Smoking among teens

SMOKING AMONG TEENS

While smoking is on the decline among adults,the latest US Surgeon-General’s report indicates that increasing numbers of youngsters are taking up the habit. Perhaps, the main reason for this alarming fact is the seductive advertising campaigns aimed at young people by the tobacco companies .Other factors include the lack of awareness on the part of school children of the dangers of smoking and the widespread availability of cigarettes. Furthermore, smoking retains an image of sophisticated maturity among young people who are in the process of moulding themselves into what they want to be.

Teens seem more abrasive when they smoke and feel older and wiser. Nicotine suppresses feelings,one’s appetite for food and is used as stimulation after sex and is a good way to relax from troubles and feelings of insecurities.

Smokers go to designated areas and congregate around the one who has the light even when the weather is sub-zero. There they are, huddled up against each other, taking in the last drag before the break is over.

Teens like to act as if they are someone special or dangerous. By smoking they can act on those feelings. Because it is so forbidden it becomes more alluring to teens. The idea that they are breaking the law or going against their parents and school is an addiction within itself. Kids like to get attention.They crave attention.

Nicotine is considered the number one entrance drug into other substance abuse problems. Why is tobacco so addicting? Nicotine acts as a stimulant of the body,mind and spirit. When the body tolerance levels high, then one ends up needing to use larger doses of nicotine to maintain a certain level of the physiological effect

Common experiences of teen smokers

-they tried their first cigarette in the 6^th or 7^th grade.

-they often do not perform well at school.

-they feel like they are not part of school.

-they become isolated from other students.

-they can’t perform as well at sport events.

-they are reported to school officials for skipping classes.

-they are likely to start using illegal substances and experiment on drugs and alcohol.

-they experience pressure from home and school and use tobacco as a form of relief.

-they enjoy trying to hide their smoking habit.

Measures to combat smoking

The government must ban all cigarette advertising in order to reverse this disturbing trend.

Secondly,by introducing a” negative image ”advertising campaign, they could expose the truth-that smoking is a dangerous habit which kills thousands of people every year.

Another way to overcome this problem would be to impose heavier taxes thus increase the cost in the retail price of cigarettes. Consequently ,smoking would become far too costly a habit for most young people to maintain. Teachers could also tell their students what will happen to them if they smoke and teach them about the wide variety of ailments that smoking produces . Finally,a ban on the sales of cigarettes to under -eighteens would be effective as long as it were strictly enforced.

All in all,it would be easy to reduce the number of young people that smoke or even eliminate smoking altogether, were it not for the lackadaisical attitudes of those who have the power to do something about it. Fortunately nowadays there is an increase in youth exposure to  mass media campaigns. Let us not forget that where there is a will there is always a way to perform the best of miracles.

Answer the following questions

1 What is the alarming fact regarding smoking?

2  Explain how advertising can be seductive when it comes to tobacco brands.

3 How can smoking enhance a teenager’s moulding process?

4 Is a strict ,total ban on smoking always effective for the young?

5 What is the connection between smoking and drug abuse?

6 Do you agree that the higher the price the less cigarettes puffed away at?

7 Are the negative,shocking images depicted on the packets of cigarettes a strong deterrent against smoking?

8 Who in your opinion are to blame for assuming a lackadaisical role and attitude to the problem of teen smoking?

9 If a young teenager grows in a family with non-smoker parents, is this enough to guarantee the fact that he/she will not take up the habit?

10 Which quality in one’s personality is an asset ensuring once abstinence from smoking and all substance abuse?

Some catchy anti-smoking quotes for thought……

Be smart,don’t smoke.

Smoking?….you must be joking!!!

Too much smoke will leave you broke.

Put it out before it puts you out.

Smoking is like paying someone to kill you. They’re rich;you’re dead.

Your freedom ends where my nose begins.

Trash the Ash.

Live it or Burn it.

Tar the roads not your lungs.

Tobacco companies kill their best customers.

Finally a joke or two…

The giant cigarette lighter

A guy walks into a bar,sits down next to another guy and immediately notices the guy has a very large Bic cigarette lighter.

The first guy says “Wow,that’s a huge lighter…where did you get it?”

The guy replies “A genie from this bottle granted me one wish.”

“Great, can I try it?”

“Sure”

The first guy rubs the bottle and the genie appears. “You are granted one wish” says the genie.

The guy says “I want a million bucks!”

A few minutes go by and suddenly the bar door swings open and pouring in come ducks. Thousands of ducks falling all over each other through the bar door.

“I can’t believe this”, says the guy who had just placed his wish, “I asked for a million bucks ,not a million ducks!”

The second guy then says,”Do you really think I wished for a 12 inch Bic?”

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Two old ladies were outside their nursing home ,having a smoke when it started to rain. One of the ladies pulled out a condom,cut off the end,put it over her cigarette and continued smoking.

Lady 1 :”What’s that?”

Lady2 : “A condom. This way my cigarette doesn’t get wet”.

Lady 1 :”Where did you get it?”

Lady 2 : “You can get them at any drugstore”.

The next day… Lady 1 hobbles herself into the local drugstore and announces to the pharmacist that she wants a box of condoms. The guy looks at her kind of strangely (she is ,after all, over 80 years of age), but politely asks her what brand she prefers.

Lady 1 : “It doesn’t matter as long as it fits a Camel”.

So breathe healthily and live happily!!!!