The number of New Yorkers who smoke has dropped to 14 percent, down from 22 percent in 2002.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday that there are 450,000 fewer adult smokers in New York City than there were nine years ago.
Smoking by teens has also dropped. Just 7 percent of public high school students smoke, down from 18 percent in 2001.
Bloomberg credited the city’s tough anti-cigarette policies.
A 2002 city law made smoking illegal in almost all workplaces including bars and restaurants. An amendment last May made public parks and beaches smoke-free.
Bloomberg said the drop in smoking will prevent 50,000 premature deaths by the year 2052.
City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said the city is making historic progress against its biggest killer.
(Source: NY Post)
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6 Responses
Well of course! When there is a new law, there are people that are going to follow it!!! So WHAT’S THE CHIDDUSH?!?
Correction, the number of “reported” smokers are down.
Just like the crime rate, if you stop reporting it dosen’t mean its realy going down.
I wonder if it has gone down at almost in the from community. So many young people and teens are smoking by us. Nebach.
Considering what we know about smoking today, only an idiot would smoke. 450,000 less idiots is something to be proud of.
Questionable policy. Smoking doesn’t kill people until they are almost done with their working lives and are ready to retire, and given that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, it might be better to encourage people to drop dead at the point they are about to start collecting benefits, leaving more for the rest of society.
I highly doubt smoking went down by 14% that # sounds awfully high. Sales might be down 14% in NY but thats because I am sure more and more people are getting their cigs from lower taxing states. Loopholes always arise when taxes go up.