Rhode Island has the second-lowest youth-smoking rate

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention national survey showed that Rhode Island now has the second lowest youth smoking rate in the country at 8 percent.
According to a news release, the results come from a national comparison of data from the states’ 2013 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey in which Rhode Island’s youth smoking rate dropped from 11 percent in 2011 to its current rate. Rhode Island is second only to the state of Utah, where smoking is not permitted among the majority of the population’s religious faith.
The National Youth Risk Behavior Survey is administered to middle and high school students on odd years to monitor a wide range of priority health risk behaviors among a representative sample of young people.
“A lower youth smoking rate means kids understand how tobacco companies profit from sickness and death,” said Dr. Michael Fine, director of the R.I. Department of Health.
Findings also show that national cigarette smoking rates among high school students have dropped to the lowest levels since the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey began in 1991. By achieving a teen smoking rate of 15.7 percent, the United States has met its national Healthy People 2020 objective of reducing adolescent cigarette use to 16 percent or less. Healthy People 2020 is a compilation of disease prevention and health promotion objectives for the nation to achieve during the second decade of the 21st century.

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