This report is part of a two volume set and shows that despite record levels of marijuana arrests across the nation over the past ten years, current use of regulated tobacco cigarettes has dropped below current marijuana use, or is declining at a significantly faster rate, among high school students in many major cities. This trend is also reflected among school districts that participated in the Texas School Survey, which is conducted annually at the local level and biennially at the state level by the Texas Department of State Health Services in conjunction with the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University. See the Texas Trends volume of this report: http://www.scribd.com/doc/17339513/P...

The Fiscal Year 2009 Annual Synar Report showed that since the passage of comprehensive tobacco control laws by the state and federal government in 1997 there has been a dramatic decrease in tobacco sales to minors. In Fiscal Year 1997, 40.1 percent of nationwide retailers violated laws against tobacco sales to minors. In 2007, the rate had dropped to 10.5 percent, the lowest ever.
Primary sources cited in this report are the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.