News

The Patrick administration announced today that Massachusetts has met the national Healthy People 2010 goal for youth smoking as the high school smoking rate dropped to 16% in Massachusetts in 2009.

150 young people from across the Commonwealth gathered at the State House today to celebrate their role in reducing the youth smoking rate.  Their event highlighted the work they have done in their communities over the past year, assessing the impact of new tobacco industry tactics to hook youth.

However, for the first time ever in Massachusetts, the percentage of young people using other tobacco products is higher than the percentage of those who are smoking.

The new data was released today in a report entitled "Trends in Youth Tobacco Use in Massachusetts: 1993-2009" and is available for download here.