Friday, Oct. 11, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.
Nevada has fewer youth smokers than the national average, but those who do smoke have a fairly easy time buying tobacco, new data from the state Health Division shows.
According to a provisional report compiled by the Nevada Tobacco Prevention and Education Program, the number of high school youths who smoke dropped from 32.6 percent in 1999 to 25.2 percent in 2001. The national average in 2001 was 28.5 percent.
The study also shows that Nevada high school students in 2001 were successful in purchasing tobacco products about 70 percent of the time. Middle school students were successful about 63 percent of the time, with middle school girls topping the list at 82.6 percent of the time.
Denise Brodsky, executive director of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition, said the decrease in the number of youths who smoke is probably due to the influx of outreach and education programs in the past few years.
"The message is getting out," she said. "But we have to keep up with the pace of tobacco industries that continue to market to kids."
Launa Ritch, the state Health Department's program's surveillance and evaluation specialist, said the data regarding youth surprised her.
"We're talking about 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds able to go into convenience stores and about 70 percent of the time not get asked for identification," Ritch said. "It's astounding."
Though the Attorney General's office has also seen a decrease in the number of teens smoking, spokesman Tom Sargent said, the office is cracking down on venders who sell tobacco to minors.
Sargent said the state's We Card Program conducts trainings with about 2,000 retailers throughout Nevada.
The Attorney General's office also conducts daily sting operations in which officials send minors in to purchase tobacco to see if they are successful. Officials visit each retailer at least twice a year. Two full-time investigators and eight part-time youth participate.
Vendors who are caught selling tobacco to minors are cited.
The numbers of students smoking concerned advocates.
Brodsky said she thinks the increase in the number of middle school girls smoking is due to marketing tactics used by tobacco companies.
"The tobacco industry makes smoking seem very glamorous," she said. "It is also perceived as being a way to manage your weight. Young girls especially are very body conscious."
Las Vegas Valley teenagers who talked to the Sun on Thursday showed the mix of teen opinions on smoking. The study findings surprised some teens who see plenty of their peers smoking.
Adam Ringwold, 19, said he smoked occasionally in eighth grade due to peer pressure. He quit on his own.
"When I was in junior high, I had to try it every day with the people I hung out with," Ringwold said. "I couldn't hang out with them otherwise."
Kristi, 15, has been smoking regularly for two years. She even tried nibbling on cigarettes as a child, she said.
"The first time I tried smoking, I gagged, then it was cool," she said.
"Everybody smokes," Kristi said with a shrug. Her family members smoke, she said.
She had been smoking a pack a day, but is cutting back and wants to quit altogether some day.
"It's too expensive and yellows my teeth," she said.
Kristi said she has asthma and that it probably developed from smoking.
The anti-smoking message has worked for some teens who say they wouldn't try it.
Christina, a 17-year-old, called it "gross."
Her grandmother, she said, was a lifelong smoker who died of lung cancer. "I've never even tried it. I would just say the best way to quit smoking is to never start."
"Cigarettes are terrible," Adam, 16, said. "I never tried" smoking.
Nevada's tobacco profile is the preliminary stage of a larger, year-long survey by the tobacco education program used to monitor trends in the state's tobacco use. The state Health Department uses the results to establish funding needs and evaluate existing programs.
Program officials compiled data from national organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and the American Cancer Society during a period of eight weeks. The program's goal is to prevent tobacco use in Nevada, particularly among youths.
The complete profile will be available within the next two months, program officials said.
The study, which examined trends from 1993 to 2001, also showed:
-- In 2001, nearly 30 percent of women smoked. The number of men who smoke was about 29 percent.
-- In 1998, Nevada spent $441 million on smoking-related health care costs.
-- From 1999 to 2001, about 14 percent of women in Nevada smoked during their pregnancies.
The Nevada Health Division did not conduct its own research. Each component of the profile was created by using previously compiled data such as surveys, telephone polls, hospital discharge forms, and birth and death certificates.
Data citing the percentage of youths who smoke was collected from the Centers for Disease Control, which conducted pencil and paper surveys in classrooms across the nation.
Program coordinators plan to add components to the profile such as asthma prevalence in smokers and the rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in children of women who smoke, Ritch said.
While the slight decrease in the number of youths smoking is encouraging, Brodsky said, there is still much work for organizations like hers to do.
"Consumption prevalence may be declining, but it's still a great deal of concern for us given the number of kids still picking up the habit every day," she said.
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