On a day when trick- or- treaters and candy reign supreme, Tobacco Free Florida is warning parents to pay attention to candy flavored cigars and snuff, which it says are being marketed to teens. One in three high school students reports they have tried smoking cigarettes at least once.
Teen smoking level mirrors those of adults; just under one in five. That’s down from 27 percent 15 years ago when the state started its anti-smoking campaign. Now SWAT, or Students Working Against Tobacco, say they are being targeted once again through flavored tobacco.
“For instance this orange tootsie roll flavor kind of looks like this cigar right here”, says Matthew Goodson, Students Working Against Tobacco.
Reporter: “So you think this is an obvious attempt to market to kids?”
Goodson: “I definitely agree. I definitely think so”.
Students say the flavored cigars are popular on high school campus.
“Maybe the smoking of cigarettes are down, but you see a lot of people smoking “blacks”, chewing tobacco”, says a local high school junior.
