Tobacco - Underage Smoking
by: Jerry Price - Mar 13, 2006 - comments: 3
“A teenager couldn’t have dreamed up a cooler cigarette: it’s hand rolled, wrapped in a leaf and looks like a joint. But like candy, it comes in such flavors as grape, chocolate and root beer. To top things off, it’s sold in hip venues like head shops and health-food stores at a cost of about a buck a pack less than the price of conventional smokes.” But it’s not a regular cigarette; it is an Indian bidi made from dark Indian tobacco containing as much as three times the nicotine as American tobacco. Increasing the hazard, the wrapping, which comes from the tendu plant, is nonporous so outside air is prevented from mixing with the smoke inhaled and diluting it. Many teenagers think that because the bidi is smaller than an American cigarette, it is less dangerous. Wallace Pickworth, a pharmacologist with the National Institute of Drug Abuse and lead investigator of the study, says, “Kids think they’re not smoking real cigarettes. Some even think they’ve stopped smoking if they use these alternatives. But these cigarettes are delivering highly toxic compounds.”
Janice Horowitz, “Sweet As Candy, Deadly As Cigarettes,” http://www.time.com , December 16, 2002 [Subscription required]
“Smoking rates among American teens continue an eight year long decline in 2004. The proportion who are current smokers in 2004 down from recent peak levels in the mid-1990s by one-half among the nation’s 8th and 10th graders and by a third among its12th graders . . . And the number of teen smokers is still substantial: 25 percent of 12th graders reported smoking in the prior 30 days, along with 16 percent of 10th graders and 9 percent of 8th graders.”
Contributing factors
- The intense adverse publicity suffered by the tobacco industry during the 1990s, as their practices were brought under public scrutiny.
- The master settlement agreement between the state attorneys general and the tobacco industry that led to a number of changes in marketing practices.
- A sharp rise in cigarette prices, partly as a result of the industry’s need to recoup monies lost in the settlement.
- The ending of the Joe Camel logo.
- The cessation of billboard advertising as part of the settlement.
- The initiation of anti-smoking ads by a number of states and nationally by the American Legacy Foundation, which was created and funded under the settlement.
Cigarette Smoking Among American Teens Continues to Decline, But More Slowly Than in the Past (Monitoring the Future), December 21, 2004 [Accessed November 8, 2004]
Further Learning
Learn more about: Family, Addictions, Substance Abuse
3 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Aug 21st, 2008, at 7:17pm, Ted wrote:
what is the legal smoking age in the Pennsylvania or USA
2 On Sep 15th, 2008, at 10:29pm, Arthur wrote:
18
3 On Dec 20th, 2008, at 4:59pm, Alexandra wrote:
I think the only way to cut down on children smoking is to work harder at preventing adults selling cigars to kids. Maybe ID should be asked for. Parents who smoke should be more careful about where they leave their cigarettes too.