High school students who smoke |
20.7%(32,700) |
| Male high school students who use smokeless or spit tobacco |
18.4% (females use much lower)
|
| Kids (under 18) who become new daily smokers each year |
4,500
|
| Kids exposed to secondhand smoke at home |
177,000
|
| Packs of cigarettes bought or smoked by kids each year |
7.5 million |
| Adults in Arkansas who smoke |
22.4% (474,800)
|
Nationwide, youth smoking has declined dramatically since the mid-1990s, but that decline appears to have slowed considerably or even stopped in recent years. The 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that the percentage of high school students reporting that they have smoked cigarettes in the past month increased to 23 percent in 2005 from 21.9 percent in 2003. This increase follows a 40 percent decline between 1997, when rates peaked at 36.4 percent, and 2003. The survey also found that 13.6 percent of high school males use spit tobacco. U.S. adult smoking has decreased gradually in the last several decades, and 20.9 percent of U.S. adults (about 45 million) currently smoke.
Deaths in Arkansas From Smoking
| Adults who die each year from their own smoking |
4,900 |
| Kids now under 18 and alive in Arkansas who will ultimately die prematurely from smoking |
64,000
|
| Adult nonsmokers who die each year from exposure to secondhand smoke |
270 to 770 |
Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined -- and thousands more die from other tobacco-related causes -- such as fires caused by smoking (more than 1,000 deaths/year nationwide) and smokeless tobacco use. No good estimates are currently available, however, for the number of Arkansas citizens who die from these other tobacco-related causes, or for the much larger numbers who suffer from tobacco-related health problems each year without actually dying.
Smoking-Caused Monetary Costs in Arkansas
| Annual health care costs in Arkansas directly caused by smoking |
$812 million |
| - Portion covered by the state Medicaid program |
$242 million |
| Residents' state & federal tax burden from smoking-caused government expenditures |
$564 per household |
| Smoking-caused productivity losses in Arkansas |
$1.30 billion |
Amounts do not include health costs caused by exposure to secondhand smoke, smoking-caused fires, spit tobacco use, or cigar and pipe smoking. Other non-health costs from tobacco use include residential and commercial property losses from smoking-caused fires (more than $500 million per year nationwide); extra cleaning and maintenance costs made necessary by tobacco smoke and litter (about $4+ billion nationwide for commercial establishments alone); and additional productivity losses from smoking-caused work absences, smoking breaks, and on-the-job performance declines and early termination of employment caused by smoking-caused disability or illness (dollar amount listed above is just from productive work lives shortened by smoking-caused death).
Tobacco Industry Influence in Arkansas
| Annual tobacco industry marketing expenditures nationwide |
$13.4 billion |
| Estimated portion spent for Arkansas marketing each year |
$160.5 million |
Published research studies have found that kids are twice as sensitive to tobacco advertising than adults and are more likely to be influenced to smoke by cigarette marketing than by peer pressure, and that one-third of underage experimentation with smoking is attributable to tobacco company advertising.
