Smoking Among Some Adults Dropped Dramatically in Past Three Decades

[HuckleB]

Source: Science Daily

The proportion of adult smokers dramatically decreased during the past three decades in at least one metropolitan area -- with more quitting and fewer picking up the habit, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2010.

...

* The number of current smokers was cut in half, decreasing from 32.8 percent to 15.5 percent in men and from 32.7 percent to 12.2 percent in women, with greater decreases among adults with higher income and more education.

* Current smokers were smoking less. The age-adjusted average number of cigarettes smoked per day decreased from 23.5 to 13.5 in men and 21.1 to 10.0 in women.

* Fewer Americans picked up the habit, with ever-smokers dropping from 71.6 percent to 44.2 percent in men and from 54.7 percent to 39.6 percent in women.

...

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101114161818.htm

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I know it's not shocking news, but there are some parts of it that do give evidence of some of the trends that are "common knowledge."

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Price may have some influence.

A pack cost $.40 in 1975 and is now over $7.00.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

2. $7???

They're $13+ in Manhattan.

[kestrel91316]

3. People tell me they are $10 in Lost Angeles. I wouldn't know, personally.

[Throckmorton]

4. Me either, but now I am curious, so I will take a look.

But I do remember going to the corner store as a grammer schooler and buying Winston's for my mother, 50 cents a pack in 1970 in Connecticut.

[Tunkamerica]

8. They're 4$ here and people still smoke.

[raccoon]

10. I think they're close to that here, and people still smoke. Lots of people.

I wish my town would ban smoking in restaurants. They haven't, so usually I go to restaurants in a nearby city that does ban it.

[Tunkamerica]

24. Our whole state has banned smoking indoors (NC)

[raccoon]

26. Lucky you! nt

[Warpy]

12. Yeah, when you're reduced to buying "loosies,"

either from a store willing to break the law or an entrepreneurial neighbor, you tend to light up, suck enough smoke to scratch the itch, and stub it out, to be relit later when you start to itch again. That's why the number per day has gone down. They're barely maintaining instead of smoking down to the filter every time they light up.

[HuckleB]

14. Interestingly, those for whom price is likely a bigger issue haven't reduced smoking as much.

I know there are a lot of factors at play in that equation, but...

[4_TN_TITANS]

16. Not just the price of the cigs, but the price of health insurance...

My company's policy just enacted a charge of $50 per month/per person for the privilege of tobacco use. Been able to avoid that so far by going with the wife's work policy, but you can bet your butts that if we have to pay an extra $1,200/yr. to smoke - we'll quit.

The tobacco-use tax/profit-well is quickly running dry.

[Speck Tater]

5. I paid 25 cents a pack back in the day. Now I've been quit almost two years. nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. Congratulations.

Six years for me.

[Fearless]

6. Good. It'll help healthcare costs for the coming years if trends continue.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. Not really. People living longer increases healthcare costs

[Fearless]

11. People living healthier decreases them. n/t

[Lance_Boyle]

13. Getting old means getting sick, regardless of smoking status.

Research has shown that smokers who die young cost less than nonsmokers who live to a ripe old age and develop unavoidable age-related medical problems.

[No Elephants]

22. Lifestyle is more of a cause than age alone, but almost everything is bad for us here--air,

water, food, inadequate activity.

[devilgrrl]

15. No it won't.

eom

[Recursion]

7. Particularly among those who died from lung cancer (nt)

[slackmaster]

17. This reminds me of an anti-smoking ad where a tobacco exec says "Technically, they die."

Referring to a perpetually shrinking audience for his products.

[LuckyLib]

19. Just today I looked up at the drugstore and a carton was $59.62. How can folks afford that?

[HuckleB]

21. You got me?

:shrug:

[KillCapitalism]

25. Nicotine is highly addictive.

You could jack the price up to $500 a carton & people would still buy, even if they had to do without gas or food.

It's said cigarettes can be as addictive as heroin or methamphetamine.

[truthisfreedom]

20. I quit on September first. Haven't cheated once.

No patch, no gum, no cigs. Screw 'em. They suck.

[No Elephants]

23. Congrats.