Tobacco.org

EDITORIAL: Wait and see: Only time will tell if new tobacco rules will have an impact  

The danger of tobacco use has been known and taught for decades, yet every day 3,500 more young people light up. While these efforts have just about halved the percentage of adult smokers, one in five Americans over the age of 18 still smoke. Significantly, the American Lung Association reports that 20 percent of high school students were current smokers in 2007.

Despite public ostracism and onerous tax rates that have driven up the cost of tobacco products, that 20 percent hasn't deviated much in two decades. The effectiveness of these new measures will be measured by the success they have in reducing that rate.

One final reason to take a wait-and-see approach to these changes was the votes in the House and Senate -- 307-97 and 789-17 respectively. When votes are that lopsided, an issue is either very, very popular or it has been watered down with loopholes that render it meaningless.

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