Attempts to reduce smoking among teenagers in Hawaii have been notably successful, thanks largely to significant tax increases during a struggling economy. Still, while the costliness of tobacco nudged teens to try quitting, more than half of middle-school smokers said they tried without success to end their addiction to the lethal habit. Despite the downtrend, then, a multipronged approach of price disincentives, education and cessation support must remain steadfast, if a generational habit change is to occur against smoking.

A new survey of public high school students indicates that 8.7 percent had smoked in the previous 30 days, down nearly 16 percentage points from 2000, when 24.5 percent of high schoolers acknowledged being "active smokers," and 11.3 percent in 2009. Among middle schoolers, 3.6 reported smoking in the previous month, down from 5.3 percent in 2003 and 4.5 percent in 2009.

Public awareness campaigns, grass-roots initiatives and statutory changes were credited for those encouraging numbers by Julian Lipsher, chief of the state Health Department’s Chronic Disease Management and Control Branch. That progress occurred despite a tobacco industry that "does not rest in attempting to attract young smokers to various forms of nicotine," he said.

The effort to discourage young people from picking up the habit because of its health risk has been effective, but nothing has been as successful as tax increases. The federal tax raise from 39 cents to $1.01 a pack was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009, and a series of state tax hikes in Hawaii have risen from $1.40 in 2006 to $3.20, the fourth highest in the nation, behind New York ($4.35), Rhode Island ($3.46) and Connecticut ($3.40). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each 10 percent rise in cigarette prices reduces consumption among adults by 3 percent to 5 percent and reduces youth smoking by 7 percent.

While the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2012 report gives Hawaii a D grade in cessation coverage, 32 states and the District of Columbia flunked that category, which includes tobacco prevention and control spending, smoke-free air laws, cigarette taxes and coverage of tobacco cessation treatments and services.

The report also points out that the entire two-year, $6.5 million in Hawaii’s tobacco trust fund was ordered into the state’s general fund, making the funds unavailable for anti-smoking programs.

All of this underscores the fact that in a tough economy, unfortunately, worthy programs of a less-urgent nature will get shorter shrift.

When the state’s economy recovers, legislators should restore the tobacco trust fund to fully engage in discouraging people from smoking.

For now, progress is occurring with current state laws that prohibit smoking in work sites, schools, child care facilities, restaurants, bars, stores and recreational and cultural facilities, as noted in the Lung Association’s report. Those restrictions, along with the high tax rates, are slowly but steadily helping people, especially teenagers, to kick the dangerous habit.