KIDS AND COMMUNITY: Let’s find ways to help kids avoid nicotine addiction

KIDS AND COMMUNITY By Judy Shepps Battle Cigarette manufacturers are not solely responsible for a child’s nicotine addiction.

   It has been three years since Jim Battle died from lung cancer. He was a lifelong cigarette smoker who never denied the risks of smoking — his father died of the same disease — but he never thought it would happen to him.
   Nor did he think of how much those who loved him would be affected by his death.
   I’m talking in particular about his three adult children — our children together — and their children (our two grandkids and one on the way).
   And I am talking about me.
   The legal "irreconcilable differences" that fueled our divorce had become less and less important as we shared watching our kids grow up. By the time Jim was given a terminal diagnosis and three months to live, we were enjoying a pretty close relationship.
   I know how much he valued being "Grampy" and teaching counting and the ABCs to our first grandchild. I remember how much he enjoyed taking the family to Vermont, going fishing in the dawn hours and making a breakfast of eggs and pancakes for everyone.
   And I know how much he loved smoking his Camel filtered cigarettes.
Brand loyal
until the end




   

Jim was one of those brand-loyal smokers that tobacco manufacturers dream of cultivating.

   When I met him 32 years ago he had a silver cigarette case and Zippo lighter dedicated to protecting and lighting up his Camels. When we got married, he brought a shoebox full of Camel merchandise coupons into our new home.

   And after the funeral, among his possessions were neatly rubber-banded piles of crispy Camel coupons.

   I certainly understand why family survivors choose to sue cigarette manufacturers for the cancer-related deaths of their loved ones. There is no doubt in my mind that lifelong smoking killed Jim Battle.

   Similarly, there is no doubt in my mind that watching their father smoke contributed to my sons beginning and continuing to smoke. And probably it’s the reason why one son smokes Camels.



Role models count




   

It would be most satisfying to sue R.J. Reynolds for Jim’s death. They not only manufacture Camels but — as they proudly boast on their Web site — they create one out of every three cigarettes made in this country.

   But the truth is that R.J. Reynolds didn’t force Jim to smoke, and R.J. Reynolds is not going to be the deciding factor as to whether my grandchildren will ignore all warnings and decide to become smokers.

   Their biggest influence is, and will continue to be, the role model(s) they see at home.

   My concern is for my grandkids — and yours — and generations of children yet to be born.



Solutions are complex




   

I wish I could offer an effective solution to the existence and persistence of this often-lethal addiction.

   It would be nice to be able to suggest that an increase in cigarette taxes or creating a gory "scared straight" scenario would be sufficient to get current smokers to quit or to dissuade new smokers — primarily young people — from lighting up.

   But it isn’t that simple.

   Smokers continue to smoke, even though they cause physical and emotional injury to self and others and companies continue to manufacture tobacco products in anticipation of increasing monetary profits.

   The fact is that after a smoker is hooked, he or she will reprioritize finances in order to purchase packs and cartons of admitted "coffin nails." Trips to states with less tax on cigarettes will be made for bulk purchases.

   As my son said when he was 15 years old, "Mom, I don’t care how expensive my cigarettes get; I will find a way to get them."



Addicted faster




   

And the fact is that young people get addicted to nicotine much faster than their adult counterparts. That’s because their brains still are developing, and the addiction process kicks in even after smoking only a few cigarettes a day.

   One study found that for the occasional teen smoker, it took an average of only three weeks to become dependent. Less than a month of puffing leads to either a lifetime of smoking or having to engage in a difficult withdrawal process.

   Couple this finding with the average teens’ lack of future orientation and belief that they are "bulletproof" to physical illness, and it is easy to see how kids get hooked.



A nicotine genogram




   

Prevention specialists have done a wonderful job in developing health curricula to dissuade young people from starting to smoke. Legislators and lobbyists have made significant inroads into making it more difficult for minors to purchase tobacco products.

   It’s time we looked more closely at helping those kids who are at high risk of becoming — or have already become — nicotine dependent — especially those who do not want any help.

   I would like to see a nicotine genogram (a history of the smoking pattern over generations) as part of the initial information collected when a child enters kindergarten and more intense educational prevention strategies used for those found to be at higher risk for smoking.

   I’m talking about school-based counselors meeting with parents and grandparents and bringing intergenerational smoking-related death and illnesses into the open.

   I’m talking about making it real that their child may become fatherless or motherless as a young adult because of this insidious addiction. And I’m talking about giving the families tools to quit their own nicotine abuse.

   I know that as much as Jim Battle loved his Camels, he also loved his family. And if he could have had any wishes granted toward the end of his life, it would have been to see his second and third grandchildren born, to dance at all of his children’s weddings and to have been able to tell many more tall tales.



Creating new strategies




   

There must be other strategies, and it is our job to create a community structure to both find and implement them. The forming of a community nicotine-addiction task force or participating in an existing coalition would be one positive step.

   Let’s do it.

   Jim died on May 23, 2002. Since that time more than a million other Americans have lost their lives to smoking-related diseases. And a countless number of families and friends continue to grieve these losses.

   My hope is that one day, these deaths will be looked at, historically, as the last useless deaths to occur before our society truly began to value health.



Judy Shepps Battle is a New Jersey resident, addictions specialist, consultant and freelance writer. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]. Additional information on this and other topics can be found at her website at http://www.writeaction.com/.