Smoking Rates Hit Record Lows in State, Officials Say

California’s smoking rates have dropped to record lows, state officials announced Friday.

“Lots of folks said we wouldn’t continue to see the declines,” said Diana Bonta, director of the state Department of Health Services.

“But our ... campaigns are working and the numbers continue to decline,” she said.

The announcement comes one day after two tobacco companies sued the state to stop it from airing anti-tobacco ads.

The latest California Adult Tobacco Survey conducted by the state shows 16.6% of adults smoking in 2002, down from 17.3% in 2001. The rate for women, however, 14%, remains unchanged.

California’s smoking rate is well below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national average of 23.3%.

The California Student Tobacco Survey, conducted every two years, shows that smoking decreased among 10th-graders, dropping from 19.5% in 2000 to 14.8% in 2002.

Gov. Gray Davis, in a news release, attributed the continued decline to the hundreds of millions spent on tobacco education efforts funded by the cigarette tax increase of 1988.

The tax is now 87 cents per pack. Davis wants to raise it to $1.97 per pack.

Although Bonta was pleased with the gains, she said the department needs to reach out to women, who continue to smoke at the same rate.

The state also will try to create media spots for other groups with higher rates of smoking, such as gays and lesbians, she added.