LIGHTING UP: TEEN-AGERS MAKE UP LARGEST GROUP OF NEW SMOKERS

After exhausting so much energy warning their children about potentially quick killers like illicit drugs, drinking and driving and unsafe sex, perhaps to parents smoking seems relatively innocuous.

At the same time, 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco-related illnesses like cancer, heart attack, emphysema and stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's more deaths than from AIDS, murders, fires, accidents and all other drug use combined.

Teen-agers make up the largest group of new smokers.

In 1996, for the fifth consecutive year, national smoking rates increased among students in grades 8, 10 and 12, according to a survey released by the University of Michigan. The CDC reports that each day, 3,000 teen-agers smoke their first cigarette, and 22 percent of high-school seniors smoke daily.

That's why people from President Bill Clinton to Cape Girardeau psychologist Jerry Driver want to reverse the disturbing trend in youth smoking.

According to Driver, a consultant for Area Stop Smoking Intervention Study to Prevent Cancer (ASSIST), a federal program, the numbers in the Cape Girardeau area are perhaps even a bit higher than the national figures. This is true even though federal law prohibits selling cigarettes to kids under 18, and in Cape Girardeau it is illegal to even give tobacco products to youths. Violators can be fined up to $250.

So where do kids get cigarettes?

"There's really nothing that prevents a large store from just saying, `Well that's the cost of doing business,' and going on," Driver said. "There are some places that openly sell. Kids come up and they tell me in droves, `If you really want to buy them, you go to so-and-so's place.'"

Also, older friends buy them for younger teens, kids bum from each other, or they take them from their parents' packs.

And why do kids start smoking in the first place?

Some do it to fit in, others to stand out. Some see parents and celebrities doing it and look at advertisements glamorizing it. Some think it's a good way to lose and keep off weight. Others believe they will smoke for a short time and quit before any adverse health effects could arise.

But doctors have confirmed that smoking is a very dangerous way to lose weight, and it begins causing damage with the first puff. Also, smoking stunts growth.

"It's kind of a rebellion in some cases, or a right of passage to adulthood," Driver said. "It's perceived as being a cool thing. If you ask a youngster that's just starting whether they'll be smoking in five years, they will almost inevitably say, `no.' But the real truth is that ... they will be."

While current law hasn't stopped the increase in teen smoking, new efforts are being made.

When Congress convenes after the winter recess, as part of the huge tobacco settlement it will consider legislation to curb teen smoking. In a Dec. 5 letter to Ohio Gov. George Voinovich, chairman of the National Governors' Association, President Clinton said, "My overriding goal in seeking bipartisan national tobacco legislation is to make the most of this historic opportunity to reduce teen smoking."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., proposed a $1.50-per-pack cost increase to put cigarettes out of teens' budgets. Clinton has suggested a gradual increase if youth smoking does not decrease. And Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has introduced legislation that would force Big Tobacco to restrict advertising and marketing and fund a national anti-smoking campaign.

In Cape Girardeau, the city council is considering a licensing requirement for tobacco retailing, similar to alcohol. Periodic compliance checks would be conducted, and violators could be stripped of the right to sell tobacco.

Because new laws may or may not work, Driver has a suggestion for teens:

"You have to think for yourself and realize that if you've got a friend who says it's cool, or you ... see what advertising there is that suggests you're going to have a healthy and happy lifestyle, you really have to train yourself to look at that and say, `I don't believe that. Those are just people who are trying to make a buck. Or those are friends who are already hooked and they're just trying to get me hooked too,' and never start."

Some information was provided by The Associated Press.