News

More Funds Needed to Target Youth Smoking: 75% Smokers Start by Age 21

The AMA has called for more government funding to target youth smoking - with research showing 75% of regular (daily) smokers have taken up the habit by age 21.

Commonwealth Bank Group/AMA Youth Health Advocate, Melanie Earl, said a state and territory breakdown of the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare's 1998 National Drug Strategy Household Survey released today, showed that anti-smoking messages were not getting through to young people.

She said the survey showed that in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania, 75% of regular smokers had started smoking by 18.

The survey also showed the Northern Territory had the highest rate of current smokers (35.8%), followed by QLD (28.8%), TAS (28.2%), WA (27.4%), VIC (27.2%), ACT (26.5%), NSW (25.4%) and SA (22.2%).

"Clearly the Federal Government needs to boost its anti-smoking funding if it wants to stop teenagers from smoking," Ms Earl said.

"It needs to spend at least 10 times the amount of money it's spending every year if it's serious about turning around the attitudinal problem," she said.

Ms Earl said the AIHW survey had found that the proportion of people who smoked regularly was highest among 20-29 year olds at 32%.

"It's also alarming that, according to the survey, 40% of adult Australians still approve of regular tobacco smoking even though smoking kills 18,0000 Australians every year," she said.

"This is sending the wrong messages to teenagers.

"There needs to be a serious national initiative to work harder to turn off the 'tobacco tap' at the teenage market to ensure the tobacco industry does not have long term clients.

"Fortunately more than 90% of respondents to this survey strongly supported stricter enforcement of the laws prohibiting the supply of cigarettes to minors. We now need 90% of the population to give a massive thumbs down to tobacco products in 2001," Ms Earl said.

*Figures supplied by the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare from a survey of 10,000 Australians in 1998

Media Contacts

Federal 

 02 6270 5478
 0427 209 753
 media@ama.com.au

Follow the AMA

 @ama_media
 @amapresident
‌ @AustralianMedicalAssociation