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Journalism Award Winner: Fall 2000: Second Place
New developments aid teenagers in their quest to quit smoking
The Lion
Lyons Township High School
April 20, 2000
La Grange, IL
Group support dims addiction
Program attempts to save lungs, futures of teen smokers
By Steven Zyck
In-depth Editor
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Smoking at Lion Township High School has come a long way since teachers lit up in school: Source: Lion bound volumes |
A quit smoking program, started in 1991 by Dunne and Jacqueline Elders, a certified addictions counselor at Triton College, formed to help tackle the smoking epidemic that largely arises in high school.
Other items to curb smoking had been in place, though this is the first in which students enroll willingly.
"There used to be a seminar for students caught smoking," Dunne said. "Then that program was done away with. From then on, there was only discipline for people caught smoking, [with] no educational component. Kids asked [former principal] Lila Sullivan why there was no form of intervention for smokers. The current program started then."
This year, 12 upperclassmen took part in the program between Feb. 10 and March 8. Dunne explained the large amount of upperclassmen, especially seniors, by saying that older students have been smoking longer and, generally, are more interested in quitting.
The program proved successful for one of the 12 this year. Mike Sommesi ’00 stopped smoking with the program and has not smoked a cigarette for over a month.
"The things we heard were the same as anything you hear about the dangers of smoking, " he said. "It was really the support of the group that made it work."
Dunne agreed with Sommesi, saying smokers often feel more comfortable trying to quit in proximity of peers. "The first session is the introduction," Dunne said. "We talk about when they started, how much they smoke, why they want to quit. It’s interesting to see how the reasons for quitting have changed."
Dunne cited reasons such as cigarettes being too expensive, causing noticeable physical problems and being inconvenient at school and jobs for why many teens are now looking to stop smoking. Sommesi said, "money did become an issue" for him, among other things.
"I also noticed I was becoming short of breath," he said. "I had some health concerns."
Another reason students feel comfortable in the setting is due to the fact that the leaders are not there to punish them. Everything that the group members say remains confidential, and the group leaders do not turn in students who admit to smoking, Dunne said.
Later sessions included information about nicotine and excuse people use for not quitting. People involved in the program also filled out a "Pack Tracks" on which they logged when they smoked and the mood they were in among other things. Dunne said that this is done because smoking is not just a physical addiction, but a mental one as well. According to Dunne, the psychological addiction lasts longer than the physical addiction which only takes about three days to overcome, a testament to why it takes people an average of seven attempts before successfully stopping smoking.
Sommesi, however, quit on his second attempt.
"I quit another time when I was sick with a sore throat," he said. "This time, though, it was just cold turkey."
While Sommesi remains the only one who quit because of the program, all of the participants attempted to quit. "The quit date is around the fourth session," Dunne said. "We meet two times that week and highlight such things as the importance of exercise and relaxation."
Sommesi said that he may have been the only quitter because some of the other participants "joined because they could get out of class every now and then."
Dunne said, however, that the program would not be considered a failure because only one quit. She said that a person is considered successful in the program if they quit even for 24 hours or more.
"Out of the 12, six were pretty serious, which means that they quit for as much as three or four days," she said. "One quit for good. He came up to me the other day and told me that he still hadn’t had one."
Anti-smoking effort dodged by teens
Teenage smokers immune to commercials aimed at quitting
By Emmett Pokorny
Editor-in-Chief
Featuring the slogan "Think. Don’t smoke," the commercials from tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris run on nearly every major network during time slots that are likely to catch their intended viewers, teenagers. Philip Morris spends $100 million each year trying to prevent young customers from using their cigarettes, and they’re not the only ones. But even with the help of organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration, the anti-smoking message sent by these groups may be lost on teenagers.
"Those commercials are somewhat amusing, but I wonder what effect they’re having," said Joe (00), who has been smoking since he was in seventh grade.
Joe agrees that cigarettes are harmful, but said that the message may have a hard time actually preventing young kids from smoking. Their attitudes about smoking contribute to this blindness.
"When you’re young, you think, This will affect me in 50 years, but I won’t be smoking for the rest of my life, Joe said. "It isn’t cool, but it looks cool. And when you first start, it’s fascinating."
FDA regulations, which prohibit the sale of tobacco to minors, had no impact on Joe’s ability to buy cigarettes. However, a recent Supreme Court ruling stated that the FDA did not have the power to regulate tobacco, according to the FDA website. Due to this ruling, the FDA stopped enforcing its regulations on March 21. Joe said he didn’t notice any difference after the regulations were dropped.
"There’s always some greedy person who will sell them," Joe said. "Stores don’t care, since they’re making more than any fines they’re getting. They’re making a tidy profit off of sales to minors."
According to Gail Taylor, a professor of integrated marketing communications at Northwestern University, the content of anti-smoking commercials is probably determined through consumer research. By using focus groups, researches could gather a wide range of perspectives on smoking and use them in the ads, Taylor said.
"They probably use a lot of peer pressure situations (in the commercials)," Taylor said. "They’ll try to tap into many emotions."
Officials at Philip Morris declined to comment on their anti-smoking commercials.
Although the commercials help motivate Mike (01) to quit what he calls a "horrible habit," he also said they did not get noticed as much by younger smokers.
"Some of them blow it off," he said. "They think cigarettes don’t affect them. It depends on their mind set, because some of them think they’re untouchable."
Mike also said his ability to buy cigarettes is uninhibited by FDA regulations, and didn’t even know they had been dropped.
"If you need cigarettes, there are always places you can go," he said.
But not every teenage smoker lacks faith in anti-smoking commercials. Karen (01) said the commercials make her feel guilty about the dangers of her smoking habit, and probably have the same effect on young kids.
"I’m kind of oblivious, because smoking won’t hurt me right now," said Karen. "But the commercials are effective."
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