Educate teens in a healthy way of living

Oklahoma faces some important health challenges, but the Oklahoma State Department of Health recently released some great news for our state: Fewer Oklahoma teens are taking up the deadly habit of smoking.

Last year, $18 million in earnings from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust were spent in Oklahoma, with most of that amount going toward prevention efforts. A lot of students think that is cool to smoke, but this is not true.

Smoking cigarettes is the leading preventable cause of death in Oklahoma. In fact, one in every three smokers will die prematurely from a smoking-related illness like heart disease or lung cancer. Smoking is a fatal choice. In the latest years Oklahoma Youth Tobacco Survey, 20 percent of Oklahoma high school students were current smokers, down from nearly 24 percent in 2007. The rate among middle school students dropped from 7.5 percent in 2007 to 6.5 percent last year.

Teenagers have to be helped to go on the right way. That represents an increase of 10,000 youth in Oklahoma who are not smoking. That is great news for their future and for the future of our state.These recent figures offer hope that smoking is on the decline in Oklahoma, and will continue to decrease in the years to come.

The best way to reduce smoking rates — to lengthen life spans in Oklahoma and reduce chronic disease — is to be sure kids never take up the habit. Oklahoma’s efforts are doing just that.