Even so, 17 percent of
our residents admit they still smoke every day. It’s amazing so many
people puff on the killers, considering they claim more victims than any
other single cause, including suicide and alcohol or narcotics use,
studies show. The good news? (Cough. Ahem.)
There
were 75,000 fewer smokers in Oklahoma in 2012 than in 2011. Maybe some
of them quit, and maybe some of them left the state; the research wasn’t
clear. Another statistic shows the percent of “never smokers” increased
from 49.2 percent to 52.4 percent over that time period.
State
health commissioner Terry Cline said there is still much work to be
done to reduce the devastating effects of smoking and secondhand smoke.
Ya think? Cough.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 3, 2013.