Colorado's smoking rate fell from 22 percent to 18 percent between 2001 and 2006, and Gov. Bill Ritter said a 2004 increase in the state's tobacco tax was behind the trend, KMGH-TV reported Sept. 24.

Ritter said that increasing the cigarette tax from 20 cents per pack to 84 cents per pack provided the state with the funding needed to increase its tobacco education campaign, which helped persuade more Colorado residents to quit.

But Jon Caldata, head of the conservative think-tank Independence Institute, said that smoking rates were declining anyway and that there's no evidence that the tax had an impact.

Colorado now has the ninth-lowest smoking rate in the U.S. Among high-school students, smoking declined from 18 percent in 2001 to 15 percent in 2006, more than meeting the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's goal of cutting youth smoking to 16 percent by 2010.