Historic low of underage smokers in the US

Since 1997, youth smoking rates have fallen and are now at historic lows, POLITICO reported. The Monitoring the Future study estimates the youth smoking rate in 2022 to be 2.1%, up from a peak of 28.3% in 1997. That's a reduction of almost 93%.
This decline is due in no small part to collective efforts specifically aimed at preventing smoking among minors. One company leading the effort is Altria, the nation's largest tobacco company, which has partnered with retailers and community groups across the country to help keep cigarettes away from underage youth for the past 25 years.
The results are impressive. "1998 marked a significant change in the way tobacco is marketed in the U.S. and in a way that benefits youth in preventing underage tobacco use overall," said Jennifer Hunter, senior vice president, corporate citizenship and chief sustainability officer of Altria Client Services. "There were increased calls for legislation and regulation of the industry and, from a reputational point of view, we were not seen as a company that was keeping up with society at the time," Hunter said.
But Altria has gone a step further with initiatives like Success360°, which aims to promote healthy development in children and help them avoid risky behaviors such as tobacco use. Through this initiative, Altria's tobacco companies invested in leading youth organizations. In 2022 alone, Altria is investing more than $25 million in the Success360° initiative to help these organizations collaborate and better connect the services they provide to children and their families inside and outside the classroom. Together, these partners reach more than 17 million children with a range of programs including mentoring, adolescent substance abuse prevention and smoking cessation programs. In addition to its efforts with Success360°, Altria also pushed to raise the legal purchase age for all tobacco products from 18 to 21 with Tobacco 21.
While Tobacco 21 raised the federal minimum purchase age to 21, eight states did not follow suit. Altria continues to support legislation in these remaining states to raise the minimum age. This investment supports efforts to prevent sales to minors and to address the sale of illegal and counterfeit products. /BGNES