At a local Kentucky convenience store, you can buy a pack of Marlboro cigarettes for about $4.50. For the same price as a cheap lunch, a teenager can continue their nicotine addiction for another day. Smokers in Massachusetts, however, can expect to pay more than ten dollars for a single pack of cigarettes. At ten dollars per pack, an average Massachusetts smoker can expect to pay more than $3,000 per year. This is one of many reasons why Massachusetts' YRBS rating (a scale for assessing the number of smokers in high schools) is a low 16.0, giving Massachusetts the 10th lowest score out of 43 states assessed. Kentucky, however, comes in last place in the YRBS ranking with a rate of 26.0 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This terrible last place finish is proof that the state of Kentucky is not doing enough to prevent and reduce tobacco use among adolescents and young adults. To do this, Kentucky must increase the state tax on tobacco products, effectively use tobacco tax revenues to fund smoking cessation programs, and improve the quality of anti-smoking advertising campaigns. Teenagers normally operate financially on a very fixed income, usually working part-time at minimum wage. With the price of cigarettes at $4.50 a pack, a high school student can afford to smoke regularly, but if you double that price, they will think twice about the value of cigarettes. Considering the many health risks associated with smoking, buying cigarettes at any price is not a good choice. But if the price were higher, a student would be more likely not to smoke. Looking at the aforementioned correlation between cigarette prices and the YRBS rate, one can easily come to the conclusion that a solution to prevent smoking among Kentucky teens would be...... middle of paper .... ..negative aspects of smoking, the more unlikely they are to believe them (Paek). No matter how accurate the scientific evidence or how graphic the image, Kentucky's anti-tobacco efforts will continue to fail if they bombard children with campaigns focused on the negative aspects of smoking. 109,000 current Kentucky students will die prematurely from smoking. Tobacco companies will continue to invest in efforts to encourage children and students to smoke. Kentucky government must break the mold of incompetent efforts and truly make it a goal to significantly reduce childhood smoking. It's a big challenge. However, by increasing the cigarette tax and using the tax revenue to fund effective smoking cessation programs and advertising campaigns, this goal can be achieved...