Higher cigarette prices in New Hampshire lowered underage smoking

ATLANTA - A government study shows nearly half of New Hampshire middle schoolers who smoked in 2000 had dropped the habit a year later after cigarette makers raised their prices. <br> <br> Anti-smoking advocates say the findings support their claim that increasing the price of cigarettes can stop youngsters from smoking. <br> <br> Many also credit tobacco prevention programs aimed at youth for contributing to the downward trend. <br> <br> The Center for Disease Control reports that about 12 percent of New Hampshire middle-school students said they smoked in 2000. But by late 2001 -- after cigarette makers raised prices to more than three dollars a pack -- 6.3 percent said they smoked. <br> <br> The CDC says the smoking rate among New Hampshire high school students has also dropped, from 36 percent in 1995 to 25 percent in 2001.

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