Youths rally to end teen smoking
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu writer
Cheryl Cruz, an 11th-grader at Pearl City High School, stood before several hundred of her peers at the American Cancer Society's annual Great American Smokeout youth rally at the State Capitol yesterday and pleaded with them not to smoke in school bathrooms.
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"Sometimes there are 50 girls in there all smoking. Once there was even a guy," said Cruz, who has asthma. "They spit all over the floor. It's gross! I don't even like to use the bathroom."
Honoka'a High School student Jayleen Chong, 16, reaches over another student to sign a symbolic coffin at an anti-smoking rally at the State Capitol. About 600 students from around the state gathered to show their opposition to teen smoking as part of the Great American Smokeout.
Cruz and about 600 students from across the state took part in the youth rally and made banners showing their opposition to teen smoking. Many signed their names to symbolic coffins containing giant cigarettes depicting tobacco companies and threw in notes expressing their wishes concerning smokers.
"I wish my dad would quit smoking," one note said. "To smoke is to choke," said another. One went against the grain: "I wish cigarettes were cheaper. Especially Kools."
Students also took part in a panel discussion with lawmakers to debate whether youths should be penalized for tobacco possession.
The group was evenly split, with some noting that state law prohibits anyone under 18 from buying tobacco products. The opposing view was that there are no laws defining at what age a person is allowed to smoke, so it is not illegal and should not be penalized.
This is the 25th year the cancer society has held its smokeout event, which is used to spotlight the dangers of tobacco use and the challenges of quitting smoking.
An estimated 47 million adults in the United States smoke and about half will die prematurely from smoking related illnesses, according to the cancer society. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men and woman, and this year there will be about 169,500 new cases diagnosed in the country.
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According to statistics, 34.5 percent of high school students and 15.1 percent of middle school students use some form of tobacco and most come from homes where someone smokes.
Frank Beam, who had cancer of the larynx, shows how he relies on a mechanical device to speak.
"Some kids think it's cool to smoke. I think it's stupid," said Jayleen Chong, a 10th-grader from Honoka'a High on the Big Island.
"Kids think they won't ever catch anything by smoking," said her classmate Amber Bannister. "Just like sex."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
