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Ashwin Mehta

Core One

Language Arts

February 27, 2008

 

The Prevention of Cigarettes and Alcohol

 

          Do you know that smoking and drinking are two of the main causes of permanent internal damage?  And America has the number one rate of children and teenagers being under the influence.  Young adults who cannot differentiate between good or bad.  Thus, the reason these young adults smoke or drink, is because they are influenced by the wrong people.  In public areas, the majority of the populations being children or teens, shops or stands close to these areas have alcoholic beverages or cigarettes.  However it is not just looking at these items that make children and teens to go under the influence, but the fact that everywhere they go, they will at least see one or more people drinking heavily, smoking heavily, or sometimes even both!  And these young adults see this near the public places that they go to. Therefore, Cigarette and alcoholic shops should be kept a fair distance away from public places where the majority of the population is children and teenagers.

            As stated before, smoking and drinking are very deadly actions.  And to address this topic, smoking and drinking need to be identified.  Smoking is a very wrong inhalant for the human body.  For one, smoking is the main cause for lung cancer that is unnatural.  And the smoke travels an approximate diameter of ten feet.  This goes to show that second hand smoke is as deadly as first hand smoke.  Second hand smoke is where a separate person, who may or may not be smoking, inhales the smoke of the person that is smoking.  And what is worse, is the contents of cigarettes. As said in http://www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/SmokingAndCancer.htm cigarettes contain: Cigarette smoke contains about 4,000 chemical agents, including over 60 carcinogens including substances, such as carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, cyanide, benzene, formaldehyde, methanol, acetylene, ammonia, lead.  These substances can kill.

Which is why it is proven that smoking shortens your life.  Drinking is just as bad.  When teens are influenced and start to drink alcohol, their bodies, which are still developing, start to receive permanent damage.  If young adults drink too much, they fall unconscious and experience permanent brain damage.  Drinks are also very strong, such as shots of liquor.  These items damage the brain severely! 

 

 

Thus, alcohol stimulates anger in one’s brain.  This results in the harm of one another.

            Children and teenagers are vulnerable to alcohol and cigarettes because they are surrounded by it.  At gas stations, plazas, near theaters, in malls, and more, you will find alcoholic and cigarette shops.  Also, many parents of these young adults may drink or smoke; making children and teens susceptible to joining their parents.  It is scientifically proven that 6/10 high-school children would start drinking or smoking if the majority of peers around them were drinking or smoking.  Also, one night, when I was coming out of an AMC theater, a smoking fest was going on at a cigarette shop two stores down.  There were at least thirty smokers in the room, and twenty-five standing outside the shop.  The whole inner room had a thick layer of smoke everywhere.  Children and teenagers near the AMC Theater were coughing and choking.  Some were staring at the heavy smokers for a long period of time.  In order to keep children and teenagers from following the influence, shops containing alcohol or cigarettes should be kept a safe distance from young adults. 

            However, some people might say that children and teenagers have their own smart and enhanced brains.  And they should be the ones making their own right choices.  To oppose that argument, children and teenagers are capable of making the right choices, but they are not able to control the influence that you are setting on them.  Many of these young adults are forced into drinking and smoking because they think that if everyone else is doing it, why can’t I?  This is known as peer pressure. Hence, many of the young adults see all of these shops, and want to try out drinking or smoking, making them very vulnerable to start drinking or smoking.  This is why these types of cigarette or alcoholic shops should be kept away from popular destinations with a majority population of children or teenagers.

            All in all, smoking and drinking are very deadly actions.  Smoking is dangerous to oneself and his peers surrounding him.  Cigarettes contain very deadly and sickening contents, which should be kept away from teenagers and children.  Therefore, it is good for children and teenagers to be kept away from smokers and drinkers, and even shops that contain these dangerous items.  Drinking is a main cause for brain damage, and if put into the hands of young adults, can be fatal and deadly.  All of these shops, smokers, and drinkers should be kept at bay, and out of the reach of children and teenagers.