Florida has low youth smoking rates in part because its officials developed and funded effective programs and laws to get kids to abstain from smoking. South Carolina lacks those programs. Led by the late Gov. Lawton Chiles, Florida sued tobacco companies to recover its costs from smoking-related diseases. Current Florida Gov. Jeb Bush supports that spending. In South Carolina, top officials, including Gov. Jim Hodges, don't vigorously push for substantial spending to stop kids from using tobacco.
Officials say a multipronged strategy gets better results than a single approach.
Each of Florida's 67 counties has a tobacco prevention official who works with local leaders on anti-smoking strategies. These youth groups stress a non-nagging message to their fellows that Big Tobacco is trying to manipulate them by getting them addicted to cigarettes. South Carolina has only about a dozen volunteer community programs for its 46 counties. Some programs cross county lines, but nine S.C. counties have no anti-smoking programs aimed at youth. Florida children caught smoking can be sentenced in a noncriminal proceeding to community service.