When it comes to youth tobacco use, the connection to peer pressure is clear.
Research shows that the influence of peers is a critically important factor in determining when and how tobacco use is first initiated.
Kids today feel social pressure in countless ways, from clothing and music to risky areas such as drugs, sex and tobacco use. Ream more »
Fewer Utahns are lighting up. A new report released by the Utah Department of Health shows youth smoking in the state is at its lowest recorded level. Amy Oliver, Marketing Manager for the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program, says Utah’s teen smoking rate has been cut in half over the last 13 years. Ream more »
Michelle Meza has seen her grandparents die from smoking-related causes. She’s seen youths her age take up cigarettes.
And that’s been enough for her to join an anti-tobacco campaign she hopes will lead to a ban on smoking in public places in San Luis.
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Schoolchildren as young as 12 have been recruited to help stop fellow students smoking.
The pioneering project involved pupils who were specially trained as mentors to support friends and classmates. The project led to Year 8 students being able to explain why people shouldn’t start or how they can get support and help to stop if they need it. Ream more »
Joshua and Gian, aged nine and six, make a meager living scouring mountains of trash for recyclable items to sell. The two hardly make enough money to feed themselves, yet everyday, after spending hours clawing through garbage, the two visit a nearby nearby sari-sari store where they spend their hard-earned money on cigarettes.
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The percentage of teens in North Carolina who smoke cigarettes reached a new low in 2011, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services announced May 17.
The 2011 NC Youth Tobacco Survey finds that the high school smoking rate lowered to 15.5 percent from 16.7 percent in 2009, and the middle school smoking rate dropped to 4.2 percent from 4.3 percent in 2009.
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A developer of mobile messaging programs is teaming with the National Cancer Institute to launch a text messaging service targeted at teen and young adult smokers.
The alliance between Mobile Commons and the NCI is the next step in the five-year-old, New York-based company’s efforts to develop a resource center for healthcare-related programs. To that end, the company has also rolled out the Mobile Commons for Health platform. Ream more »
Hattie Simon of Old Orchard Beach has won a youth advocate award from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids for her efforts toward making Old Orchard Beach a smoke-free zone.
In response to a petition submitted by Simon and two other local teens, last fall the Old Orchard Beach Town Council agreed to put up signs encouraging people not to smoke on the beach. This policy fell shy of Simon’s original goal, however, which was to get the council to ban smoking completely on the beach. Ream more »
Joe Camel may have come and gone, but tobacco still has a strong pull on young people. Even without the cartoon mascot hawking cigarettes, the habit starts alarmingly early. The U.S. surgeon general found that among adults who become daily smokers, 88 percent said they had their first puff by the age of 18.
And new smokers are lighting up daily: Nearly one-fourth of current high school seniors are smoking. The surgeon general predicts that 80 percent of young smokers will take the habit into adulthood, and about one-half will die earlier than their nonsmoking peers. Ream more »
Oak Park is looking at tougher consequences for minors who drink alcohol, smoke or use marijuana, placing emphasis on cracking down on teen drinking parties.
The tougher rules extend to teens attending parties who aren’t drinking. Currently, those who are not visibly intoxicated or in possession of alcohol aren’t subject to any violation under village code. Under potential new ordinances, any teen at a party where alcohol is served could be ticketed. Also, adults 21 years or older could receive a violation if they had knowledge of a teen drinking party at their home.
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