JRM>>The actions of the parents are much more responsible
JRM>>for teen smoking than the tobacco companies, IMNSHO.
 JFD> Well, I'd like to believe that's why I never notice tobacco
 JFD> stains or smell on my daughter.
Teaching by example has no substitute.
 JFD> As for "Forcing the kids to light up and inhale"
 JFD> There are very simple ways to do that...  Let me tell you of
 JFD> a song
 JFD> I know  "Wind from Rainbow's End" by Mr. Bill Roper
 JFD>   When I was a child, I made my way to school
 JFD>   I found the ways of children to be terrible and cruel
 JFD>   As I was different, they choose me for the one
 JFD>   The subject of their pleasure, To torment just for fun
 JFD> (From those words and the ones that follow them it is clear
 JFD> that Bill and I were destined to meet.  We both were
 JFD> "Different" and both used the same tools to survive the
 JFD> school yard)
 JFD> What you do to get an entire class of kids lit up is make it
 JFD> look cool (IN their innocenect they don't know any better
 JFD> after all) and get a few kids to light up.  Now the rest
 JFD> will tend to follow the leaders so as to not be the
 JFD> "Different" kid.
 JFD> Of course, There are always hold outs (IE: Bill, and I) who
 JFD> don't go with the flow but follow a better (We hope) path.
I agree, but the fact is most teens do resist peer pressure to
smoke. The majority of teenagers DO NOT smoke. If the
pressure from other smokers was so effective, then I belive the
scale would tend to tip the other way.
 JFD> Still.... What burns me is not so much the actions of the
 JFD> drug (Tobacco) pushers but the fact that MY TAX DOLLARS go
 JFD> to support this crime. (Tobacco subsidy)
Once again, I agree. Don't forget about our tax dollars that go
to pay for medical bills incurred by government teat suckers
due to smoking.
BTW...The Mr. Roper you mentioned wouldn't reside in East
Texas, would he?
---
---------------