ed that among students under 18 who were current smokers, 66.7 percent reported never being asked for proof of age when buying cigarettes in a store.
             · Tobacco use primarily begins in early adolescence, typically by age 16; almost all first use occurs before the time of high school graduation. Recent data show an alarming increase in smoking by high school and junior high school students. Currently, over 43 percent of high school students use tobacco products. In the last six years tobacco use among teens has risen 32 percent. The most dramatic increases have been within communities of color. Between 1991 and 1997 cigarette smoking among black students has increased by 80 percent and by 34 percent among Hispanic students.
             · A 1997 survey identified that 9.3 percent of all high school students used smokeless tobacco. Although smokeless tobacco use previously was uncommon among adolescents, more older teens began using it between 1970 and 1985, at the same time that the smokeless tobacco industry was strengthening their marketing efforts.
             · Tobacco use is associated with alcohol and illicit drug use, and acts as a "gatewa
             ...