When should people start smoking? We all know that smoking has ill effects on our health. There is no going around that fact. Yet if you think like me, you also probably believe in the idea of free will. It is simply that people should be free to do what they want as long as they are not stepping on the freedom of other people. It makes sense, doesn’t it? But when it comes to smoking, is it ok to say that anyone should be allowed to smoke? Teenagers, for example?
I do not have a very solid argument against teenagers smoking but I do know that if I had a teenage son or daughter, I would not want them to be smoking. Maybe they can choose to do so on their own later in life, say when they get out of college, but at that age, that is not an option.
That is why I was disturbed by the news I read about teenagers getting into cigars and cigarillos. UPI reports:
Thirty-five percent of Canadian teens in grades 10 to 12 say they had tried cigars, cigarillos and little cigars, a survey indicates.
The Youth Smoking Survey released by the University of Waterloo also said that while 39.5 percent of boys and 30 percent of girls say they tried cigars, cigarillos and little cigars, 48 percent say they had tried cigarettes.The survey of 71,000 students in Grades 5 to 12 in 467 schools across Canada conducted by the Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation during the 2006-07 school year was funded by Health Canada.
Don’t you feel concern for such news?