Teen Smokers and Tobacco Use

Why is important to educate teens on the topic of tobacco? Because according to the Tobacco Reality Unfiltered group (TRU), the number of teens who wish they would have never started smoking is 70 percent. Plus, once they have started it is very hard to quit. What makes tobacco so addictive and so hard for teens to quit smoking? Nicotine. Nicotine, which is found in tobacco, is more addictive than heroin or cocaine. In fact, nicotine reaches the brain in 7 seconds. Another reason teens smoke is peer pressure, stress, to look “cool” or because their parents smoke. Our goal is to show teens how not only addictive tobacco use can be, but also how very harmful it is to your body. Each year, smoking kills more people than AIDS, alcohol abuse, car wrecks, suicides, illegal drugs and fires combined. And, because of the harmful effects of smoking, seven minutes of your life is lost per cigarette! Take a look at the facts, and you will better understand just how harmful cigarettes are to your body. The chemicals in tobacco harm many parts of the body, including skin, mouth, teeth, throat, lungs, heart, stomach, bladder, colon, brain, fingers, and blood vessels. In addition, cancer may develop in the brain, lungs (in fact, 87 percent of this type of cancer is attributable to smoking), mouth, bladder, and pancreas. Other diseases that may develop due to tobacco use include hardening of the arteries, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, coronary heart disease, gum disease, and premature aging of the skin. You may be surprised to learn that cigarette smoke has over 4,000 chemicals in it, and 60 of those are known to cause cancer. We believe adolescents need and deserve to learn the truth about tobacco and its harmful effects, so we are spreading the word through the TRU Youth Advisory Council (Tobacco Reality Unfiltered), a movement by teens, for teens in North Carolina, with the goal of becoming the first tobacco free generation. We hope this important message is being heard, and our continued efforts will educate kids and encourage them to stay away from tobacco and other dangerous substances. If you are a teen, do your part by going to the website www.realityunfiltered.com and taking the pledge to be TRU! While so many diseases and sicknesses are not preventable, cancer caused by smoking is. Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death each year. An estimated 434,000 people die from cigarette smoking annually. Don’t be a statistic — don’t start smoking, and if you smoke, stop now! While this message is targeted to teens, it applies to everyone, regardless of age. So remember to “spread the word, not the second-hand smoke.” Read more: http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/tobacco-69869-teens-nicotine.html#ixzz1sIfTk2TQ