Smoking Teens....

[justine]

ok so we have had thread afterthread about smoking and the effects on teens and now they have come up with a solution,,Is this the right attitude..maybe maybe not..I think it is just going to encourage more but then i could be completely wrong.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7265607.stm

[rob16d]

Hmmm...it's disgusting seeing that 11 year olds are smoking! I don't think this will be a solution, temporary or permanent...but I also don't think it will encourage them...I think school children should be taught more about smoking and it's adverse effects.

[nikki]

We were taught all about smoking and what it can do it you (among other things) for 4 years in our PSD class at the high school, and that hasn't helped any. If the government was so determined to stop young people starting and help people stop then it would ban smoking all together, but there's too much money involved I suppose.
The other day I was in the college bus stop at lunchtime and a couple of high school girls, they looked to be about 2nd year, piled into the bus stop to share a fag. I remember thinking it was quite pathetic, 5 or 6 sharing one fag, trying to look cool, then I remembered when I was that age. It was exactly the same, my mates and I huddled round a fag at lunchtime, hiding from teachers and all that. I then felt sorry for them more than anything else, because they don't know what they're letting themselves in for.
I really don't know what can be done to stop young people starting though.

[rob16d]

If the government banned smoking altogether, there would still be means of getting cigarettes though and you'd get an uproar of people "It's free will to smoke" blah blah blah! I think the advent of the pictures of damaged organs on tobacco products will make a difference! "Can I get 20 lambert and butler...no not that one...the one witht he rotten lungs on it please!" lol. DISSSGUSTING

[northener]

Everytime I see schoolkids smoking, they are invariably teenage girls.

Do statistics back up my observation or am I off the mark here?

.

[orkneylass]

Everytime I see schoolkids smoking, they are invariably teenage girls.

Do statistics back up my observation or am I off the mark here?

.

In Orkney teenage girls smoking is at a higher rate than boys and this has been a massive social change. the issue with teenage girls is that they are tomorrows mothers and it is well researched that smoking in prgnancy puts the baby at risk in a number of ways.

Nobody has yet come up with a deterrant to start smoking or an encouragement to quit that works in every case. Scare tactics work for some and make smoking more rebellious and glamorous to others.

However, if a child is already hooked on nicotine, and genuinely wants to stop, I don't see why anyone would want to deny them a harmless treatment that could help. Surely the sooner they stop, the better?

[Whitewater]

I smoked from when I was about 12yrs old until I was 35. (35 is away in my distant past). It was not easy to stop, and there were no patches then, at least I don't think there were. In my young days it was fashionable to smoke and the health dangers were not realised at that time. The youngsters who are now taking up smoking should know better, with the health warnings on the packets and all the puplicity about the dozens of ways it can kill you.

I don't know if it has come back into fashion again, but more youngsters are taking it up, particularly young girls. It could be peer pressure, who knows? I don't know if patches work of not, they keep nicotine in your system, I knew somebody who wore patches for a year and then went back to smoking. It is very addictive. I must admit that I enjoyed it, particularly large American cigars of which I had a regular supply from a kind friend on the American base.

I managed to stop because some friends and I had a really heavy night on the booze, I felt very rough the next day, when I went to light up my usual morning smoke it tasted horrible and I threw it away. Next morning I went to light up a fag as usual, but thought I would try and go for another day. This went on for about 3 to 4 weeks and during that time I always had a packet of cigaretts in my pocket so that if I got really desperate and gurning would take one. It took me all that time to have the confidence to go without a packet in my pocket.

I don't think there is any easy answer to stopping. You have to want to stop and you are the only person who has the will power to control the craving. It is very difficult and I don't envy anybody who is trying to stop. Just wish them the inner strength to overcome the craving.

