Teen smoking no longer on the decline in U.S.

[Roon]

ATLANTA - The long, steady decline in teen smoking in the U.S. since the late 1990s appears to have come to a standstill, health officials said Friday.

A survey released this week showed that smoking among high school students held steady at around one in four teenagers between 2003 and 2005. Two other surveys in the past year or so found that teen smoking has apparently plateaued since 2002.

"We were making good progress, and now it looks like we're not," said Dr. Corinne Husten, acting director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13231930/

[Tanam]

1. Trust polls with a

Grain of salt

[Malikshah]

2. What do teens have to live for??? Plus--the overall level of stress

is something to take note of...

I know as someone who is trying to quit--it's easier when I ignore the news...

[BiggJawn]

3. Not surprising.

After all, I have been smoke-free for over 3 years, and lately, I've been getting urges to start up again. I'm not craving Nicotine, I just remember how smoking would calm me down when the cheese got binding, and lemme tell ya, these last few months there's been so much shit hitting the fan it looks more like a fertilizer pump than an air mover.

If a 50-y-o man can't cope, how in the hell is a 15-y-o supposed to do it? You can't screw or get head ALL the time, y'know...

[SpiralHawk]

4. I gave up tobacco once for 14 years...

but then in a period of stress the craving CAMER BACK. Tobacco is considered to be the Chief of all the herbs, most powerful.

I am free of it now -- but still some days I can feel the spririt of the plant kicking around inside me, complaining and asking for a puff. But it ain't going to happen. As powerful as tobacco is, my will is stronger.

[BiggJawn]

6. I've had DREAMS about it lately.

Never had that happen before.

As powerful and potentially harmful as Tobacco is, I still think Alcohol's worse. Not back on THAT either.

[Mika]

13. Congrats BiggJ. Stick to it.

Think of how bad you'll feel trying to push the pedals while hacking up black goo.

Hit the road on that bike whever you can to remind you that you have lungs to take care of.

Best of luck to ya. :hi:


Regards,
Mika

[pooja]

5. It doesn't surprise me either

Seems like the more expensive and exclusive a product is...it becomes a must have thing... besides, there may be a cure for cancer someday, aids, herpes, or whatever else these kids face.... With the odds against you, might as well live on the edge just a little.

[megatherium]

8. The rub with tobacco is that the gratification it provides

happens now (when the user is young) but the harm it causes happens decades later. And the harm is terrible: cigarettes take 14 years off of the life of the average smoker. 14 years.
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/research_data/economics/mm5425_highlights.htm

[Ilsa]

7. Since Jesus is coming soon they won't be getting lung cancer. eom

[meow2u3]

9. Kids--and parents--have learned how to avoid getting caught

as far as underage smoking is concerned.
Parents or other adults buy the smokes "for themselves", then give the pack to the kids out of the prying eyes of clerks, who rat to the cops if they see the transfer of cigs to a teen in the parking lot.

[roseBudd]

10. I was smart, I started smoking at 12, quit at 15...

I think when you aren't allowed to smoke and have to sneak, you don't smoke enough to get truly addicted. It was easy, I just decided and that was it.

[Occulus]

12. my being a smoker was a foregone conclusion

both parents, two packs a day, from the time I was an infant. I never had a chance to not be a smoker.

[AngryAmish]

11. A healthy lung is the devil's playground