[Adam]

Ya know, it's all the advertiser's fault.

It's also all the fault of the people who purchase the product.

What organ's fault is it that you're alive right now, your heart, your lungs, or your brain's fault?

So, who's fault is it that people smoke? The advertisers, the consumers, and the people who make smoking such a mysterious and appealing way to rebel. The economy is organic. Without the producers, smoking would dissapear. Without the consumers, smoking would disappear. Without the advertisers or the unwitting anti-tobacco groups advertising for smoking, smoking would be seriously damaged.

When I started smoking, it was because it was a bad thing to do. Plain and simple. The anti-tobacco groups probably helped to pressure me to smoke more than my peers and the advertisers did. It was still my own choice, though. Without the anti-tobacco groups, I probably would not be smoking today. Without the tobacco companies, I definitely would not be smoking today. Without myself, obviously I wouldn't be smoking today.

In fact, I would even go as far as to say that people who don't do *enough* to stop the tobacco companies are just as much at fault as the smokers, tobacco companies, and the groups who are advertising for cigarettes (whether they intend to or not). The only people who aren't at fault are those who just don't care.

Now, are we done laying blame, so that we can move on and get to the root of the question, or do we want to keep arguing over who is responsible? (Aren't we supposed to want to take responsibility, since we are working towards personal development?)

The question is, why do people start smoking, even though they know that it will probably be a large factor in their death.

Because teens think that they are immortal. At least, they believe that they will live long enough that the choices they are making now will not affect them their entire lifetime. The fact that smoking contributes to fatal diseases does absolutely nothing to affect the decision making process of teens and young adults, simply because they have not developed a sense of mortality.

Here's a quick exercise that will demonstrate the lack of logic that goes through a teen's mind. Find a child about 5 years old and tell them that if they clean their room right now, you will give them as much candy as they can eat tomorrow, but they can get a piece of candy now and not clean their room, but they will be grounded tomorrow. In almost every case, the child will choose the instant gratification despite the consequences. As the child matures, their perspective of time improves and the need for instant gratification diminishes, but a true sense of mortality (not just knowing intellectually that things can die, but knowing emotionally and intellectually that you will die) does not develop until a person is in their early twenties, on average.

A more effective way to keep teens from smoking is to forget all about the deadliness of smoking and point out the immediate effects of smoking. Tell kids that the first time they smoke, they'll probably cough their lungs out. The first time that they seriously inhale, they will get light headed and sick, probably even throwing up in the process. Each time they smoke, they are raising their blood pressure, which makes them weaker and reduces oxygen to the brain, making them temporarily stupid. For about 15 minutes after they smoke, they will be able to create more memories easier, but when they aren't smoking, it will be much harder to remember things. Since they can't smoke in class, they won't be able to learn in class as effectively as before, so their grades will suffer.

If people had told me the short term effects of smoking, I probably wouldn't have started. Since I only heard the "serious" long term effects, I didn't care one bit. At the time of my first cigarette, thirty years was over twice a lifetime away, so dieing in thirty years was beyond my ability to imagine, even though I could grasp the words behind the concept intellectually.