Tobacco use and usual source of cigarettes among high school students--United States, 1995.

Approximately 90% of all initiation of tobacco use occurs among persons aged < or = 18 years, and the prevalence of tobacco use among adolescents is increasing. Despite laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors in all states and the District of Columbia, most minors are able to purchase tobacco products. To determine current prevalences of the use of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products (i.e., chewing tobacco and snuff) by high school students, the usual source of cigarettes among those who smoked, and the percentage of students who were asked to show proof of age when buying cigarettes, CDC analyzed data from the 1995 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). This report summarizes the results of the analysis, which indicate a higher prevalence of smoking among high school students in 1995 than in 1993 and 1991, a doubling of the prevalence of current smoking among non-Hispanic black male students during 1991-1995, and that most high school students aged < or = 17 years who buy cigarettes from stores are not asked to show proof of age.