This is not entirely correct for reasons already cited, but I'll add this:

Government and healthcare providers have been driving anti-smoking campaigns for a looong time to the point that all cigarette packages are now olive green with gigantic content warnings and pictures of dead babies, and are prohibitively expensive. Also you won't get some medical treatment if you admit that you smoke or, to a lesser degree, ingest nicotine in other ways.

It's a bit short-sighted to say that the generations that grow up in this athmosphere performed an "insane feat of strength" instead of just growing up in a reality that makes it much harder to fall for cigarettes/nicotine.