Posted on 10/24/2013 6:55:06 PM PDT by Drango
(CNN) -- Use of tobacco in flavors like Dreamsicle and chocolate mint may be a growing problem among teenagers, according to a Centers for Disease Control report.
More than two out of every five middle- and high-school students who smoke report using flavored little cigars or flavored cigarettes, according to the report. And the bigger concern may be that the majority of the kids who smoke the flavored cigars -- some 60% -- say they don't plan to quit anytime soon (compared to 49% of all cigar smokers).
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"Historically what we know from other studies is that flavors can mask the harshness and taste of tobacco, particularly for a new person who has not smoked regularly and finds it difficult to handle," said the CDC's Dr. Tim McAfee, director of the Office on Smoking and Health. "Flavoring makes it easier to use and more appealing to youth."
Cigars have become increasingly popular in the last couple of decades. Sales were up 240% from 1997 to 2007, according to the CDC. Flavored cigars account for 80% of those sales.
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The problem is, studies show, kids' experimentation with tobacco often turns into a lifelong habit. Some 88% of adults who smoke say they started smoking by the age of 18, according to the CDC.
~ The little cigars are really "kissing cousins" to cigarettes, McAfee said, and they resemble cigarettes when sold in a pack. They are similar in size and shape and have filters like cigarettes.
The difference is little cigars are wrapped in leaf tobacco or another tobacco product. Cigarettes are wrapped in paper or some other non-tobacco substance.
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(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Many a FReeper turn a blind eye to child addiction. Then they wonder why other conservative march into voting booths and vote to restrict tobacco.
/johnny
Newt didn't mention smoking, but kids becoming addicts isn't a conservative value.
What more laws do you want? Outlaw tobacco completely?
/johnny
See you at the voting booth. (Hint: until smokers come up with a solution on kids smoking, voters will restrict all smoking)
/johnny
This isn't a question of "tobacco addiction." Teenagers are hollowing out the cigars and packing weed in them. This covers the odor of pot burning.
People like you would restrict all FREEDOM.
It has been pointed out that it is already illegal to sell this product to minors.
Tobacco from my garden early this spring. It's not hard to grow. It isn't taxed. You can't do anything about it.
/johnny
I’m not sure how well it would grow here but I’m sure there are some teenagers I could get hooked.
Call it my retirement plan. LOL
“until smokers come up with a solution on kids smoking, voters will restrict all smoking”
Pen um up. Then you can control all aspects of their lives. It’s for the kids after all.
Why don’t you just go back to DU where you belong?
Thousands of childrens drown every year.
Ban water!
Ban Swimming pools!
Restrict ocean access!
/johnny
With all due respect, and I could be wrong, but aren’t some of these used to make blunts?
That being said, I don’t support raising the smoking age, in fact I don’t even support a smoking age. I don’t think we had it when I was a kid. I think it was usually up to the storekeeper’s discretion. In small towns, I think there’s a greater fear of opprobrium.
Those “we card” posters are a joke. I’ve seen clerks, usually in dollar or convenience store type places, sell to people that looked 15, even though they had the stupid sign in the window. I’m convinced that these type of stores are where juveniles buy most of their cigarettes.
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