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Local officials question report of reduction in teen smoking

There does not appear to be a substantial reduction in the number of teen smokers despite a government study suggesting fewer youth are smoking.
Despite a national study suggesting teen smoking rates are at their lowest ever-recorded rate, local teens and educators say they have not seen much of a difference.
Despite a national study suggesting teen smoking rates are at their lowest ever-recorded rate, local teens and educators say they have not seen much of a difference.

There does not appear to be a substantial reduction in the number of teen smokers despite a government study suggesting fewer youth are smoking.

The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey indicated about nine per cent of teenagers in the 15 to 17 years of age category smoked last year, the lowest rate ever recorded.

However, local teens and educators have generally not noticed much of a decline in smoking recently.

Sixteen-year-old Vin Young tried her first cigarette when she was 11 years old and has been smoking since she was 13. She said part of the reason she started to smoke was because her father does.

“No teen really wants to admit it, but we do look up to our parents,” she said.

For Young, smoking might be declining, but it’s because adults are quitting, and their behaviour impacts younger generations.

Her peer Holly Wall doesn’t smoke, but she said her father quit smoking before she was born and if he still smoked, she probably would too. If he were to tell her not to, it would not have much of an effect on her.

“If he says it’s bad, it can’t be that bad if he’s doing it,” she said.

Wall said she thinks more people are trying to quit smoking than start.

Both young women said smoking rates haven’t seemed to change much and they notice teens smoking marijuana and cigarillos as well.

Young said it is easy for teenagers to get cigarettes and drugs, as many have fake IDs or can find someone to get it for them.

Cyril Reschny, a construction teacher at Foothills Composite High School/Alberta High School of the Fine Arts in Okotoks, said he asked students whether they thought smoking in teens was declining and many think it’s the same. Some said smoking in 18 and 19 year olds might be down, but not in younger teenagers.

For young people not to smoke, older generations must stop, so that mentality is passed down, he said.

“A few years down the road you’ll definitely start to see more of that impacting younger kids – what adults are doing.”

He said adults must be good role models or else young people won’t take their advice seriously.

While he said he thinks more adults are starting to understand the health risks, he said there are other factors preventing people from smoking.

“More than anything, it comes down to probably cost and just the difficulty of being able to smoke, where you can and can’t. They’re making it harder, I think, for people to actually smoke.”

He said students told him factors preventing them from smoking were cost and cold weather, not necessarily health. He said they understand the health risks but it doesn’t really hit home unless they are personally affected.

“It’s that whole young and invincible, it won’t happen to me mentality,” he said.

Reschny, who has been a teacher at the school for nine years, said he might have seen smoking in students decline a bit.

He said a teen’s social circle plays a role in whether they smoke or not. In some groups, such as students involved in sports, it is not socially acceptable to smoke, while it is in others. Smokers and non-smokers typically tend to stick together, he explained.

“If you’re always going out every break for a smoke, you start to meet friends out there and if you’re always leaving your friends inside, sooner or later you start to split. Kids don’t want to be alone.”

Both Young and Wall said most of their friends smoke. Reschny said in Wall’s case, as she doesn’t smoke, was more unique.

Holy Trinity Academy principal Carmen Ostafichuk said smoking has never been a big issue at the school.

She has been there for 16 years and said about one per cent of students smoke. While she said she hopes smoking rates in teens have gone down, she hasn’t really noticed.

“There’s always some who are going to smoke, but for the most part, kids don’t want to,” said Ostafichuk. “They don’t want to smell like cigarettes, and they don’t want it to cost them a lot of money and they don’t want to get cancer.”

Community peace officer Melanie Glanville, who runs the DARE program from Grade 5 and 7 classes in local schools, said attitudes towards smoking have changed and young people are more aware of the consequences of their choices.

She said education helps and the program targets younger students before they reach high school when they have likely made up their minds about smoking.

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