Recent reports have revealed a depressing truth about today’s teenagers; a great number of them smoke cigarettes. Nearly 20 percent of high school age teens smoke, which is a slight decrease from the 27.5 percent from the 90s, but the severity of the issue is not to be ignored. As teens take their first inhale of tobacco, they immediately do damage to their body. Contrary to popular belief, the chemicals from a cigarette do damage in minutes. It does not take days or weeks of smoking. Decreased lung function, increased chance for asthma or lung cancer, and, of course, a greater chance for long term addiction all affect younger smokers more than it would had they had they first started smoking as adults.

Why do many teens still smoke despite increased prevention? Surgeon General Regina Benjamin states, "I don’t want to focus on blame, I want to focus on prevention." Dozens of anti smoking campaigns, such as Above the Influence, The Truth, and others run by New York State government, air commercials on television illustrating the true horrors that come with smoking. Pro-smoking commercials were banned from television and radio starting January 2^nd, 1971, way before any of today’s high school students were born, Yet the chain of teen smoking is barely diminishing. One possible reason for teen smoking is exposure by family members. Arguably the most influential factor, however, is peer pressure. The idea of smoking as "cool" and "popular" appeals to teens that are at the age of insecurity and that will do anything to feel accepted. Smoking is a very "popular" idea, and perhaps no extreme amount of prevention will ever cause it to go away. Some teens with these insecurities will do almost anything.

Many smokers do not even think about the non-smokers that they are also affecting through secondhand smoking. A portion of the 7,000 harmful chemicals in the smoke make natural air dangerous when the smoker exhale. When they are on the street or lingering right outside a building, many non smokers, including toddlers and young children, pass by and are almost forced to breathe in secondhand smoke which can be just as lethal as smoking itself. It has been scientifically proven to cause asthma attacks in children, heart disease in adults, ear infections, and, if exposed for an extended period, lung cancer and sudden infant death syndrome. Thus it should be law that smokers can only smoke in designated areas.

As Philip Morris USA, manufacturer behind the top selling Marlboro brand says, "Underage tobacco use is a difficult issue, and there is not a simple solution. We agree there’s still more work to be done." Next time you are pressured to have your first cigarette, or your hundredth, just say no and you will evade a lifetime worth of damage to your physical health.