• March 28, 2024

Students learning not to smoke

 Students learning not to smoke

Smoking rates among secondary school students in Tasmania, Australia, have fallen to an all-time low, according to a story by Duncan Abey for Adelaide Now, citing the results of a tri-annual survey conducted by the Cancer Council.

Quit Tasmania director Abby Smith described the findings of the Australian Secondary Students’ Alcohol and Drug Survey as highly encouraging.

Smith said smoking rates among students aged 12-15 were down to three per cent, the lowest they had been since the survey began.

And tobacco use among students aged 16-17 in 2014, at 13 per cent, was down from 16 percent in 2011 and 17 percent in 2008.

Smoking rates among young Tasmanians, she added, were at an all-time low.

“Quit Tasmania believes this is due to a comprehensive tobacco-control strategy with effective strategies for reducing tobacco use among adolescents, including tobacco price increases, plain packaging, ongoing mass media campaigns and increasing smoke-free areas,” Smith said.

Nearly 2,000 Tasmanian secondary students from 26 schools took part in the study, which has been undertaken every three years since 1984.