Teens butting out
ATTLEBORO - Nate Kennedy claims to have been smoking Cigarettes since he was 6 years old.
ATTLEBORO - Nate Kennedy claims to have been smoking Cigarettes since he was 6 years old. Six? "Yes, six," he said, standing in the parking lot at Capron Park just after Attleboro High School let out Friday afternoon, and attracting a gathering of the high school dropout's friends to meet him for a midday smoke. "My friend and I stole a cigarette from his mom, and smoked it," Kennedy, 16, said. "A lot of my friends smoke. Almost all of them." And while Kennedy makes no apologies for his habit, pulling out a pack of Marlboros he laughingly says his parents gave him the money to buy, he actually is among a minority of Massachusetts teenagers that the state says is shrinking even further. The kids, it seems, are just saying, "No." A new study, released earlier this week, by the state's education and public health departments found that high school smoking dropped by 2 percent - from 20 percent to 18 percent - from 2005 to 2007, following a trend that says teen smoking statewide has been cut in half since 1995. "We are especially pleased about the decline in tobacco use among Massachusetts adolescents," Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach said. "Fewer young people are smoking before age 13, fewer are experimenting with Cigarettes and few middle school students are smoking." However, the report also says that nearly one in four Massachusetts high school seniors still smoke Cigarettes. While nearly all of Kennedy's friends smoke, there are teens who actively promote a ban on Cigarettes. "My sister smokes, and I always tell her it's bad," said Katie Adams, 14, a freshman at Attleboro High School. "She needs to quit. She's killing other people." Adams then directs her lecture to friend, Chanary Sam, 15. "You're killing other people!" Adams half-yells at her. Sam shakes her head. "I know," said Sam, who claims she has been smoking since she was 8. "Not a lot of my friends smoke," she said. "I want to quit. I'm an athlete and it slows me down." The decline in teen smoking is attributed in part to hefty state taxes on Cigarettes and the state's anti-tobacco iniatives. Now, Gov. Deval Patrick is recommending one of the largest increase in anti-tobacco funding in six years. "The results here attest to the success of state agencies, schools, communities and families working together to prevent tobacco use among adolescents," said Jeffrey Nellhaus, acting commissioner of the department of education. "With continued effort, we can reduce tobacco use still further." Attleboro's public health nurse, Jackie O'Brien, said the city's health department also works hard at curbing teen smoking. O'Brien said the high school gives out smoking violations when they catch teens lighting up, and that the parents of those students have to pay a fine. Still, some kids continue to smoke. Auerbach said major problems still include smoking on school property and the use of smokeless tobacco. The study also found that students who live with smokers are More than twice as likely to smoke than those in non-smoking households. Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.