Teen Smoking

Section 2000-008 Paper Word Count: 1,604

3/29/04 Essay Word Count: 572

Total Word Count: 2,176

Teen Smoking

Teen Smoking

Teen smoking is a problem in the U.S. Every year the rates of teens smoking rises; whether its reasons like peer pressure, other family members smoking or just wanting to try a cigarette. Teens in the early phases of their lives want attention. Smoking is one of the keys to this attention they crave. A statistic taken from the US Today paper, “Seven out of ten minors in high school have tried smoking cigarettes. Among students who claim to have tried cigarettes one or more times in the past thirty days, eighteen percent were male, and sixteen percent were female.” (Borris 1997, p. A12). There are plenty of campaigning groups out in the world against teen smoking, but that won’t put a stop to it. There is a deeper reasoning why teens continue to get drawn to smoking at such a young age.

Most teens have already been told, and continue to be told, why they shouldn’t smoke cigarettes. They’ve seen and heard the warnings from their parents and teachers, the Surgeon General, even the media. But teenagers of the current generation have new attitudes about risk-and they are attracted not only to smoking but also to a whole range of high-risk behavior, including alcohol abuse, drug use, and the practice of unprotected sex.

In my research I have found that sex is a strong link to the tobacco industry. The tobacco company’s give movie producers a lot of money to make sure that all sex scenes have smoking involved. The message the companies want to implant in your brain is that smoking is a part of having sex. Many people start smoking for the infamous reason of just to be cool. But what is it about...