To the editor:
Do you know what bugs me?
Cigarette smoke.
This bugs me because so many smokers just light up where they please and with all the chemicals in just one cigarette they should really ask before they light up. But its not just people over 18 lighting up, as of 2007 the percent of teens between the ages of 13 and 17, was a 23%, or about one in five teens between the ages of 13 and 15, smoke world wide.
I personally don't believe anyone should smoke, let alone teenagers who are getting their cigarettes illegally! It's sad that between 80,000 and 100,000 kids start smoking everyday. Its also sad that at least half of all teenage smokers don't even understand what cigarettes do to their bodies or the consequences that come from smoking. Most just start because their friends are doing it or because it "looks cool."
The sad part is when smokers decide to light up; they're giving all of us non-smokers the secondhand smoke, which is just as bad as smoking the cigarette itself!
"I hate when people just light up a cigarette and smoke it in front of me, the smell makes me sick," said Ashleigh Altenburg a senior at Madelia high school.
It's stated that secondhand smoke is the cause of over 3000 deaths a year in the United States alone.
In my opinion we could stop the sale of cigarettes to minors if gas station clerks would check the ID's of anyone they believe is under age. Or to lower the sale we could put a tax on them and maybe even raise the price?
So I hope after reading this people stop and think twice before lighting up or before they let someone light up in front of them.
Natasha Tierney
Madelia