[mums angels]

I was a teenage smoker started about 12/13ish but quit when i got pregnant at 16 , went back to it for awhile socially when she was 6 months , quit again when pregnant with second then just would have a fag when i was out on the drink but not anytime else but wasn't that long ago i went out a few weeks in a row and did start smoking a bit more regular but quit the moment i found out i was pregnant again have now decided that after this one i won't smoke when out for a drink as i don't want to slip back into it . nothing would have stopped me starting at 12 my parents tried everything , peer preasure won everytime . :(

[young_fishin_neep]

well i personaly think its a good idea as at 15 i wasnt aloud any nicotine replacement therapy as the age for cigs was 16, then when i turn 16 im in england (cant get anything from doctor) i get back up here start college just get settled and before i know it the age for cigs is up to 18, again the doctors cant give me anything, so basicly what their saying is, i have to pay or i keep smoking until im old enough to get help, so yea i think its a good idea.

kazzii xxxxx

[j4bberw0ck]

There should be every encouragement for people to smoke.

The logic is clear:

1. The Government is never going to spend less money, therefore
2. It needs to borrow more, or tax people more, but
3. Taxing people is cheaper, so
4. By kindly agreeing to pay all the extra tax on their tobacco, smokers keep the tax burden lower for the rest of us (said the ex-smoker).

And:

5. The more people smoke, the better the profits of the tobacco companies, so their dividend is improved, share price goes up, and millions of pensions schemes earn more money as a result.

Great job, smokers!

The real question here is whether State benefits should be allowed to be used to pay for tobacco? :cool:

[rob16d]

J4bberw0ck you seem in a controversial mood today! :D Hehe! Well good on ya saying what you think! I think there will be a few annoyed people replying to that...espcially venture!

[orkneylass]

There should be every encouragement for people to smoke.

The logic is clear:

1. The Government is never going to spend less money, therefore
2. It needs to borrow more, or tax people more, but
3. Taxing people is cheaper, so
4. By kindly agreeing to pay all the extra tax on their tobacco, smokers keep the tax burden lower for the rest of us (said the ex-smoker).

And:

5. The more people smoke, the better the profits of the tobacco companies, so their dividend is improved, share price goes up, and millions of pensions schemes earn more money as a result.

Great job, smokers!

The real question here is whether State benefits should be allowed to be used to pay for tobacco? :cool:

You forgot to mention how much money will be saved because of all those people dying younger and not needed care or pension payments!

[Rheghead]

Apart from the obvious health issues, I am interested in the environmental impact of smoking.

Is the world demand going up or down and is cropland being put to different uses or put back as wild land again. And what is the impact on biodiversity when land is torched to make way for growing tobacco. Not to mention the transportation issues over long distances.

Think of all the wee furry and feathered creatures we are putting out of a home all just for a quick nicotine fix.

I think teens have the potential in their different outlook on life to change the world for the better, they just need a wee bit of guidance. :)

[router]

Apart from the obvious health issues, I am interested in the environmental impact of smoking.

Is the world demand going up or down and is cropland being put to different uses or put back as wild land again. And what is the impact on biodiversity when land is torched to make way for growing tobacco. Not to mention the transportation issues over long distances.


I would not worry too much about smoking, you might want to look at china for the effects of the "developing country" and the all the new buildings they are putting up,eg airports and the likes. A few billion smokers could not do in a lifetime what they are doing in a day...........


As for the growing of tabacco, getting a few plants going for my own use..far cheaper than buying it from supermarkets.........

[Rheghead]

I would not worry too much about smoking, you might want to look at china for the effects of the "developing country" and the all the new buildings they are putting up,eg airports and the likes. A few billion smokers could not do in a lifetime what they are doing in a day...........


You are probably right and you are probably more right to find a reason why we shouldn't act for the good of the planet. A deed done is worth more than a million deeds talked about.

[j4bberw0ck]

Apart from the obvious health issues, I am interested in the environmental impact of smoking.

Quite so. Those oxides of carbon and nitrogen released to the environment from their burning of tobacco - and then again from cremating the bodies of smokers - are I'm sure directly responsible for boiling at least one baby polar bear to death.

