Study: School Smoking Prevention Ineffective
3/24/2005

Researchers said in a recent report that school-based smoking prevention programs have no long-term impact
on youth smoking, and that policymakers should look to raising cigarette taxes and improving media literacy if they want kids to quit.

The New York Times reported March 22 that researchers reviewed school-based, randomized controlled studies
on eight school smoking-prevention programs and concluded that while one reported short-term benefits, researchers
found little or no evidence of long-term effectiveness.

Lead researcher Sarah Wiehe, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine,
said higher prices, not prevention, deserve the credit for recent declines in youth smoking. "It has been shown over
and over that kids are especially sensitive to tax increases," she said, adding that students would be better served if
schools "could focus more on media literacy showing how the tobacco industry targets prospective clients, and how to
be more aware of their propaganda."

The research was published in the March issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.