And now, according to a survey of about 20,000 middle and high school students in Florida, the percentage of teens who say they smoke has dropped from 23.9 percent to 20.9 percent. How to read those numbers is in dispute. The Truth campaign is in trouble in Tallahassee. The state House wants to cut it out completely. Last week, meanwhile, the head of the anti-tobacco campaign was forced out of his job.
Critics smell a conspiracy.
However, after poking around, I am not convinced the tobacco companies are actively trying to kill the campaign. If anything, they do not want to look like they are beating up teenagers. When the campaign's head, Peter Mitchell, was squeezed out, Democrats suggested it was a coverup after Mitchell produced the numbers showing a decrease in teen smoking. If so, it wasn't much of a coverup, since the numbers came right out anyway. So this looks more like something internal to the Legislature.