Blowing Smoke at the Prez : Health: It won’t work, teen-agers say of Clinton’s plan to tighten restrictions on cigarettes.

Teen-age cigarette smokers have one word for President Clinton’s proposal to curb their habit:

Not.

The Prez, they say, is clueless. Stop smoking? Right. And why not tear up their precious driver’s licenses too?

Next thing you know, the guy will propose mandatory early bedtime for America’s youth. Teen-agers are as likely to snuff their cigarettes as they are to trade their video games for volumes of Chaucer or cease hanging out at malls.

“We’re going to smoke anyway,” said Liz Lopez, 17, voicing the defiant mantra of her generation. “Teen-agers can get anything if they want to.”

If Clinton succeeds in his efforts to tighten restrictions on cigarettes, Lopez and other ordinarily law-abiding teen-agers vowed--what else--rebellion.

Under Clinton’s plan, smokers would be required to provide photo identification with proof of age before purchasing a pack of cigarettes. Vending machines would be prohibited from places where youth gather. Billboards displaying cigarette ads would be banned from spots within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds.

With such measures, Clinton hopes to battle the rise of cigarette smoking among teen-agers. According to a recent federal study, the increase is particularly pronounced among eighth-graders. In that age group, regular or occasional smoking has jumped to 19%.

Princess Santos, a 13-year-old who will enter eighth grade this fall, says she has been smoking for two years. She purchases her cigarettes at liquor stores and gas stations. On occasion, when a clerk balks at selling cigarettes to her, she reminds him that plenty of other stores will. Usually, she walks away with pack in hand.

“I regret smoking but now that I’m doing it, I need it,” sighed the Cerritos youngster cruising the Glendale Galleria. “Especially after I eat.”

Reclining on a park bench in Boyle Heights, 17-year-old Hannibal Garcia was philosophical about teen-age smoking. He said he had stopped smoking after a short stint during eighth grade. Now, even secondhand smoke bothers him. Even so, Garcia said underage smokers ought to be able to choose.

“People should live their own lives their own way,” said Garcia, whose hair is dyed green. “If they want to mess up their lungs, it’s their choice.”

Garcia, who is Roosevelt High School student body vice president, estimated that perhaps one in five students at the school are smokers.

At the Canoga Park Bowling Alley, Nancy Khanlian was outraged by Clinton’s proposal, saying it was intrusive.

“Everybody is an individual, you know,” said Khanlian, a 15-year-old junior at Chatsworth High School. “You should be able to do what you want to. It isn’t like drinking and driving; you can’t really do harm to anybody with cigarettes except yourself.”

Like many teen-agers, John Choi of Glendale said he did not figure that a stricter law would make much difference. Teen-agers would always find a way to flout tighter restrictions. That is, after all, part of life as a teen-ager. In fact, such rigid regulation might well spur a huge black market at high schools.

Choi, 18, started smoking when he was 10. His older sister’s friends taught him because they thought it was “cute.” Now, he’s a die-hard smoker. He got a free Marlboro logo sweater from the tobacco company after he sent in 70 empty packs--a feat he accomplished in one month of smoking, he said.

Maybe one day he will quit. But not because of Clinton or anyone else, said Choi, who will be a premed student at UC Irvine this fall. Laughing at the disparity between his professional ambition of becoming a doctor and his own addiction to a substance known to cause lung cancer, Choi said, “I gotta quit, man.”

Not everyone was belligerent over the proposed regulations. Many nonsmoking teen-agers applauded the news that access to tobacco might soon become more difficult.

“Smoking is a waste of time and money,” said 16-year-old Melissa Shelton of Gardena, wrinkling her nose. “It makes you smell bad. It just turns me off.”

Even some smokers agreed.

“If I hadn’t started when I did, I’d be better off,” said Doug Shapses of Pacific Palisades. The 17-year-old said he has smoked for several years. But now, when he plays football and basketball, he loses his breath.

Alfredo Toscano, an 18-year-old Angeleno, recently kicked his habit.

“I wasn’t smoking because I liked it, I was smoking because everyone else was doing it, because it was cool,” he said. “People used to tell me that smokers die young. I don’t want to die young.”

* Times staff writers Jeff Leeds, Ian James and Nicholas Riccardi and correspondents Mary Moore and Tom Jennings contributed to this story.