Why Do Teenagers Smoke?

I’m trying to figure out why in the heck anyone, much less teenagers, smoke.  Anything.  This subject has become somewhat relevant to me lately, as I’ve just learned that someone has decided to take up this habit.  If someone can offer me some sort of logical explanation, I would love to hear it.  I’ve posed the question to a few people, and these are the responses I’ve gotten:

Smoking Is Cool

You’ve got to be kidding me!  There was a time when this may have held some water, but no longer.  As near as I can tell, in the U.S. today, smokers are being relegated to the status of social curiosities.  Have you been in a U.S. airport lately?  The only place to smoke is usually in a glass-encased room.  Sort of like being in a fishbowl, where all the non-smokers can point and stare.

Even here in the south, where tobacco is a major cash crop, many places are strictly non-smoking.  Cities are debating the merits of going totally smoke-free.  Amusement parks that actually allow smoking only do so in isolated places.  Sorry, but smoking is no longer cool.

It’s The Age

Does this mean “it’s the age where people become incomprehensibly stupid?”  I’ll grant you that this one may have a tad bit more merit, because every teenager I’ve ever known (myself included) makes choices that leaves everyone else standing around scratching their heads.  Goodness only knows that I did enough dumb things when I was a teenager, but smoking was not among them.

I fully get the idea that teenagers are going to engage in rebellious behavior, sometimes in silly ways.  They can be moody, too.  I know I was at that age.  And there were times when I was a complete jerk.  That never happens now though… maybe.

But smoking.  Guys and gals, getting started on cigarettes is like playing a game of Russian Roulette.  Just spin the chamber and see if you find the live round.  The results of a recent Pew study indicate that there’s a growing generation gap, and I can even understand that, but taking up smoking is just plain stupid.  Study after study proves the downsides that come from smoking.  Teen smokers are more likely to suffer depression in adulthood, and even though many want to quit, they struggle to make it happen.  Even our current President can’t kick the habit.  Ever known someone who took up smoking thinking it will keep them slim?   It doesn’t work out for them either.

The problem has finally progressed to the point of Congress allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco products.  It is now an irrefutable fact that tobacco products will drastically increase the risk of cancer and a whole host of other diseases.  Sure, we all know someone who was as healthy as a horse and smoked their entire lives.  I happen to know a runner/cyclist that would be a prime example.  But they’re the exception, not the rule.  If you think you’re different, you’re kidding yourself in a high stakes game.don’t forget that horses are actually very fragile animals.

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