AbstractData from a 1983 survey of 4265 school students are presented. Girls smoked more than boys in all but one age group; 45 per cent of current smokers stated they did not intend stopping; 12 per cent of non‐smokers believed that they would take it up; 67.5 per cent of students overestimated the number of people who smoke; and only 7.8 per cent of students correctly rated tobacco as the drug that causes the greatest number of deaths from a list of different recreational drugs. A case is argued for health education efforts which place greater emphasis on the health consequences of smoking than is currently fashionable in many health education effort