Smokes,
Litter and Drugs
Youngsters
who smoke cigarettes are more likely to litter and
abuse drugs as well. The campaign to snuff out
smoking is not just a public health issue, it's a
crusade to save our children.
If
you have ever wondered if youth, smoking, illegal
drug use and littering have anything in common,
wonder no more. The following findings should
cause the most radical smokers’ rights fanatic
to shiver: "Results of this study
deliver a strong cautionary message that those who
smoked cigarettes before the age of 15 were up to
80 times more likely to use illegal drugs than
those who did not," said lead author Shenghan
Lai, MD, MPH, associate research professor,
Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Public
Health.
What
have most states done with the huge tobacco
settlement funds that were originally touted for
preventing smoking among young people? Most have
spent those funds for anything but education and
prevention. Meanwhile, the hard-earned smoking
decline among teenagers has leveled out and shows
signs of spiking as some Hollywood actors and
megastar singers sink to new lows by using tobacco
in every movie and public appearance they can.
Tobacco
companies have found many clever ways to skirt
around advertisement bans. As the bans went into
effect we started seeing more smoking on TV,
movies and public appearances by celebrities than
anytime since the 1950s. Big Tobacco also uses
direct mailing and inundates anyone who signs up
for any of their gimmick “free prize” contests
with slick brochures urging the reader to be an
edgy dude by getting addicted to their product.
The prize is death.
A
much less deadly but worrisome habit seems to go
along with youth and smoking. Studies now reveal
that smokers are 64 percent more likely to litter
than non-smokers and that 67 percent of all
litterbugs are people aged from their teens to
thirty. Nearly one fourth of litter in cities and
on beaches comes from cigarette butts, packages
and paper. This debris is gobbled down by birds
and fish, killing them by the thousands worldwide.
The
national and international movements to ban
smoking in public places, keep children away from
tobacco, fine litterbugs for everything from
throwing down cigarette butts to leaving entire
vehicles to rot in creeks, seem to be making some
headway.
The
debate in Virginia over whether or not smoking
should be banned in public places has been couched
as one of public health versus individual rights.
The argument posed by opponents to smoking bans
has gotten ridiculous.
Anyone
who invites the public to their premises has a
duty to protect the invitee from harm, whether it
means forbidding pit bulls from roaming the floor,
keeping poisonous snakes from under the tables and
chairs or banning self-destructive “rebels”
from polluting the common air with 1,000 known air
pollutants that cause lung disorders and cancer.
As in all other cases in a civilized society, if
businesses open to the public refuse to protect
customers and employees, the state requires it.
Children
do what they see adults do. One does not have to
believe in evolution to agree that we humans act
like monkeys in that regard. The less that
children see adults smoking and littering, the
less likely they are to pursue either habit and
the less likely these kids are to pursue much more
deadly illegal drugs and lifestyles. Let’s get
real and save our children.
--
March 24, 2008
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