California health officials and anti-tobacco advocates take issue with Clinton's premise. We are convinced you need a multifaceted, multilevel approach. To focus on youth alone is a big mistake. California has been battling the tobacco industry since 1988, when voters passed Proposition 99, which set aside funds from higher cigarette taxes to pay for a state anti-smoking program. But over the past three years, the teen rate has climbed from 9 percent to 11.
Pierce paints the war against smoking as an advertising battlefield.
We don't have any messages that are powerful with kids, compared to their messages. We have by the age of 9 an effective school program. But by 14, we've lost it. . . . We are getting blown away. Marlboro has really won the battle.