Getting Teens To Kick the Habit a Daunting Task

By Jessica Portner

Washington

Ending it is one of President Clinton's top health priorities. The tobacco industry has pledged millions of dollars to extinguish it. And children's advocates are mobilizing their supporters to fight it.

But is stamping out youth smoking really possible? Can the government coax millions of rebellious teenagers to kick the smoking habit and persuade millions more not to light up in the first place?

Research suggests that hiking cigarette prices and curbing advertising may be the best ways to dampen teenagers' desire to smoke. There's even some evidence showing that the classroom can play at least a supporting role in deterring student smoking. But some skeptics, backed up by history, say it may prove impossible to achieve dramatic reductions in adolescent smoking even with an unprecedentedly powerful coalition of industry and government...