Tobacco Documents Online

Contact: Cindy Drucker Peggy Barresi Cone/Coughlin Communications (617) 227-2111 z0K:==M FACT SHEET: TOBACCO IS EASY FOR CHILDREN TO GET By age 17, 77% of kids have tried smoking and 25% have become regular smokers (Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 1990) 7;> io of minors who smoke started by age 15 (Teenage At cuudes and . Practices Survey, 1993) 2.7 million children have smoked a whole cigarette by their 13th birthday (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1993) .o. 75% of 8th graders and 89% of 10th graders say that cigarettes are easy to get (Monitoring the Future Survey, 1993) ~ Minors smoke over 500 million packs of cigarettes per year. Half of these are illegally sold, garnering over 8500 million in illegal sales (American /ournal,l of Public Health, 1994) 1* c= ~0 NE1===W 44°6 of daily smokers among a survey of 7,800 ninth graders report having shoplifted cigarettes (Roswell Park Cancer Institute, 1992) Minors are successful in purchasing cigarettes from vending machines 88% of the time (Surgeon General's Report, 1994) Vending machines are used more frequently by younger smokers: 22% of 13 year-olds use them compared to 2% of 17 year-olds (.\~ational Automatic Merchandising Association, 1989) Kids are successful in purchasing cigarettes over the counter 67% of the ND time (,Surgeon General's Report, 1994) ~ ~ Small convenience stores are the most prevalent source of illegal ~ cigarette sales for older teens (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, ~ 1993) p ~rc ZZ

Contact: Cindy Drucker Peggy Barresi Cone/Coughlin Communications (617) 227-2111 FACT SHEET: IT'S EASY FOR CHILDREN TO GET HOOKED ~ MMr:=Z=W ~01 MMff__Z=MW 1* MMK==~ J0 8Mffn=D1B 89% of adult daily smokers started smoking by age 18; 71% were already daily smokers by that age (National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse, 1991) 44% of teens who smoke regularly are daily smokers (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Suroey, 1993) 4.5 million kids smoke with over 3 million smoking regularly and 1.5 million experimenting (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1993) 1/3 to 1/2 of kids who experiment with smoking become regular smokers (Surgeon General's Report, 1994) The average teen smoker had his/her first whole cigarette by age 13 and became a daily smoker by age 14.5 (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Surveu,1993) 63% of teen smokers consider themselves addicted to cigarettes (Gallup Organization, 1994) 70% of teen smokers say that given the chance to do things differently, they wouldn't have started smoking (Gallup Organization, 1992) The younger a child begins smoking, the more likely it is that he/she will become a heavy smoker as an adult (Surgeon General's Report, 1994)

Contact: Cindy Drucker Peggy Barresi Cone/Coughiin Communications (617) 227-2111 FACT SHEET: IT'S HARD FOR CHILDREN TO QUIT 38% of kids ~.vito smoke don't think they'll be smoking next year (T_enage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1993) --80°/o want to and have tried to quit (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1993) --60°'o have tried to quit more than once (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1993) --Only 1.2% succeed (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1993) 74°0 of daily teen smokers sav they find it hard to quit (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1993) Over 90% of teen daily smokers experience at least one symptom of withdrawal when they try to quit (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1993) Attempts to quit decrease with age; 73% of 12-13 year old smokers attempted to quit, versus only 52% of 16-18 year-old smokers (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1989) Only 34% of kids who smoke think they could stop at any time (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1993) 1* 73% of daily teen smokers who think they wori t be smoking in 5 years are still smoking 5 years later (Surgeon General's Report, 1994)

Contact: Cindy Drucker Peggy Barresi Cone/Coughlin Communications (617) 227-2111 FACT SHEET: CHILDREN FACE POTENT PRESSURES TO SMOKE ~ c= 1* .EM:=0 GEr==~ GEr==M About 90% of teens recall seeing a tobacco advertisement, and half can identify the cigarette brand name associated with a slogan (Gallup Organization, 1992) .364%0 of cigarette ads are in magazines that reach teens (Surgeon General's Report, 1994) Teens who report that cigarette advertisements make them think they would like to smoke are more likely to start smoking (Surgeon General's Report, 1994) The more teens are exposed to cigarette advertising, the more likely they are to: --over-estimate the number of teens who smoke --say they intend to start --actually become smokers (Surgeon General's Report, 1994) ~ Half of all teen smokers and 1/4 of teen non-smokers own at least one promotional item from a tobacco company (Gallup Organization, 1992) .c' Teens who over-estimate the number of peers or adults who smoke are more likely to begin smoking (Surgeon General's Report, 1994) 1~) ° Teens are 3 times more likely to smoke if their parents and at least one older sibling smoke (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1989) ~ ~ J) r~ Almost half of teens with 2 or more friends who smoke are smokers ~ themselves (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey, 1989) ~ t.~ ~' Teens who believe that smoking can control weight are twice as likely to ~ smoke (TeenaQe Attitudes and Practices Sur-vey, 1989) ~~