Frailey, Smith: Further efforts needed to protect Oklahoma kids from tobacco products

Oklahoma has made tremendous progress reducing smoking, with the smoking rate among high school students falling by 56 percent since 1999. In June, Gov. Mary Fallin took another step to protect kids and save lives by signing into law a $1.50 increase in the price of cigarettes.

But Oklahoma still has the sixth-highest adult smoking rate in the country at 22 percent, and nearly 15 percent of high school students smoke. We pay a high price: Smoking kills 7,500 Oklahomans and adds $1.6 billion to our health care bills each year.

http://newsok.com/article/5556375