In 1999, 2001, and 2003, North Carolina completed the largest survey ever on teen tobacco use. What did we learn? A lot more N.C. teens are using tobacco than we ever thought. We also learned student views on youth access to tobacco products, school policies, cessation classes in schools and other issues. Check out the NC Youth Tobacco Survey page for the details.

Here's a scary fact: more of North Carolina's 12th graders smoke than adults!! 25% of adults in N.C. are current smokers, while 35% of 12th graders in North Carolina currently smoke!

Smoking rates among adults are holding steady in North Carolina, and teen tobacco use has also peaked. From 1991 to 1997, teen tobacco use rates in N.C. increased by 41%. Since 1999, rates have begun to fall, degreasing 37% from 1999 to 2003.

A survey of North Carolina middle school students found that nearly a third (29.5%) of them have smoked, and nearly one in ten of them had smoked in the last 30 days. Nearly a quarter (23.8%) of students who've ever smoked said they smoked their first whole cigarette before age 11!

According to an annual survey involving sending minors into randomly selected stores, tobacco sales to minors in North Carolina have fallen from 50% in 1996 to 14.8% in 2003.

14% of North Carolina's middle school students currently use a tobacco product (like cigarettes, spit tobacco, cigars, or pipes). Once they get to high school, that number jumps to 34%!

Tobacco use among young people increases with age - 8% of 6th graders use tobacco. By 12th grade 40% are using tobacco!

By law, you have to be 18 to buy cigarettes. But 67% of middle school students who have tried to buy cigarettes in a store said that they weren't ask for ID the last time they tried to buy them.

More than half of high school seniors who smoke have made one serious but failed attempt to quit. Quitting smoking is as hard for tobacco users as quitting heroin is for heroin users!