According to a report from the American Lung Association, there were 25,432 deaths attributed to smoking in New York State in 2014, 7,602 of them from lung cancer.
ALA spokesman Mike Seilback says smoking rates have dropped dramatically compared to what they were 20 or 30 years ago.
"However, over the past two or three years, we're not seeing that downward trend anymore. It's kind of stalled. We know the main reason for that is we're not investing enough in ways to help prevent kids from starting to smoke, and to help New York smokers quit."
16.6 percent of New York adults and more than 10 percent of high school students were smokers in 2014.
According to a recent report from Excellus Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the smoking rate in Upstate New York was higher, at 21 percent.
