What are the sucessful measures taken by governments around the world
to discourage young smokers?

Hi mathisha-ga,

Your question is a very interesting one and has numerous answers. This
first link provides a summary of tactics used to jointly combat
smoking levels. They include:

1. Preventative / educational campaigns
2. Establish an international treaty to be ratified by governments
worldwide.  The treaty should result in internationally agreed
standards on issues such as tobacco promotion,  tobacco product
regulation, smuggling, taxes, etc.
3. Banned tobacco advertising
4. Banning smoking in public places and in all forms of public
transport
5. Regulating tobacco products by requiring larger health warnings and
reduced levels of toxic chemicals
6. Taxing cigarrettes heavily
7. Removing tobacco subsidies

http://www.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact20.html

Here is another link that describes further regulations meant to
discourage youth from smoking:

http://www.ash.org.uk/html/policy/legislation.html#_Toc535822395

Several other countries have also used governmental policy to
discourage smoking, and while their tactics are a combination of the
seven listed above, the links are worth checking out:
Hong Kong
http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200111/28/1128176.htm
Canada
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/sc/pol/tabac-tobacco/index_e.cfm

This whitepaper considering tobacco-related policy is an extremely
informative source of analysis and definitely worth a read:

http://www.bsos.umd.edu/econ/evans/wpapers/nberf983.pdf

Regardless of the policies put in place by other government, each
government must consider their own situation different to an extent.
This is due to the economic foundation that underlies youth smoking to
begin with. For this reason I have compile a couple of question that
will help guide in the development of an effective policy in a given
geographic region:

1. What is the elasticity of tobacco products? In other words, how
does demand change if price were to change?
2. What can be said from the demographic information compiled about
youth smoking? What age do they tend to start smoking? Is there a
majority of boys or girls smoking? (this information helps target
policy to a specific demographic)
3. How can supply be affected? (ie. tax the tobacco companies, remove
subsidies, regulate products, remove advertising) This tends to vary
by country due to different legislation that has already been
established.

In summary, it is very difficult to generalize and tabulate a list of
successful measures that have historically been taken to discourage
young smokers. However, using the above information will help
governments understand the demographic nuances in their target
audience as well as the ways in which they can combat tobacco
companies. With this is mind, it is much easier to tailor a solution
to a specific situation rather than duplicating a previous policy and
hoping for the best :)

If you have any problems understanding the information provided above
please feel free to post a clarification and I will get back to you.

Cheers!

answerguru-ga

It is going to be very difficult to stop anyone for smoking, the
smoker or the futur smoker is the only one who can change his
attitude! The ideal solution will be from the government to stop
selling tobacco, unfortunatly we all know that will never happen
because that where they make most of their money along with alcohol
and drugs! So they are not going to stop it! And if the put the prices
up, it's only to make more money, they don't care about our health
otherwise they would have put a stop ages ago!! They are THE MAFIA! We
all know what is good or not for ourselves, smoking or any other vices
is ok, ADDICTION is bad, bad for the health and for the wallet! I am
quitting smoking because I decide to like evrything else. If only the
money that we decide to spend on cigarettes which damage our health
would go to those who have a bad health not by smoking but by not
eating, I would think than I choose to damage my health but I make
somebody else's health better! But that is not the case, I am damaging
my health and I am giving money to the wrong people for it! Just think
and act smart: Don't smoke or if you really want to smoke, have one on
big occasion but don't get addicted to it, don't make the rich richer!
Instead get addicted to exercices, good food and helping others, it
feels good and it cost nothing! (except for the food, isn't it amazing
than we have to pay so much for good food, or just for food?)another
thing to think about...Thank you gia