. But even in teen circles, the mere fact that cigarettes cost up to $6 or $7 per pack means that fewer kids who might smoke otherwise even start to begin with. It's sort of like with coffee -- some people used to drink it but quit, while many others people who don't drink coffee follow that maxim simply because they never started in the first place.

Tobacco companies are forced to use "slick Marketing tactics" because their right to advertise was taken away from them. I don't blame them one bit for their tactics. I don't want my kids to smoke but the people who work from big tobacco have families and livelihoods. And is it really "slick marketing tactics" having adds on facebook or other online avenues? When I see an advertisement for an energy drink or an add for Tostidos chips do I think.. oh those sneaky marketing people... how did they ever think to put an add on youtube or facebook? Its nothing new so its not slick marketing - its normal..

At gas stations they are about $5.50 a pack. Pretty expensive habit when you look at the numbers over a month or year. It's still over $2,000 a year or about $165 a month that's getting thrown away to slowly kill a person. Smoking sucks. I quit a couple years ago. I feel much better. I can run and bike further and faster and I don't feel so crappy in the morning. My skin looks better too. I'm not so yellow looking anymore. It's also nice to not have my car and house smell like an ashtray. It nice to get into an elevator and not have everyone thinking they cant wait to get out and away from Mr. Stinky smoker guy. I can't imagine dating a girl that smoked. I didn't find many girls that wanted to date me because I was a smoker. My girlfriend is the reason I quit smoking. I figured I wouldn't find another one like her so I quit the day after I met her. She wouldn't have dated me if I was a smoker. Phillip Morris can kiss the dark side of my moon....you know what I mean.

I respectfully disagree with the Mr Ehrlinger. Anyone with half a brain knows cigarettes are bad and in a free country there is only so much we can or should do to save people from themselves. As a kid in the mid-70's we all knew tobacco was bad and there is ad-infinitum more education on the subject out there these days. We must trust our kids, their parents and indeed all citizens to make wise decisions and if not they must be the ones made to suffer the consequences. We cannot have liberty without risk. Those that continue to shove us, willing or not towards zero tolerance to all risk in life push us further and further from a free Republic (See yesterday's op-ed on raising taxes on soda pop).

I wonder how they get these numbers. Are they relying on teenagers to tell the truth? I always question these types of studies. You really can't prove any of it.

with some form of national medical coming why is cigaret smoking even allowed at all? it is a proven cancer causing agent that the user decided to use. so it can be deleted and not missed.

Asbestos is banned from sale, why aren't cigarettes? Both cause lung cancer. Big Tobacco has the Feds in their pocket, along with all Politicians.

tvzz said: "...so it can be deleted and not missed."-----------------------------As with drugs and alcohol, prohibition would only shift the profits from government and the tobacco companies to underground cartels and all the mayhem that goes with them. Even if that were not the case, government is not going to torpedo their cash cow.

@tvzz - I'm not ok with outlawing smoking even though I know it's bad for people. There are so many things that are bad for us that I can't keep track of it all. Furthermore people that want to smoke will find a way to get cigarettes just like they do for other things that are illegal. Will the cost of that be higher like it is for marijuana? We spend over $41 billion a year trying to stop it and jail 775,000 people every single year here like we do for marijuana? The cost of all that likely can never be quantified. We have no idea of the costs. We do however know what we can make in taxes to cover those costs to the public. Otherwise we have the cops, courts and prisons involved and how can any of that be healthier? Basically it would take cigarettes which people don't normally get violent over and turn it into a violent black market industry where all the violence will be associated with drug lords protecting production and distribution. Basically the same thing we do for marijuana. Take something that didn't harm anyone but the user and then turn into to something that hurts everyone financially (taxes to support prohibition) and many physically (some innocent bystanders). Prohibition is absolutely the worst idea I have heard of so far to curb smoking.