"By telling kids that adults were up to no good and were misleading them so the companies could profit, Florida hit a home run."

The rate of high schoolers who smoke in Florida dropped to 8.6 percent in 2013, far below the national average for high schoolers, which is 15.8 percent, says a new national report released Monday.

"We frequently hold Florida up as a model," said Peter Hamm, spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in Washington. "It pioneered one of the most effective campaigns ever to keep kids from smoking."

As a result, the state can boast "one of lowest high-school smoking rates ever recorded," Hamm said. Florida has cut its high school smoking rate by almost half since 2005, when 15.7 percent of high schoolers smoked.

Read more at the Orlando Sentinel.