Teen Smoking Facts

Each day 3,000 children smoke their first cigarette.

At least 3 million adolescents are smokers.

Tobacco use primarily begins in early adolescence, typically by age 16.

Almost all first use occurs before high school graduation.

20 percent of American teens smoke.

Roughly 6 million teens in the US today smoke despite the knowledge that it is addictive and leads to disease.

Of every 100,000 15 year old smokers, tobacco will prematurely kill at least 20,000 before the age of 70.

Of the 3,000 teens who started smoking today, nearly 1,000 will eventually die as a result from smoking.

Adolescent girls who smoke and take oral birth control pills greatly increase their chances of having blood clots and strokes.

According to the Surgeon's General, Teenagers who smoke were:

• Three times more likely to use alcohol.
• Eight times are likely to smoke marijuana.
• And 22 times more likely to use Cocaine.

Although only 5 percent of high school smokers said that they would definitely be smoking five years later, close to 75 percent were still smoking 7 to 9 years later.

A person who starts smoking at age 13 will have a more difficult time quitting, has more health-related problems and probably will die earlier than a person who begins to smoke at age 21.

Kids who smoke experience changes in the lungs and reduced lung growth, and they risk not achieving normal lung function as an adult.

Kids who smoke have significant health problems, including cough and phlegm production, decreased physical fitness and unfavorable lipid profile.

If your child's best friends smoke, then your youngster is 13 times more likely to smoke than if his or her friends did not smoke.

More than 90 percent of adult smokers started when they were teens.

Adolescents who have two parents who smoke are more than twice as likely as youth without smoking parents to become smokers.

A 2001 Survey found that 69.4 percent of teenage smokers reported never being asked for proof of age when buying cigarettes in a store. The same survey found that 62.4 percent were allowed to buy cigarettes even when the retailer was aware they were under eighteen.