Smoking and Kids: Alarming Statistics
Parents can seldom force adolescents to do anything. The offer of better outcomes usually produces changes in behavior. If your teenager smokes, do not start screaming scolding when you discover the truth out. Instead, bring your son or daughter to the Medical Center Dental Group to have a complete dental checkup and thorough tooth cleaning. Explain this will improve their smile and make them look better.
Most teens begin to smoke while in middle school. This has been happening since the early 20th century. During The Great Depression young worked side by side with adults. These adults saw nothing wrong with passing a cigarette to an 11 year old junior while he was milking a cow or patching a hole in a fence.
In that era, such action was considered manly and proper. Smoking was viewed almost as an initiation or strange rite of passage. When you went to work in those days, you smoked and drank with the crew, regardless of your age.
This was ignorance, of course, but back then, people did not know any better.
Since learning of all the harmful effects of cigarettes, we are disappointed to say that we have yet to see a generation of kids come along that will leave smoking alone. Kids are still smoking, and starting at the same young ages as they did in the 20s and 30s.
Why?
The answer lies in the way tobacco companies advertise their product. To be brutal with the truth, they target young people. Because they cannot compete with each other by cutting prices, and because they cannot advertise on the radio or television, either, they package cigarettes in imagery intended to entice adolescents to buy. This is a sleazy way to do business. Nicotine is more addictive than crack, yet these companies deliberately target junior high and high school kids.
Do you have any idea how hard it is for a teenager to quit smoking once he or she starts?
Here are some very alarming facts that we all should be concerned about:
· Every day, over 3,300 kids become habitual smokers. One third of die of a tobacco-related illness.
· The average age of experimentation is 12. 4,800 adolescents start experimenting with smoking between the ages of 11-17. The statistic is 5,500 if the 18-20 demographic is included.
· 4.5 million kids are addicted to smoking.
· Current usage, if it continues, will kill over 5 million kids under the 18.
· 90 percent of all adult smokers said they started smoking at or before the age of 18.
· 86 percent of all cigarettes are sold to youth. The most popular brands—Marlboro, Camel, and Newport—are now iconic in teenage popular culture.
· Science has proven that tobacco is a gateway drug. 65 percent of cocaine users started smoking cigarettes. Other adolescents who smoked tobacco moved on to heavy drinking.
Before they are even 20 years of age, 75 percent of all teenagers regret ever starting smoking. That is an extremely high regret factor for the prime of youth to have.
Most teens begin to smoke while in middle school. This has been happening since the early 20th century. During The Great Depression young worked side by side with adults. These adults saw nothing wrong with passing a cigarette to an 11 year old junior while he was milking a cow or patching a hole in a fence.
In that era, such action was considered manly and proper. Smoking was viewed almost as an initiation or strange rite of passage. When you went to work in those days, you smoked and drank with the crew, regardless of your age.
This was ignorance, of course, but back then, people did not know any better.
Since learning of all the harmful effects of cigarettes, we are disappointed to say that we have yet to see a generation of kids come along that will leave smoking alone. Kids are still smoking, and starting at the same young ages as they did in the 20s and 30s.
Why?
The answer lies in the way tobacco companies advertise their product. To be brutal with the truth, they target young people. Because they cannot compete with each other by cutting prices, and because they cannot advertise on the radio or television, either, they package cigarettes in imagery intended to entice adolescents to buy. This is a sleazy way to do business. Nicotine is more addictive than crack, yet these companies deliberately target junior high and high school kids.
Do you have any idea how hard it is for a teenager to quit smoking once he or she starts?
Here are some very alarming facts that we all should be concerned about:
· Every day, over 3,300 kids become habitual smokers. One third of die of a tobacco-related illness.
· The average age of experimentation is 12. 4,800 adolescents start experimenting with smoking between the ages of 11-17. The statistic is 5,500 if the 18-20 demographic is included.
· 4.5 million kids are addicted to smoking.
· Current usage, if it continues, will kill over 5 million kids under the 18.
· 90 percent of all adult smokers said they started smoking at or before the age of 18.
· 86 percent of all cigarettes are sold to youth. The most popular brands—Marlboro, Camel, and Newport—are now iconic in teenage popular culture.
· Science has proven that tobacco is a gateway drug. 65 percent of cocaine users started smoking cigarettes. Other adolescents who smoked tobacco moved on to heavy drinking.
Before they are even 20 years of age, 75 percent of all teenagers regret ever starting smoking. That is an extremely high regret factor for the prime of youth to have.
Labels: kids, smoking, teenage smoking
posted by Dental Expert at
3:28 PM
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