CDC: A THIRD OF HIGH SCHOOL SMOKERS HOOKED

ATLANTA (AP) -- Four years after taking his first puff, 18-year-old
Benjamin Ledford can feel the effects of his pack-a-day habit -- shortness
of breath when he goes roller skating or plays basketball.

The high school senior from Chattanooga, Tenn., says he keeps lighting up
because he's addicted. And he's far from alone.

One in three high school students who try smoking even once develop a daily
habit before they graduate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported Thursday.

Like Ledford, most high school smokers say they've tried to quit. And most
fail.

``It's a very bad habit, it's so incredibly addictive,'' Ledford said.
``The first thing you notice is you start to want one really bad when you
don't have one.''

The study shows that many smokers develop a pattern of nicotine addiction
and have a desire to quit in their teens, said Michael Eriksen, director of
the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health.

``We had thought that this process of experiment, becoming addicted and
trying to quit played out over decades,'' Eriksen said. ``What we're
finding is that this process really occurs before high school graduation.''

Seventy percent of 16,000 students surveyed nationwide said they had smoked
at least once, the CDC said. And almost 36 percent of students who had
tried cigarettes said their habit escalated to smoking at least once per day.

Nearly 73 percent of daily student smokers said they had tried to quit. But
only 13.5 percent successfully stopped.

``I've never quit an entire week,'' said Ledford, who's tried to stop cold
turkey twice. ``If you don't have a cigarette, it's not like you're really
hungry, but you get real tense.''

The study was released as Congress debated anti-tobacco legislation that
would impose a $1.10-per-pack tax and levy stiff fines against tobacco
companies if teen smoking fails to drop dramatically.

``The findings underscore the need for Congress to pass comprehensive
tobacco legislation this year ... that will significantly reduce teen
tobacco use,'' said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

The Tobacco Institute, the lobbying arm of the tobacco industry, had no
immediate comment.

Previous studies had estimated between 33 and 50 percent of people who
experiment with cigarettes become regular smokers.

But now researchers can show that smoking quickly loses its cool for many
teen-agers, but they keep puffing because of nicotine addiction, Eriksen said.

``They started to smoke because they want an image, they want to make a
statement, they get seduced by the advertising,'' he said. ``But after a
few years they realize it is costly, it is messy, it interferes with
performance and it no longer gives them the cachet it gave them when they
were 12 to 13 years old.''

White students were the most likely to become daily smokers after their
first puff, at nearly 42 percent. Almost 15 percent of blacks and 24.5
percent of Hispanics who tried cigarettes eventually smoked daily.

Students in all 50 states were surveyed in 1997. Students were considered
daily smokers if they had ever smoked at least once a day for a period of
30 days.

The report counted former smokers as those who had quit for at least 30
days before they were surveyed.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski