Smoking down 60% in Utah in 6 years.

At times I scorn Utah. Its handling of raves is backwards, it attitudes towards alcohol are nuts, and its women marry and have children too young. But, Utah, because it is so different from the rest of the United States, is also able to bring about some remarkable achievements. A few years ago it made headlines by finding the will to reduce student-teacher ratios for elementary school students to record low levels.

Now, it has reduced its smoking rate from 25% to 10.5% since 1999. The high school smoking rate is a mere 7.3%. Can it be reproduced elsewhere? Who knows? But, it is good news.