Smoking Among Teens Essay

Submitted By greenbaygrl21
Words: 685
Pages: 3

Smoking Among Teens in America In America, it is estimated that roughly 4.5 million adolescents are smokers. Teen smoking is an epidemic on the rise ready to cling to you for life, the temptations and pressures to smoke grow stronger and stronger every day. Smoking has become something cool and exciting to do. Kids see a cigarette as some type of cool new accessory, rather than seeing it as the deadly cancer stick that it is, and before they know it, they’re addicted. Every day, around 6,000 kids under the age of 18 will pick up a cigarette. About 2,000 of those kids will go on to be regular, everyday smokers. Now I’m sure that most of us have heard about all of the consequences of smoking, but do we REALLY know the costs? There are so many health risks related to smoking cigarettes, some worse than death. Smoking harms just about every organ in your body. Heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, lung, mouth, kidney, pancreas, esophagus, bladder and cervical cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, I mean the list goes on. We all realize it’s not a good habit to pick up, but it is especially risky for adolescents. It has been said that for long time smokers, quitting is one of the most difficult things they could possibly do. Unfortunately, it can be just as difficult for an adolescent to quit, even though they are not considered a long time smoker. That being said, what is it about smoking that makes it so exceptionally attractive to teens? Well, we may never truly understand, but I can take a few pretty good guesses. Almost 70% of adult smokers had their first cigarette before they even turned 18. Most of those smokers have probably tried their first one by the time they were just 11. But why is it that kids decide to pick up that cigarette in the first place? There are so many different factors that may have led them to that decision. Many times, kids will see their parents smoking and wonder why they can’t smoke, so they will be intrigued to see what all of the fuss is about. Kids with smoker parents have even easier access to cigarettes. Smoking has also been considered dangerous and a way of rebelling and showing independence. This is one reason teens are especially susceptible to falling into the addiction. They are changing so drastically and going through that phase in their life where they are trying to figure out who they are, and they so desperately want to