From health classes to anti-smoking campaigns, high school students are discouraged from smoking.
But according to a 2013 study from the American Lung Association, about 21 percent of Ohio high school students smoke cigarettes. That’s the highest rate of high school smokers in the state since 2004.
That’s about three percent higher than the national average of 18 percent.
That’s particularly high considering the legal age to purchase cigarettes is 18.
But perhaps even more shocking is that the adult smoking rate in Ohio, according to the same study, sits not much higher at 25 percent. Nationally, 19 percent of adults smoke.
According to the Ohio Department of Health’s 2010 Youth Tobacco Survey, the most common method high school students use to obtain cigarettes or cigars is by giving someone money on their behalf.
However, Shelly Kiser, spokeswoman for the American Lung Association of Ohio, said most students obtain tobacco products from an older student or sibling. Some also steal from parents or stores.
“Since (middle and high school students) can’t buy them, we’ve noticed that more middle schoolers steal cigarettes than high school students do because high schoolers tend to have money,” Kiser said.
Athens High School principal David Hanning said the study’s findings seem inaccurate. He added that smoking underage is not the problem it once was.
“There just isn’t the evidence to support that being true, or at least not in Athens,” Hanning said.
“It seems a little outrageous to me … I would say we have students who smoke, but we haven’t had a problem with students smoking in school or around the facility.”
Hanning, who’s in his first year in the Athens school system, said students who smoke do a pretty good job of keeping the school grounds clean and smoke-free.
“That tells me it’s much less of a problem today than it has been,” he said.
Despite Ohio’s smoking numbers being above the national averages, John Charlton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, said it’s up to each school to decide how prevalent tobacco education is in its curriculum.
“It’s not up to us,” he said.
Kiser noted that Ohio is the sixth-worst state in the country for tobacco use but added that the figure isn’t surprising because the state has cut some of its anti-smoking programs.
One effective, though perhaps unpopular idea, Kiser said, would be to increase taxes to get the anti-smoking program funding back.
“It’s incredibly effective,” she said. “If you cut that funding, you’ll see tobacco and smoking use fly. Basically the states that are doing things to stop people from smoking are the ones with the small smoking numbers.”
az346610@ohiou.edu
@XanderZellner
