Huff,puff and blow your life away

By Ruhanie Perera and Kesara Ratnatunga

Have you ever taken a walk down the street and stopped to ogle a sexy chick or a gorgeous hunk on a billboard, giving you the "I'm it!" look with a smoke in one hand, booze in the other? The slim waistlines, the perfect smiles, the rippling muscles and the George Clooney jaw — the perfect beings we see plastered all over the city, projecting the image of good health, success and above all, sex appeal. All of which they seemingly sucked in from that fag of theirs.

This is exactly what we are supposed to think. Male or female, rural or urban, cool or not so cool, all they want us to do is smoke. Smoke, smoke and smoke...so that the tobacco industry can add a few more zeros to its already fat profits. To this industry, markets mean everything. They make it look as if they are doing us a favour, by making us think we look cool or more 'socially acceptable' if we smoke, but the only thing that's happening is that today's youth are getting trapped.......they become the smokers of tomorrow... the markets of tomorrow.

The industry targets young people including teenagers in different ways. Not only do they organise parties, they also sponsor sports events and jazzy competitions, according to Kumari Welagedera of Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC).

Another ruse is to use apparently 'hip', 'cool' kids who smoke near tuition classes and popular hangouts for young people, to trap the younger generation into thinking that smoking is the trend.

She said that the industry has even gone so far as to buy over popular television and movie stars, to promote smoking through the media.

Smokers on billboards are pictures of perfect health. But wake up and smell the smoke! Smoking causes bad breath, bloodshot eyes, black lips and gums, sunken cheeks, bags under the eyes and yellow, nicotine-stained teeth. The spectre of cancer, heart disease and death loom before smokers. Smoking has also been shown to cause impotence.

Leave alone the long-term effects of smoking, it can cripple your day to day life. "I used to feel sick and dizzy," says Dinesh a one-time smoker. "I was a sportsman, but after I started smoking I found myself short of breath and became tired very quickly. So I had to quit sports."

The image of smokers climbing the social ladder is only a mirage. A majority of people don't smoke and shun smokers. Nobody likes to have smoke puffed in his or her face. "They are just selfish," says Sharmila (name changed), "they know that it's harmful and they still puff in my face. It's certainly not about me being intolerant. It's not something good that they are doing and I don't have to put up with it".

Smoking can kill not only the smoker but also those around him/her. Passive smoking should not be underestimated. Friends and family of regular smokers are in as much danger as those who smoke. Shani (name changed) who is from a family that is very much into smoking would "rather not be around when everyone is smoking. I feel suffocated. There's nothing very nice about it at all."

"Smoking is the gateway to drugs," says ADIC's Mrs. Welagedara. Every young person who smokes ganja (cannabis) almost always starts off by smoking cigarettes. Ninety-eight percent of Sri Lanka's heroin users were one-time nicotine addicts.

We don't need to be taken in by the advertising gimmicks of the tobacco industry and we don't need to be tempted by the make-believe world they present. Smoking being cool is bogus. Say no to that cigarette and join in the anti-smoking campaign.

Remember you don't need to send smoke signals to be noticed. Be cool, kick-butt and say no to smoking!

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