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Today ,as in everyother day of the year ,more than 3000 U.S. adlescents will smoketheir first cigarette on their way to becoming regular smokers asadults. During their lifetime,it can be expected that of these 3000about 23 will be murdered,30 will die in traffic accidents, andnearly 750 will be killed by a smoking-related disease. The numberof deaths attributed to cigarette smoking outweithts all otherfactors, whether voluntary or involuntary, as a cause ofdeath.

Since the late1970s, when daily smoking among high school seniors reached 30precent , smoking rates among youth have declined . While thedecline is impressive ,several important issues must beraised.

First, in thepast several years,smoking rates among youth have declined verylittle. Second,in the late 1970s ,smoking among male high schoolseniors exceeded that among female by nearly 10 percent . Thestatistic is reversing.Third ,several recent studies have indicatehigh school dropouts have excessively high smoking rates, as muchas 75 percent .

Finally, thouthsignificant declines in adolescent smoking have occurred in thepast decade,no definite reasons for the decline exist. Within thiscontext,the Naional Cancer Instiute (NCI) began its current effortto determine the most effecive measures to reduce smoking leveslamong youth.