Countywide : Smokeless Tobacco Dangers Outlined

About 100 high school students who chew tobacco learned about the dangers of the habit at a conference on Tuesday when they saw graphic photographs of cancer and gum disease caused by smokeless tobacco use.

Coaches and advisers pulled many of the students out of class to attend the conference, called “Spittin’ in the Wind: The Dangers of Smokeless Tobacco.”

Former California Angels first baseman Rod Carew and Angels pitcher Mike Butcher told students about how they became addicted to tobacco. Anti-tobacco workers then broke the youths into groups to talk about chewing tobacco.

Even as they listened to speakers, some students sneaked out of the conference rooms at Fullerton Racquetball World to use chewing tobacco.

“For me, it’s as natural as putting on my socks in the morning,” said Jason Dangler, 18, a senior at Magnolia High School in Anaheim. “It’s going to be my personal choice when I want to quit.”

The sixth annual conference about chewing tobacco in Orange County was sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the Angels and the county Health Care Agency and Department of Education.

Nearly 20% of male high school students in the country either had tried smokeless tobacco or used it regularly, according to a 1990 survey run by the Centers for Disease Control. Only about 7% reported using it in surveys conducted in the 1980s.

A recent study by the Southern Coast Regional Board indicated that about one in 14 youths in Orange County aged 12 to 14 said they had tried chewing tobacco.

The Angels’ Butcher said tobacco use is often prevalent among athletes and residents of rural areas. He began chewing tobacco in 1983 when he was in college.

“My friend said, ‘Try it, it’ll relax you for exams,’ ” Butcher said. “But I couldn’t study because I was so dizzy from the tobacco.”

Yet Butcher kept chewing. He and his roommate built a pyramid of chewing tobacco cans in their room. During the baseball season, he would chew more than a can of tobacco a day and reduce it to two or three dips a week during the off-season.

He decided to quit in 1993 after he found a small precancerous lump on his lip. “I just got sick of it,” he said.

A group of Norco High School students wearing cowboy hats listened as Butcher told them about how using tobacco could result in cancer of the mouth.

“I’ve learned a lot of new stuff here,” said Ronnie Bowen, 16, a Norco High sophomore.

Bowen said he started chewing tobacco when he was 11. He picked up samples at a rodeo--before handing out such samples was banned.

“At first it gave me a buzz,” Bowen said. “Then it makes you lightheaded, kind of shaky. . . . It makes you relaxed. It never made me sick.”

Another 18-year-old student from Anaheim’s Canyon High School ducked outside for a quick dip. “Yeah, it’s disgusting, I know,” he said, stuffing the brown leaves in his mouth.

“I’m trying to quit.”