Smoking - "affecting Young People Everyday"

Smoking - "Affecting young people everyday"

Young people today experience a wide range of illicit substances at relatively easy access. Fake ID, getting someone older to purchase it for you, buying it off the streets, there are so many ways to possess illicit materials. But one, which affects young people in a very permanent and poisonous way, is smoking.

Nature: Before one can delve into what effect smoking/cigarettes, have on the body you must understand what a cigarette contains. One cigarette contains over 4000 chemicals including some that cause cancer.

Nicotine - A very powerful poison. It is extremely addictive, more so than Heroin or marijuana.

Hydrogen Cyanide - This extremely lethal poison is contained in suicide pills and was used in gas chambers during the second world war.

Carbon Monoxide - also an additive in exhaust fumes from cars. Reduces the oxygen carrying capability of the blood.

Tar - This is an obvious one, it is used to make roads, and also causes stains on smokers' fingers, teeth and lung tissue.

Metals - Nickel, arsenic (also used as ant poison) and cadmium (used in car batteries).

All these harmful chemicals can have extremely destructive consequences on your body. They can cause lung, nose, neck and mouth cancer. They lower the bodies ability to carry oxygen thus resulting in frequent loss of breath, make teeth and hands turn yellow, causes heart disease, are incredibly addictive, makes breath and hair smell rancid, and if a woman is pregnant, can have severe repercussions on the babies development.

HEALTHY LUNG SMOKERS LUNG

Cause/Risk Factors

Young people are extremely susceptible to peer pressure. As such, many of them are pressured into trying smoking at least once. Many will find it repulsive but many will also find it addictive and it will be nearly impossible for them to stop.

Studies show that 40 % of young people (15-24) have tried smoking at least once. 25% of them are regular smokers. More girls smoke than boys, probably because they are under greater pressure from their friends to try it. Thankfully this number is falling due to greater awareness of its consequences, and the fact that it is illegal to advertise smoking in Australia and many other countries in the world. 30-40 years ago, as much as 50% of youths smoked, but that was mainly due to the 'teen revolution' and lower awareness of smokings' consequences.

Young people are at risk of getting 'hooked' if they hang around other people who smoke, try it once and get hooked, breathe in the smoke of other people or if people in their family smoke.

Studies show that up to 80% of people who smoke regularly, started smoking when they were teenagers, given this fact it is safe to say that teenagers are the most vulnerable when it comes to the 'image' smoking gives to people.

For many years, the tobacco industry has pledged its opposition to smoking in young people and its direction of reducing it. However the fact of the matter is that cigarette companies rely on underage smoking. Almost 80% of all regular smokers begin at or before the age of 18. Next to nobody tries a first cigarette outside of their teenage years. In other words, if large numbers of teenagers didn't attempt to try smoking, and become addicted adult