Smoking Temptation in Teenagers

Article:

Smoking In Teens

Here's what the Canadian Lung Association has to say:

Youth and Tobacco

Ontario law prohibits the sale of tobacco if the person is under 19.

Smoking is expensive!

"Teenagers smoke more than a billion cigarettes a year resulting in retail sales worth over $400 million. The average teen smoker spends $1,000 a year on cigarettes."

Smoking is addictive!

·         8 out of 10 teens who try smoking get hooked.

·         Over half of Grade 12 students are unable to quit.

·         Only 5% of student smokers think that they will be smoking in 5 years. But 5 years later, 80% of them are heavy smokers.

·         60% of smokers try to quit. Most smokers quit several times before stopping for good.

·         80% of smokers would like to quit.

·         Cigarette smoking is more addictive and harder to quit than heroin or cocaine.

Smoking kills!

·         It is estimated that 55% of young men and 51% of young women who started smoking by age 15 will die before age 70 if they continue to smoke.

·         Tobacco kills more than 40,000 Canadians per year. That's more than the total number of deaths from AIDS, traffic accidents, suicide, murder, fires and accidental poisoning.

Youth and Tobacco:

Most teens are concerned about their appearance and social life, however, when it comes to smoking and...

8 out of 10 guys and 7 out of 10 girls say they would not date someone who smokes.

smoking causes premature wrinkling. It makes the skin dry and leathery.

smoking makes it take longer for acne to heal

                                                           

it causes hair loss in some teens.

                                                                                  

This article explains how smoking is bad for both teenagers and adults. These days’ teenagers are being told about the problems associated with smoking but  are still doing it. I am a high school student that has to deal with this situation often. Many people who are under age are smoking and potentially killing their bodies. These people are inviting people like me, to try it and see how it feels. Some of my friends recently have started smoking and are trying to get me into it. Since they all smoke except me they are all telling me to try it. The temptation is so strong because these are people that I grew up with. But till now I have never smoked yet and I am proud of that. Now I am one of the lucky people that avoided the temptation of smoking even though many people I know have done it.