Policy Information Exchange

At least 188,000 fewer New Yorkers were smoking two years after the city banned indoor smoking and hiked cigarette taxes, according to the city health department.

The Associated Press reported June 9 that an annual city survey found that 18.4 percent of adult New Yorkers smoked in 2004, down from 19.2 percent in 2003 and 21.6 percent in 2002.

The smoking tax hike took effect in 2002; the indoor-smoking ban went into place in 2003. In the decade prior to the laws, the city's smoking rate had remained relatively unchanged.

The dropoff was especially pronounced among young women: smoking among females ages 18 to 24 fell 40.5 percent from 2002 to 2004.

The city also gives out free nicotine patches to those trying to quit.

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