This number is on the rise. This frightening reality is despite barriers such as legislation which bars the sale of cigarettes to minors, millions of dollars spent on anti-smoking campaigns and the fact that smoking kills one quarter of all Nevadans. Tobacco smoking is thought to be responsible for more than 1 million premature deaths annually worldwide. The Surgeon General has labeled it as the chief single avoidable cause of death in the United States. It is the most important public health risk.
Numerous studies show adolescents are the group most at risk to start smoking.
According to a Center for Disease Control and Prevention study, seventy-five percent of all smokers begin smoking by the age of 18 and have an average age of initiation of 14.5 years. Smoking in the adolescent years is a strong predictor of smoking in adulthood. Smoking is also a predictor of other dangerous behaviors in late adolescence, such as substance abuse, alcohol abuse, promiscuity, and reckless driving. The risk of initiating smoking increases steadily from ages 12 to 16 years and then begins to decline. If a person is still a non-smoker at age 20, they are unlikely to begin smoking.