Teens smoking less in Washington state

Teenagers in Washington state, US, are using tobacco and alcohol at lower rates than in previous years but are feeling more depressed and suicidal, according to a story by Greg Allmain for the Federal Way Mirror quoting findings from the state’s Healthy Youth Survey.

The survey is administered by the Department of Health (DoH) every two years and looks at students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 in more than 1,000 public schools across the state. More than 200,000 students took part in the most recent survey, which was conducted voluntarily and anonymously.

The results of the survey found that cigarette smoking was down in all grades. About 10 per cent of 10th-graders self-reported having smoked a cigarette within the 30 days prior to the survey, a figure that was down by three percentage points on that of the 2010 survey and 15 percentage points down on that of the 1999 survey.

The DoH said that nearly as many young people used hookah pipes as used cigarettes, and about seven per cent indicated they had smoked a cigar during the month prior to the survey.