IRVINE : Students Ask Smokers to Kick Habit for Day

UC Irvine students tried to coax smokers to go cold turkey for a day Thursday by raffling off free Thanksgiving meals and frozen turkeys as part of the 18th annual American Cancer Society Smokeout.

Volunteers at the UCI Health Education Center joined others across Orange County to distribute anti-smoking brochures and pamphlets to young people. As passersby gawked at chalked outlines of dead bodies along the sidewalk outside the UCI Student Center, a handful of volunteers asked smokers walking by to kick the habit for a day.

When a volunteer asked Scott Robinson, a four-year smoker, to quit for the day, Robinson hesitated after taking a drag from a cigarette. Then he declined, saying: “One day you snub it out, it’s not going to change things. You got to die somehow anyway.”

According to the county Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Team, 90% of current smokers began smoking before age 21, and first-time tobacco use usually starts at ages 11 to 15. Once addicted to smoking in high school, teen-agers “become a customer with the tobacco industry for life,” said Phil Falcetti, a drug education specialist with the program.

Young smokers are a particular challenge, said UCI Health Education Center coordinator Ellen Thomas. “It’s tough with this age group because they think they are invincible and don’t feel at risk,” she said.

As volunteers fanned out across the campus center Thursday, John Loh, 20, sat nearby puffing his cigarettes. A smoker for more than three years, Loh said he believes he can control his nicotine addiction. “I’m young now,” Loh said. “I want to have fun and enjoy life. I’m athletic, so I’m not too worried about my health.”

For other young people, tobacco use already has taken a deadly toll. Smokeout volunteer Jeff Kirchman lost his stepfather six years ago to a stroke after his lungs deteriorated from years of smoking.

“Smoking is the deadliest drug out there,” said Kirchman, 22. “A lot of these ‘Generation X’ kids are smoking because they think it’s the cult thing. It’s a moral suicide.”