By the year 2010, a slate of California smoking laws passed beginning in 1988 will have saved 50,000 lives, researchers project.

The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) said in a new report that the California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) has helped spur a 25-percent decrease in smoking in the state; the campaign includes laws banning indoor smoking and reducing youth access to cigarettes, higher cigarette prices, and antismoking media ads.

"In the year 2010 alone over 5,000 lives will be saved as a result of the California Tobacco Control Program," said study author David Levy, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at PIRE's Public Services Research Institute. "As the first state to successfully initiate a comprehensive plan to 'denormalize' tobacco, California serves as a benchmark for other states."

California's Proposition 99, passed in 1988, raised cigarette taxes by 25 center per pack, with a portion of the money dedicated to funding CTCP. "Tobacco-control policies implemented as comprehensive tobacco-control strategies undoubtedly saves lives. They have significantly impacted smoking rates," Levy said. "Further tax increases should lead to more lives saved, and additional policies may continue to reduce smoking rates, and consequently reduce smoking-related health problems in the population."