Disgraceful! :lol::lol:

(Actually, Rheggers, there is an environmental issue here; some Greek farmers are paid by the EU to grow tobacco. The tobacco they grow is so filthy and of such low quality it's no good for ciggies - well, not in the First World anyhow, with our delicate throats. But nice to know your tax money and mine is subsidising yet another piece of EU stupidity).

[Rheghead]

Quite so. Those oxides of carbon and nitrogen released to the environment from their burning of tobacco - and then again from cremating the bodies of smokers - are I'm sure directly responsible for boiling at least one baby polar bear to death.

Disgraceful! :lol::lol:

(Actually, Rheggers, there is an environmental issue here; some Greek farmers are paid by the EU to grow tobacco. The tobacco they grow is so filthy and of such low quality it's no good for ciggies - well, not in the First World anyhow, with our delicate throats. But nice to know your tax money and mine is subsidising yet another piece of EU stupidity).

One polar bear too many me thinks, but as a point of the precautionary principle, without quantitative data to the opposite then I would naturally err on the worst case scenario. And thanks for letting me know about the Greeks, they won't win this year's Euro, that is for certain. They make nice slow-cooked lamb though. But if the Third world are daft enough to smoke that tobacco stuff then they are welcome to the consequences. It is not as if they haven't been warned, is it?

[j4bberw0ck]

err on the worst case scenario

Naturally, indeed. I apologise, and on re-thinking the WCS I remember several cases of baby polar bears spontaneously combusting because of global warming - really lovely baby bears, they were, you know, their eyes had that lovely sort of moisty way about them, and they had floppy ears and big oversize paws an' all. Apparently, one of them almost achieved the conditions for nuclear fusion and so might have provided power for an entire continent. But a miss, as they say, is as good as a mile..... :lol:

Who'd have thought that a habit that, for many, started as an innocent crafty drag behind the bike sheds, would become something threatening the very survival of Gaia?

[Rheghead]

Who'd have thought that a habit that, for many, started as an innocent crafty drag behind the bike sheds, would become something threatening the very survival of Gaia?

For every Yin there is a Yang, just because it isn't passed before our eyes doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[justine]

I would not worry too much about smoking, you might want to look at china for the effects of the "developing country" and the all the new buildings they are putting up,eg airports and the likes. A few billion smokers could not do in a lifetime what they are doing in a day...........


As for the growing of tabacco, getting a few plants going for my own use..far cheaper than buying it from supermarkets.........


Well said I aought it on the news yeaterday about the new airport they are building in china. Now what gets me and i hope i can get some ideas on this..How on earth can they call CHINA a developing country.....They have way far advanced technology than most and the money they make is so high i would run out of zeros....
I thought the likes of Uganda would be a developing country....

[j4bberw0ck]

look at china for the effects of the "developing country" and the all the new buildings they are putting up,eg airports and the likes

I know. India, too - another 1.2 billion Asians who want something better. And Africa. Another billion. It's a disgrace. They should just decide to stay poor and not pollute for the sake of the planet :lol: .



How on earth can they call CHINA a developing country.....They have way far advanced technology than most and the money they make is so high i would run out of zeros....
I thought the likes of Uganda would be a developing country....

Answer is, they both are. China is prosperous now because it has a limitless supply of peasants who, for threepence ha'penny a day, will toil non-stop at whatever the government tells them to do. No choice. And it costs less to have 1000 peasants dig a hole in the ground than it does to buy a digger, basically. That's the wonder of trade; as people become more valuable as assets to the economy (as they have here because we've largely switched to an information economy) their price (wage) goes up. When it's cheaper to buy a digger than hire a few people (as it is here), your economy is "developed".

Wages here are associated with the cost of living here. Wages in China, ditto. So the cost base of Chinese manufacturers is extremely low and their output can be sold very cheaply to rich westerners, and still make them a fortune.