NMI’s smokers getting younger • Study says middle school Chamorro and Carolinian kids more likely to have tried smoking than other ethnic groups

The Department of Public Health underscored the need to enforce more stringent measures that would limit the access of the islands’ youths to tobacco products amid findings that almost half of CNMI’s young populace smoke.

An estimated 10 percent of middle school students and 30 percent of high school students are current smokers, according to the findings of a study commissioned by the DPH.

This, as nearly 55 percent and 85 percent of middle and high school students respectively admit to having tried cigarette.

Recent findings of the 2000 Commonwealth Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the DPH revealed that roughly 9.16 percent overall of middle school age between 12 to 14 are smoking while the number of high school students who smoke climbed to 29.78 percent.

The report further explained that middle school Chamorro and Carolinian kids are more likely to have tried smoking than other ethnic groups in the Northern Marianas including Marshall Islanders and youths in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Health department officials noted that prevalence of youth smoking in the CNMI can be attributed to their easy access to tobacco products, thus the need to strictly enforce existing laws.

The 2000 CYTS provided health officials detailed information on usual sources of cigarettes for youths who smoke. These sources include store and vending machine purchases.

“Although the current CNMI law has been passed making it illegal to furnish tobacco products to minors, these types of restrictions are difficult and costly to enforce,” the documents disclosed.

The health department further assessed that even when the law is strictly enforced, youngsters will still find other ways to obtain cigarettes.

House Committee on Health and Welfare Chair Malua T. Peter said the result of the survey will be seriously looked into by her committee to determine how to effectively enforce laws pertaining to cigarette-use in the CNMI.

Ms. Peter said all angles will be explored to extend necessary assistance to health departments to effectively implement tobacco prevention programs which should begin at home and Early Childhood Program centers.

The legislator said tobacco prevention program should be implemented to the fullest in order to educate the public on the ills of smoking and second hand smoking, especially now that the Master Settlement Agreement Trust Fund has already been established.

She also mentioned the need to raise awareness among store owners and vendors on the existing policies against cigarette selling to minors even those who are armed with authorization signed by their parents.

DPH Tobacco Master Settlement Advisory Committee member Malinda Matson earlier said that the percentage of youth smoking should be sufficient enough to proceed with DPH’s planned two-year tobacco education forum which will be funded under the Legacy Foundation Grant.

The Legacy Foundation Grant receives certain percentage of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement that can be used for education program and campaign against cigarette smoking.

Presently, Ms. Matson said the advisory board is mapping out a locally relevant education program to be participated in by students from various schools in the Commonwealth.

Based on a statistics released by California local government, concerted efforts against tobacco use resulted on 40 percent decrease on lung cancer and other heart related ailments.

Also, studies have said that teens whose favorite stars smoked in two films were 1.5 times more likely to score on the upper end of the scale, while those whose favorite stars smoked in three or more films were three times as likely to do so.

The report made by Dartmouth College researchers and published in the medical journal “Tobacco Control” studied over 600 students 10 to 19 years of age. The conclusion of the report suggest that stars who smoke on-screen encourage teens to try out smoking.

The authors said “We believe this evidence strongly suggests that media portrayals of tobacco use by popular movie stars contribute to adolescent smoking.”

In 1999 another frightening report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy studied Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music. It studied the 1996 and 1997 top 200 movie rentals and discovered that a whopping 98 percent of the actors were depicted as smoking, drinking or doing drugs in these movies. Alcohol and tobacco were in more than 90 percent of the movies. (EGA)