POSITIVE TRENDS

Good news seems hard to find these days. Here, lifted from the 'goodneighbor' magazine from State Farm, are reasons to be optimisic:

YOUNG PEOPLE MAKE SMARTER DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR WELL-BEING
From 1997 to 2007, the percentage of high school students who smoke has fallen steadily, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. At the beginning of the period, about 36.4 percent of students smoked. Ten years later the number had fallen to 20 percent. Likewise, fewer teenagers are using alcohol and hard drugs, including methamphetamines and cocaine. Between 2004 and 2009 there were declines in: > The use of meth by eighth graders. > The use of amphetatmines and cocaine among 10th and 12th graders. > The use and binge-use of alcohol among all three grades.

The percentage of 12th graders using hallucinogens and LSD dropped in 2009. Greater numbers of students perceived drug use to be harmful, which often foretells of a change in use.

OUR HEARTS LOVE ANTI-SMOKING LAWS According to a comparison of fee-for-service Medicare patients in 2002 and 2007, the amount of hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped 23 percent during that time period. One possible reason? Public smoking bans that are now law in 32 states and many cities. A 2009 study in the Journal of the American College of Cariology showed cities with "no butts" policies saw a decline in emergency room visits for heart attacks within three months of the ban. Heart attacks continued to decline in these smoke-free areas, sometimes dropping as much as 25 percent below pre-ban numbers.