How to stop teenagers & Youth from smoking? What steps should govt take on this sensitive issue?

Question

"Smoking is injurious to health" the Cigaratee pack displays but nothing is materialised with teenagers and youths of our country.

Answer 1

firstly it is the parents and individuals choice to smoke or not. It has nothing to do with the Government.

Smoking is most likely to harm you, but the harm takes a long time to happen and show up. To most teenagers the concept of getting sick in their 40's, 50's, 60+ is sooo far away as to be meaningless. Virtually zero of their peers die (or are at risk of dying) from smoking related issue right here and now.

A lot of kids take up smoking because it is rebellious and seen to be cool to be risky. By making a big fuss about how bad smoking is just going to encourage those teenagers whom like to shock people to have a puff.

I am not a smoker, but i get sick to death of the Government picking on the choices people make. If they are so worried about the harm smoking does, they should just ban it outright, along with the motor car and alcohol for that matter as well.

Answer 2

As a teenager, I don't think anything would deter me from smoking if I chose to partake in it. Both of my parents and several of my close friends smoke, yet, despite all this pressure, I made a conscious, intelligent decision not to begin.

Actually, I did try smoke once. The bottom line is I ended up puking up my guts and barely able to breathe. Never going to happen again!

I think the problem with the current methods of smoking prevention is that they're too hardcore. They feel like the propoganda they are. The media would have you believe that standing next to a person smoking a cigarette will give you cancer. This simply isn't the case, and there is no true evidence that second-hand smoke is detrimental to health. In fact, the only "proof" that is causes cancer comes from a 1993 EPA study that was found to have broken the EPA's regulations for ethical research.

Bottom line: smoking is bad, but kids are so stupid that they'll believe anything. If you try to force something down their throats, they'll rebel in the obvious way: they'll start smoking, and the cycle will begin again.

Answer 3

I don't think it's a moral issue. You're not a bad person if you smoke, unless you're like...smoking and blowing the smoke in the face of babies or something. It's certainly a health issue though, and at that age, teenagers don't quite have a clear understanding of what they're doing to their lungs and tissue. It's also an addiction, and like any addiction, has financial and physical consequences.

Answer 4

1.Educate the public on the dangers associated with smoking.
2.Support NGOs that try to reduce smoking, by giving them grants, financial support, etc.
3. Put up posters in govt. and public hospitals about dangers of smoking.
4. Use the media such as newspapers, TV, etc. to propagate the concept.
5. Ban advertisements on use of tobacco products in all public places, all forms of media, both direct and indirect advertisements.
6. In the health education classes of schools, devote specific time to educate students about the effects of smoking. Have counselors available in schools for those who wish to stop smoking.
7. Impose heavy taxes on tobacco products, so as to deter their use. Ban or severely restrict the import of tobacco or its products.
8. Speak to farmers who grow tobacco and persuade them to give up tobacco cultivation gradually. Give them necessary incentives to switch over to alternative crops, monitor the progress and reward those who comply.
9. Amend any laws that permit the growing, using, or distributing tobacco and its products, within the constraints of the constitution of the country.

There are several more things that could be done. However, it is ultimately left to the good sense of people to realize the ill effects of using tobacco products. The movement should come from the people, and not just from the Govt.

Answer 5

It is not the job of government to teach youth about the dangers of cigarrettes. They act like our mother, but in fact, they're not, and have no constitutional authority to spend tax dollars on tabacco education. It is the job of actual parents to speak to kids about the health risks associated with smoking.

Answer 6

this is the parents job to teach the kids whats bad for them the govt needs to worry about geting crack and meth off the streets and find homes for the homeless and find a way to bring about peace.

Answer 7

band selling drugs