Less Smoking!

People are smoking less and fewer people are smoking. The Wall Street Journal published a map of New York City neighborhoods comparing the percentage of adults who smoked in 2002 as compared to 2010; the rate in most neighborhoods declined by half. The WSJ attributes the drop-off to tax increases that have boosted the price of a pack of cigarettes to $11 and an aggressive anti-smoking campaign by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

I am a big believer in “sin taxes,” since making undesirable behavior very expensive can be an effective deterrent. Cigarettes and booze are easy targets for raising revenue. When politicians institute the taxes they pledge the monies for noble causes such as education but in actuality the revenue goes into the general slush fund. Still, it’s a potent tactic.

Notably, fewer teenagers are smoking. In New York City, the percentage of public school students who smoke is 7% (down from 18%). In my Connecticut experience, very few young people of color are smoking. The young person most likely to be smoking cigarettes is a white girl, often living with her parents.  The good news is that the total number of cigarettes is limited since she can’t smoke at work and many parents won’t allow smoking in the house.

With the encouragement of Mayor Bloomberg, NYC has expanded its smoking ban to include parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas such as Times Square. There is a yellow line painted on the street outside of Yale-New Haven Hospital designating the no smoking territory – a uniformed officer patrols the zone of shame. The take home lesson: people who want to stop smoking can start by not smoking at work, not smoking in the house and not smoking in the car.