According to a recently released study, Massachusetts sixth-graders cut their smoking 70 percent since 1996. Among youth in grades 7 through 12, there was a 24 percent overall decline in cigarette use. And among eighth-graders, there was a 40 percent decrease in use, compared to a 17 percent decline for the same grade level nationally.

"This is definitive evidence that we are inoculating the next generation against cigarette addiction," said Public Health Commissioner Howard Koh. He added that the results of anti-smoking programs in Massachusetts have far exceeded national figures.

"We've hit a home run," said Gregory Connolly, state tobacco-control program director. He added that Massachusetts is the first state to show a decline in both youth and adult smoking.

During the past seven years, the state has spent $250 million, mostly from the tobacco settlement, on anti-smoking programs as a means of countering tobacco advertising.

Nearly 7,000 students in 106 communities in Massachusetts were questioned for the report. The study was conducted for the state last fall and winter by Health and Addictions Research Inc.

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