Yesterday, as I was talking to my brother-in-law near the Amersham Library park, two young girls aged about 15 walk up to us and one of them says, "EXCUSE ME! Can I have a cigarette?". If I were a psychologist, this would be the time to delve into the development (or retardation) of juvenile minds. You are fortunate. I am not a psychologist. Nevertheless, let me make a few broad observations. It's the perception of smoking being cool that underlies this behavior in children, isn't it? How would they know what Nicotine is? They are young and impressionable. It would be inconceivale for them to realize that a rather strange act of inhaling dried leaves that have addictive compounds has, by the ever increasing idiocy of humanity, been turned into a cultural phenomenon and a multi-billion dollar industry. And, who knows what else they are smoking. Shit.
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I think the kids understand perfectly well what nicotine is and what it does to the human body. How could you grow up in this day and age and miss that message? I think the kids are more interested in the thrill of doing something a little dangerous.
>I think the kids understand perfectly well what nicotine is
True. Although the understanding may not be of use (heck, so many adults don't get this right). I was more surprised by the craziness of 15 year old asking a stranger for cigarette. I can't seem to fathom that logic or the lack of it.
I don't know how it is in Amersham, but here in Toronto if you go to buy a pack of smokes, the store clerks will ask for ID to prove that you are 18 years old. Kids have to resort to subversive measures to procure the cigarettes, like asking adult passers-by to go into the store and buy them. This happens quite regularly outside the convenience stores near my house.
Also, cigarettes here are about $8 a pack, which, if I've done the conversion properly, about 13 thousand pounds. Not many kids can afford to smoke regularly (which is probably the best way to prevent them from starting in the first place -- scaring them with health dangers doesn't seem to work well). Bumming smokes off strangers may be the only way for some kids to get cigarettes, particularly if their parents don't smoke.
Do you remember that there was a court ruling to ban any kind of smoking portrayal in movies in Tamil Nadu or was in in the whole of India? I think that was a really good idea. Even if it didn't bring more awareness atleast it didn't make it a cool thing to do.