Smoking Rates are Decreasing

The number of adult smokers in the state has declined over the past five years, according to a report by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Public Health. It says the number of adults who smoke is down from 28.6 percent in 2011 to 24.8 percent in 2016. Dr. Rahul Gupta, state health officer and commissioner of the DHHR’s Bureau for Public Health, said a drop in adult smokers is evidence that middle and high school students — who never smoked — are now moving into the adult population. Smoking among high school students has dropped to 10 percent; for middle school students it has dropped to 4.5 percent.