Facts About Teen Smoking
You want to know more about smoking and teens, right? But you probably don´t want to read a whole book on it - so here´s some factoids for you to digest and pass on to your friends!
- 80% of adult smokers started smoking before the age of 18. So that means that almost all smokers started smoking when they were teens. (CDC, 1999)
- Each day, the tobacco industry loses about 3,000 customers... 1,000 die from tobacco related illnesses, and another 2,000 quit. They need to make up that loss in customers or they´ll go out of business, right? Well guess what? 3000 American teens start smoking every single day. It´s pretty interesting how those numbers match, huh?
- The average age when someone tries tobacco for the first time is 13. And 1/3 to 1/2 of kids who experiment with smoking become regular smokers. (SGR, 1994)
- Some people find it really hard to quit smoking (or they never bother trying). Of those unable or unwilling to quit, nearly half will eventually die from a smoking related illnes.
- Since 3,000 American kids start smoking every day, and since tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death, that makes nicotine addiction the most common lethal condition of childhood.
- Up to 26,000 children are diagnosed with asthma every year in the U.S. because their mother smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day.
- Only 5% of teens in high school who smoke daily think they´ll definitely be smoking five years later. But if you come back and talk to them 7 years later, guess how many will still be smokers? Almost 75%!! (NIDA, 1993)
- Most adolescents who smoke are addicted to nicotine. When young people try to quit smoking, they experience withdrawal symptoms very similar to those experienced by adults. (SGR, 1994) And it´s no wonder! Nicotine is more addictive than heroin!!
- Nicotine has a 90% addiction rate. Alcohol has a 10% addiction rate. This means that while only 10% of people who use Alcohol will become addicted to it, 90% of people who use nicotine will become addicted.
- More than 5 million children living today will die prematurely because of a decision they will make as teens - the decision to smoke cigarettes.
- 70% of teen smokers say they wish they´d never started smoking in the first place.
- Middle school is a dangerous time when it comes to tobacco use. Smoking increases a lot during those years - more than a third of sixth graders have smoked. How about the seventh graders? More than half of them have smoked. By the time young people get to eighth grade, more than two-thirds of them have smoked cigarettes!
- Peer pressure - it´s more than just a buzz word. Over half of smoking teens say that they first smoked with a close friend. Stick with friends that don´t try to get you to do something that could kill you!
- Smoking could affect your love life! Have you ever heard the saying "Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray"? Two out of every three nonsmokers say they would be less likely to date someone who smokes.