Third Artifact: Effects of Smoking on Teens

After reading facts on smoking from http://www.cdc.gov, I have learned that teens who smoke have lower lung growth and are more likely to use harder drugs.

"Teens who smoke are three times more likely to use alcohol, eight times more likely to use marijuana, and twenty-two times more likely to use cocaine," as stated by the Surgeon General, from 1994.

Teen smokers are affected by their surroundings. If teens have parents who smoke, they are more likely to smoke and become addicted to nicotine. Also, teens who start smoking early, continue to smoke throughout their adult years and are more likely to develop lung cancer and other smoking related cancers.

"The resting heart rates of young adult smokers are two to three beats per minute faster than nonsmokers."
"Smoking hurts young people's physical fitness in terms of both performance and endurance—even among young people trained in competitive running."
"Teenage smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost three times as often as teens who don't smoke..."

Smoking affects the heart and lungs. The tar from the cigarettes impact how the lung functions. The tar from the cigarettes can cause the lungs to funtion at a much lower rate and can lead to lung cancer. Also, because the heart has to work harder, the heart can become overworked and fail, causing a heart attack.

Questions:
1. What makes the smokers try to take on harder drugs?
2. If teenagers know these statistics, would they still try smoking?
3. Does their surroundings affect their habits, too?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 9 Jan. 2007 .


parents-smoke
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2005. 12 December 2006