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Teens Actually Smoke! Get this - people under the age of eighteen actually have been found to be smoking cigarettes on regular basis. Not only that, but they don't listen to the warnings from parents and teachers, and teen smoking has actually risen by nearly a third in the past six years, despite Washington's best butt-bashing efforts. This stunning report comes to us once again from the intrepid news source, USA Today. In their cover story, "Teens and Tobacco: Washington's Uphill Battle Against Underage Smoking," which appeared in the May 4 issue, USA Today traveled to Fort Hill High School in Cumberland, Michigan to ask kids about smoking. According to several surprisingly colorless graphs and charts, 24% of students smoked, and would have a lot of trouble giving it up. Of those, 42% said they did it because it, "enhances marijuana's high." Anyone else see a problem here? While most teens said they do it to relax or because they like the taste, that 42% seems to stick out a little as a strong third. I guess the pot's okay for kids, because it just keeps the right wing nut-funders at Dominoes rolling in that expandable teen income. Forgive me for being a little cynical here, but this story was billed by the USA Today as, "a reality check on what may be the highest-profile domestic issue of the year." The McPaper's response? Find a hick town and talk to the teens. What did we really find here? Kids are stupid. Wow. Could have saved you a lot of time and just told you that one myself. We were all kids once. I was a kid once. I was stupid. You live, you learn. Is it really that shocking that a kid would do something without thinking about it that may actually harm themselves and others? Here are the three quotes that appear with the cover graphic: "Anti-smoking efforts 'should start early." - Jamie Deans, 16. "If you tell kids not to do something, they'll do it more." - Nick Beach, 15. "Sometimes I stare at the warning label while I'm smoking." - Fawn Hast, 15. So I guess not all kids are stupid. Mr. Beach seems to have a relatively good handle on his youth. The article focused on government efforts to curtail smoking through education. That hasn't stopped adults, why would we credit kids with any more perception? If you listen to the kids in the article, they say that the government efforts will fall short. It's even in the subtitle of the article. But did we really need USA Today to point this out to us in a detailed cover story? I'm not about to tell you that teen smoking is a good thing, but all the government policy and well-meaning civil servant meddling cannot change one immutable fact that has been with us since the dawn of our race when the first slope-headed teen burned his hand in the fire because it looked pretty. Kids do stupid things. As long as there are cigarettes, smoking will be one of them. And, unfortunately, as long as there are consenting adults with the right to aid their slow march to death any way they please, there will be cigarettes. The government simply can't make kids smarter or take the luster out of dangerous, uncharted territory. The best anyone can hope for is a responsible parent who finds the pack of cigarettes, tosses it, and raises their kid to know the consequences of their choices. Like, say, the Kennedys. Then again, sometimes I like to stare at the warning label myself, and I don't even smoke. -Nick |
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