Smoking their way to an early death

There is nothing cool about smoking. For those students and pupils who pick up cigarette smoking in the belief that it will make them appear older or more hip than their peers, they are sadly mistaken.

Smoking is addictive, with the effects of nicotine being particularly harmful on developing bodies. Those who pick up the habit at a young age are doing untold damage to their cardiovascular systems, putting them on a course for addiction, diseases and shortened life spans.

While every legal measure is being taken to prevent the sale of addictive nicotine and tobacco-based products to teens, sadly there are those who cannot resist the lure of smoking. Public education programmes also help in the fight against the dangers of the dirty habit. But until such a time as smoking is treated as anti-social behaviour, and the price of tobacco put beyond the reach of those who are tempted, the lure of nicotine will remain.