Smoking among Virginia middle school and high school students dropped to its lowest levels last year since state officials began surveying youth in 2001, Gov. Tim Kaine announced.
About 16 percent of the 2,600 Virginia students surveyed said they are smokers, down from 22 percent in 2005 and lower than the 20 percent reported nationally last year.
Almost 29 percent of Virginia students, and students nationally, reported being smokers when the survey began in 2001.
Anti-smoking advocates jumped on the study as evidence that youth prevention campaigns work and should be better funded.
“Virginia has shown remarkable progress over the past two years in its effort to keep kids from smoking, and these new results provide additional evidence that tobacco prevention is a good investment for states,” said William Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
About 75 percent of students reported that they were taught in class about the dangers of tobacco use, up from 40 percent in 2005.
The percentage of students who live with a smoker dropped to 36 percent, the lowest level since 2001.
Virginia’s efforts to prevent youth smoking are funded through the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation, whose coffers are fed by the nation’s four largest tobacco manufacturers — including Richmond company Philip Morris — as part of a 1998 settlement for state lawsuits associated with treating smoking-related illnesses.
The foundation, established in 1999, receives 10 percent of the $4 billion the state is expected to receive over the next 25 years.
