Teen Smoking Essay - 540 Words

One of the largest issues today is adolescent smoking. According to a heath based website, nearly 90% of adult smokers start while they are still teens and they never intend to get hooked. They may start by bumming a cigarette or two from a friend at a party, and then go on to buying an occasional pack. Soon they realize that they cant go without that pack. Theyve gotten used to reaching for a cigarette first thing in the morning, after meals, or during any stressful time. They become addicted, both physically and psychologically. According to the American Lung Association, each day 6,000 children under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette. Almost 2,000 of them will become regular smokers – that’s 757, 000 new smokers annually!†¦show more content†¦These teens may think that smoking shows that they are old enough to make their own decisions. To make matters worse, the tobacco companies are making millions from teen smokers. Tobacco companies use advertising to manipulate both teens and adults. They present images that are hard to shake, even when you know the truth. Have you ever seen a cigarette ad where people are wrinkled, middle-aged or coughing and in the hospital dying of lung cancer? Of course not! In most ads, smokers are shown the way that teens would like to be: attractive and hip, sophisticated and elegant, or rebellious. A 2002 study performed by the Research Triangle Institute states that the tobacco companies make 1.8 billion dollars annually from underage sales. It is interesting that they are making such large profits when it is illegal for a person under the age of 18 to purchase cigarettes. A recent survey by the The American Lung Association indicated that among students under 18 years old who were current smokers, 69.4% reported never being asked for proof of age when buying cigarettes in a store, and 62.4% were not refused purchase because of their age. The tobacco industry kills more people in North America from Monday to Thursday of each week than the terrorists murdered in total on September 11, 2001. That sounds unrealistic, doesn’t it? Well, smoking is an epidemic that affects us all, whether you are a smoker or you aren’t. In order to stop this epidemic, we need toShow MoreRelated Teens And Smoking Essay1572 Words   |  7 Pages Teens and Smoking Abstract Cigarette smoking is of interest to the National Institute on Drug Abuse both because of the public health problems associated with this form of substance abuse and because this behavior represents a prototypic dependence process. In the past few years the government has made every effort to reach the masses, in an attempt to curb the exploitation of tobbacco use, and its acceptance among Americas Youngsters. 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The progress of smoking occasionally to smoking every day is due to the highly addictive drugRead MoreThe Effects Of Smoking On Teens Ability On Learning2910 Words   |  12 PagesIntroduction Smoking has been a controversial topic ever since the 20th century. According to U.S Department of Health and Human, smoking has been recognized as the leading preventable cause of death in the United States in which 443,000 deaths are caused by intended active smoke and passive second-hand smoke each year. In addition, smokers are considered to be more likely to develop many diseases including coronary heart disease, respiratory disease, and lung cancer, and therefore tobacco use costsRead MoreTeen Smoking : Killing You Softly2315 Words   |  10 Pages Teen-Smoking: Killing You Softly Have you ever made bad decisions as a teenager? Consider the following: alcohol, drugs, theft, DUI, and skipping school. The life as a teenager is a constant battle for social esteem, yet in the myopic quest for that ephemeral satisfaction many make decisions based on impulses that trump morality and logic; one of the most detrimental is smoking. The Centers and Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) completed a research of estimating the use of cigarettes amongRead More Teen Smoking Essay764 Words   |  4 Pages Tobacco Advertising and its dangerous effects on young people. Tobacco Advertising Makes Young People Their Chief Target nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Everyday 3,000 children start smoking, most them between the ages of 10 and 18. These kids account for 90 percent of all new smokers. In fact, 90 percent of all adult smokers said that they first lit up as teenagers (Roberts). These statistics clearly show that young people are the prime target in the tobacco wars. The cigarette manufacturers