Fewer Students Using Tobacco

HARTFORD (AP) – Connecticut health officials say tobacco use among students in the state’s middle schools and high schools continues to decline as fewer adults smoke and prevention programs do their job.

The Department of Public Health released a 2009 survey Tuesday that shows about 21 percent of high school students and 5 percent of middle school students used tobacco products. The report says 15 percent of high schoolers smoked, as did 3 percent of middle schoolers.

A 2007 survey said about 23 percent of high school students and 7 percent of middle school students used tobacco. The percentages have been dropping for years.

But the Connecticut Post reports that the survey also estimates that about 9,000 middle and high school students smoked their first cigarette before age 11.