Despite a nationwide decline in teen smoking, Malibu teens continue to pick up the addictive and health-destroying habit.
By Kate Beylin/Special to The Malibu Times
Cigarette smoking among teenagers has been identified as one of the most important current health issues today, and recent research is showing that smoking is even more hazardous to health than previously thought.
Despite these warnings, informal interviews with Malibu teens show that smoking is a very popular and lucrative activity among Malibu High School students.
The current legal age to purchase cigarettes is 18 and the buyer must show proof of age by presenting some form of legal identification like a driver’s license. But, as Malibu High School student Kaleigh Shafer, 18, reports, “I see 14- and 15-year-olds smoking cigarettes all the time.”
“Getting cigarettes is not very difficult, especially here in Malibu,” said Shafer, who said most teens get cigarettes from older friends, at weekend parties or by using fake IDs.
Perrie Briskin, a recent Malibu High graduate, said, “Often older teens will buy cigarettes in bulk and sell to the younger kids. And when kids in Malibu are getting Mercedes for their 16th birthdays, issues of having money to pay for cigarettes would be the last thing on their minds.”
“Most of the kids don’t see any immediate risk,” Briskin said. “And even though smoking cigarettes gives people bad breath, their hair smells gross and their teeth become yellow, they continue to smoke.”
Bill introduced to fight habit
To combat the addictive habit among younger-age people and its long-term ill effects, Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) introduced a bill earlier this year that would raise the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco to 21.
According to the American Lung Association, approximately 90 percent of smokers begin smoking before the age of 21, and those who begin smoking at an early age are more likely to develop a severe level of addiction to nicotine than those who start smoking at a later age. A third of them will die prematurely as a result of their addiction.
“Statistics show that it is physiologically easier to quit smoking if an individual starts smoking after the age of 20,” Koretz said.
However, the ease with which those younger than 18 can obtain cigarettes would seem to sidetrack the purpose of the bill.
“I don’t think raising the legal age for smoking to 21 will make a big difference. It’s only a few years difference and kids will get around the laws, the same way they do now,” Shafer said.
Malibu teens speak out on teen smoking
“Smoking cigarettes is just one idea of how to keep busy for 5 to 10 minutes,” said Michael Bailey, 18, a recent graduate of Malibu high. “There are so many other activities that can occupy that time and won’t contribute to destroying your health.”
Short-term health effects of smoking include damage to the respiratory system, poorer overall health and addiction to nicotine, according to studies conducted by the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Long-term health consequences may lead to heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema and other chronic illnesses. And the recent studies show that smoking is linked to stomach, liver, cervical and kidney cancer, as well as myloid leukemia. And second-hand smoke has been proved to cause lung cancer.
“A lot of people my age seem to think they’re invisible,” Bailey said. “They often think that the effects of smoking won’t happen to them, or that the long-term effects of smoking may happen somewhere down the road.
“If the harsh and sickening effects of cigarette smoking were blasted everywhere like some of the graphic AIDS campaigns, the images may stick with teens better,” Bailey said.
Legislative findings show that tobacco kills 480,000 Americans every year, causing more deaths than AIDS, alcohol abuse, illegal drug use, auto accidents, firearms accidents, fires, homicides and suicides combined.
In California, more than 42,000 people die every year because they smoked.
The struggle to quit
Tim Bice, parent of 17-year-old Malibu High graduate Ryan Bice, said, “Parents can make rules and attempt to enforce them, but they can’t be with their children all the time, and cigarettes and drugs are easy to come by in Malibu.”
“Ryan is an example of a victim of the Malibu scene,” Tim Bice said. “It’s difficult to teach the kids about the negative effects of smoking when a lot of the parents in Malibu smoke themselves.”
However, Bice said, “Ryan is on the right track now and he hopes that teens will be strong and rise above the temptations and addictions.”
As far as school programs targeted to smoking prevention go, it is Kaleigh Shafer’s opinion that they don’t seem to be too effective.
“No one listens to those ‘Don’t Smoke’ assemblies. They only listen to the sex ones,” Shafer said. “Malibu students can get free condoms at the nurse’s office, but they can’t get stuff like the patch or that gum to help quit smoking.”
There are many programs that teens can use as resources to learn more about the dangers of smoking. The Center for Disease Control Prevention offers extensive tips on how to kick the habit of smoking on its Web site, www.cdc.gov/tobacco. Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre Program is a local program that uses theater performances to give up-to-date information on teen issues in ways teens can relate to on topics such as smoking.
Teens who prefer to remain anonymous, but would like to speak to someone regarding smoking, can call 1.800.KIDS.