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Rajesh was all of 15 when he took his
first drag. For a Class X student, smoking was simply the “coolest
trend to ape.” But what started out as a few drags soon graduated to
chain-smoking. Now at 23, Rajesh is still trying to quit. And his is
no stray case.
On World No Tobacco Day observed today, statistics reveal that a
staggering 90 per cent of chain smokers have their first smoke
between 13 and 18. Each day, nearly 5,000 adolescents (aged 11-17)
smoke their first cigarette. of these, nearly 2,500 per day will
become regular smokers, some even chain smokers.
Experts point out that the biggest concern today is to save the
young ones from this vicious tobacco trap. Dr Palanki Dattatreya,
medical oncologist at the Indo-American Cancer Institute, says, “It
is a proven fact that people who begin smoking in their adolescence
are bound to find it harder to quit. those who abstain from smoking
in their adolescence are less likely to ever pick up the habit.”
What’s worse, habitual smokers put their young teens at greater risk
as they pass on the habit to them. Smoking is also a heritable
trait.
“There are several studies suggesting that most smokers are quite
likely to pick up the habit due to heredity,” adds Dr Dattatreya.
While it has become obvious that saying no to cigarettes in
adolescence is the only way to stay away from it for a lifetime,
it’s easier said than done, says Pranay Reddy, an engineering
student, who points out that he picked up the habit not out of
choice, but due to peer pressure. “When I joined engineering
college, I was ragged into smoking. I haven’t been able to quit ever
since.” k. Swati, a young medico who picked up the habit in medical
school, says, “There’s no fool-proof way of keeping your teenager
away from cigarettes. I’ve been there and I know that the pressure
is tremendous. The only way out is to lead by example and show them
how it kills and why it’s clearly not cool.”
While smokers like Swati continue their struggle to kick the butt,
smoking threatens to emerge as the biggest silent killer in the next
few years. “Even when a person quits smoking, it takes him nearly 15
years to flush out the toxins from his body and go back to a
non-smoker’s level,” says Dr B. Surendran, oncologist, Yashoda
Hospital. But it’s never too late.
Medical practitioners are all for the several cessation programmes
available to help people quit smoking. “They not only help smokers
psychologically but also provide them with nicotine de-addiction
programmes,” says Dr Dattatreya. He adds that products such as
nicotine sprays, inhalers, chewing gums and trans dermal patches
help people quit smoking. “Work is also underway to develop a
nicotine vaccine. The vaccine will produce antibodies that will
prevent nicotine from breaking through the blood-brain barrier which
is what causes a person to get a high when he smokes,” he says.
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