St. Albert enjoys a reputation of being an affluent, highly educated community. So you can understand our surprise to discover the reasons some young people in our city are contributing to the province’s growing number of teen smokers.
Statistics released this week by Health Canada show the smoking rate for Alberta youths aged 15 to 19 increased from 12.4 per cent in 2009 to a shocking 16.9 per cent last year. The number of Albertans over the age 15 who smoked in 2010 jumped to a disturbing 18.8 per cent.
Those numbers are in glaring contrast to the national trend. The national average for 15- to 19-year-olds dropped one per cent to 12 per cent while the average for those over 15 slipped to an all-time low of 16.7 per cent.
What, we have to ask our local teenagers, is going on here?
In St. Albert, some kids are getting their cigarettes from, if you can believe it, other family members. Their older brothers or sisters, and even Mom and Dad, are supplying them with smokes. Children are impressionable, and they follow their parents’ lead. A child can be forgiven for taking up the filthy habit if they’ve witnessed their parents light up for the first 10 to 15 years of their lives. The parents cannot.
When asked why they started smoking, the answers ranged from predictable to downright stupid. One teen told us he felt compelled to try smoking after he sat through a D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) presentation. Seems he didn’t believe what he was being told about the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, so he had to try it for himself. Now he’s hooked.
One more costly problem for the Alberta health system in the future.
Naturally, there is also the issue of teenage rebellion against anything adults tell them. Stop making such a big deal about the evils of smoking and maybe kids wouldn’t do it, suggested one young girl.
Others said smoking is about being cool. Well, to paraphrase a line from a Burton Cummings song, they have the rest of their lives to be cool. It’s a lot easier to be cool when you’re healthy.
The issue of money was raised when the Alberta statistics were released and that certainly would be expected to be a factor in upper-class St. Albert. The price of cigarettes is obviously not a hindrance to St. Albert youths. One teenage boy told us all his friends have been smokers since Grade 7 or 8, so they’re either working to get money to feed their habit or using their allowance from parents.
Asked how he and his friends would react if the price of a pack of smokes were jumped to, say $30, one teenager said, “there would be a riot.” Wonderful.
Naturally, there are calls for governments to do more to get kids off tobacco or prevent them from trying it in the first place. Gene Zwozdesky, the province’s health minister, says his department will immediately ramp up its efforts with increased educational programs, more support for those trying to quit, and tighter enforcement of the law prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors.
There isn’t a government on the face of the planet that can legislate against stupidity. If parents are enabling their kids to smoke, no amount of legislation is going to change that.
