Smoking Prevention By: Quinten, Fahid, Ian

Plankton smokes a whole pack of cigarettes everyday. What he does not know is the dangers that it comes with. Smoking is directly responsible for 90% of lung cancer deaths and 80%-90% of emphysema or chronic bronchitis deaths.

Karen has started to stay away from Plankton because his smoking habits have gone very bad. She knows that when people smoke around her she will inhale secondhand smoke which will be harmful to her health.

Plankton goes to the doctor and learns that he is at high risk for lung cancer. The doctor tells him smoking is the leading preventable cause of death. Plankton wants to prevent his death and decides he needs to do something.

Plankton goes to Karen and asks her for help. Karen tells him that 69 of the 7,000 chemicals in cigarettes are known to directly cause cancer. Plankton realizes that his smoking is the reason why he is at risk for lung cancer.

Karen wants to help Plankton. She tells him that he needs to work on his decision-making. If Plankton can make good decisions to not smoke, it will lower his risk of getting lung cancer. Karen has some ideas how to help Plankton stop.

One of Karen’s ideas is to teach Plankton how to be a proactive decision maker. A proactive decision maker analyzes the possible choices to make and figures out the best one. If Plankton does this, he can make the right decision to not smoke.

Karen’s second idea is to teach Plankton about the IDEAL decision making model. In this process, you identify the problem, collect data, evaluate the choices, act out your decision, and then learn from it. This could benefit Plankton because he will come to the conclusion that smoking is not the right thing to do. He will then learn that smoking is not worth the consequences it comes with.

Karen’s final idea is to tell Plankton to contact the NYS Smokers’ Quitline (1-866-NY-QUITS) or the Center for Disease Control and Protection (800-CDC-INFO) to help him with his smoking addiction.

Plankton called the NYS Smokers’ Quitline and they helped him realize smoking is not worth the consequences it comes with. They told him that a physical benefit of quitting smoking was you can avoid lung disease. A social benefit is people will like being around you more if you do not smoke. A mental benefit is you will not be addicted to anything.

Plankton followed Karen’s advice and never smoked again. He did not get lung cancer and now lives happily with Karen and tries to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula everyday which is his natural high. It is important to always remember, smoking is not worth the consequences it comes with.