Teen tobacco use down significantly in Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Despite a relatively paltry state anti-tobacco budget, the smoking rate among Missouri teenagers has been cut nearly in half during the past decade.

About 40 percent of Missouri high school students admitted recently smoking a cigarette in a survey conducted in 1995. That percentage had fallen to about 30 percent by 2001.

Last year, barely 21 percent of surveyed high school students said they had smoked one or more cigarettes in the past 30 days -- a rate that for the first time fell below the national average.

Why the decline?

Part of the reduction reflects a national trend.

The biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted in conjunction with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed the national high school smoking rate fell by about one-third during that same time.

Yet Missouri's reduction surpassed the norm.

One thing's for sure, Missouri's falling teen smoking rate is not a result of a massive government effort. The state spends about $2 million on anti-tobacco efforts, including education, cessation and law enforcement programs run through departments of health, mental health and public safety.

$33 million per year

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Missouri spend at least $33 million annually on a comprehensive anti-tobacco program -- and up to $91 million a year if it really wants to do the job well.

While applauding the decline, some anti-tobacco opponents are stunned at Missouri's success, given its reluctance to spend the big bucks.

"Just think if the Missouri Legislature was addressing this issue, what type of decrease we would see," said Cindy Erickson, chief executive officer of the American Lung Association of Missouri. "That's one we'd get an answer to when this tax goes on the ballot."

Erickson also is a spokeswoman for the Committee for a Healthy Future, which is sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment that would more than quintuple Missouri's cigarette tax and triple taxes on other tobacco products.

Budget-constrained

Although initially denied from the ballot by the secretary of state's office, supporters are confident they can overturn that decision in court by showing that hundreds of initiative petition signatures were incorrectly not counted.

If placed on the Nov. 7 ballot and approved by voters, the proposed constitutional amendment would generate at least $351 million annually, $61 million of which would go to smoking prevention and cessation programs -- a nearly 3,000 percent increase over the state's current funding.

Opponents of the tobacco tax increase claim the windfall would be a waste, given the success Missouri already has seen with its modest budget.

"Clearly, throwing money at this problem is not necessary," said Ron Leone, executive director of the Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association. "What we need to do is to continue to educate teens about the dangers of tobacco, because that's working."

Though budget-constrained, Missouri has taken several steps to combat teenage tobacco use -- all of which could help explain the decline in youth smoking.

* In 1999, the health department awarded a grant to the Northeast Missouri Cancer Control Coalition to help start up Smokebusters, a program that not only teaches students in grades 8-12 about the dangers of tobacco but trains them who to lobby for smoke-free environments in schools, restaurants and elsewhere.

* In 2001, the legislature passed a bill making it illegal for people younger than 18 to buy, try to buy or possess tobacco products, or to lie about their age to try to buy them. Since then, the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control has issued a total of 946 "minor in possession" citations -- a figure that peaked the first full year after the law took effect and has declined significantly in subsequent years.

* In March 2005, the division began using undercover minors during enforcement stings on tobacco retailers. In the next 17 months, the division conducted 480 "compliance checks" on tobacco sellers, netting a sizable increase in the number of clerks cited for selling tobacco to minors.

* The state also has increased its training for spotting fake identifications for store managers, cashiers and bartenders.

Apart from the state programs, Leone said his convenience store members also have "redoubled their efforts" in recent years "to ensure minors do not have access to tobacco products."

Greater awareness

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows that, indeed, fewer minors are buying cigarettes. In the 2001 survey, 19 percent of smokers younger than age 18 said they usually got their cigarettes by buying them at a store or gas station. That percentage had fallen to 13 percent in last year's survey -- a significant decrease, the study said.

Pete Lobdell, supervisor of the Missouri Department of Public Safety's alcohol and tobacco enforcement, cites several reasons for the decline in youth smoking.

"I think there is more awareness on the retailers and, I think, even the youth -- in school and in the media," he said, "awareness of the law that they can be ticketed, but also awareness that it's a health problem."

---

EDITOR'S NOTE: Capitol Correspondent David A. Lieb covers Missouri government and politics for The Associated Press.