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Every year, smoking and secondhand smoke kill nearly 2,350
Nebraskans. Nationally, the total is nearly 440,000. These deaths are totally preventable
— and the key opportunities for prevention are found in childhood and young
adulthood. Tobacco use usually begins by age 16. Almost all first use happens before
young people graduate from high school.
The tobacco
industry
loses - and must replace - some two million consumers each year, either because they quit
smoking or die. |
In Nebraska, 30% of middle-schoolers have used
some form of tobacco. It’s clear that if they can be kept tobacco-free, most will
remain tobacco-free for the rest of their lives. However, the pressure to try tobacco is
great. Peers, family, and friends are powerful influences. The most common situation for
first trying a cigarette is with a friend who already smokes. Widespread advertising by
the tobacco industry has led us to believe that "most people" smoke. However,
only 18.7% of Nebraska adults do. |
The tobacco industry loses - and must replace - some two million
consumers each year, either because they quit smoking or die.
Studies have shown that the majority of new consumers will come from the ranks of young
people. The tobacco industry spends $13.4 billion each year on advertising and promotion -
$75.8 million of that is spent in Nebraska alone.
Much of that advertising targets young people through sporting and musical event
sponsorships, brand names displayed on clothing and other items, magazine ads, and
convenience store displays. A trend in larger cities is to sponsor "bar nights"
where heavy promotion of cigarette brands takes place.
Tobacco product ads often use visual images that young people like. Cigarette ads tend
to associate smoking with independence, adventure, and attractiveness - themes that appeal
to young people. This approach appears to be working on some of Nebraska’s youth. In
a 2006 survey of Nebraska's middle school students, it was found that 41% of regular
smokers in this age group believed that they have more friends than those who didn’t
smoke. And, over 36% of the regular smokers thought that smoking makes you look cool and
fit in.
On the flip side, only 9% of kids who never smoked thought that young people who smoke
have more friends.
| Many young people think that it’s safe to
smoke for a year or two, as long as you quit after that time. Nearly 42% of current
Nebraska middle school smokers agree with that idea. In reality, tobacco is an
addiction, not just a "bad habit".
Nicotine addiction makes quitting smoking as hard as quitting heroin, cocaine, or
alcohol. A long-term national study found that 70% of high school seniors who smoked as
few as one to five cigarettes a day were still smoking five years later, and most were
smoking more cigarettes per day. |
Many young
people
think that it’s safe to smoke for a year or two, as long as you quit after that time.
In reality, tobacco is an addiction, not just a "bad habit." |
Just one puff of a cigarette speeds your heart rate, raises blood
pressure, and replaces oxygen in your blood with carbon monoxide.
You might also have shortness of breath, coughing, nausea, dizziness and headaches. Smoking
as few as one to five cigarettes a day drastically increases your risk of a heart attack.
Teens that use tobacco are 11 times more likely to use cocaine, heroin and other
illicit drugs and 16 times more likely to drink heavily.
Smoking is also linked with a host of other risky behaviors, such as fighting and
engaging in unprotected sex.
The public health movement against tobacco use will be successful when young people no
longer want to smoke or chew.
Sources: Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention; Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and Nebraska Department of Health and
Human Services
Updated: 3/11/08
For more information, contact:
Tobacco Free Nebraska
P.O. Box 95026
Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-5026
Phone: (402) 471-2101
E-mail: TFN Info |
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