1. Life Skills Training Smoking: Myths and Realities
Warmup: Record the following vocabulary definitions in your notes at the end of the section.
Minority: Smaller of two groups forming a whole
Long-Term: Not immediate
Risk Factor: Life-style pattern or characteristic related to an increased likelihood of developing a disease or condition
Addiction: Strong physical or emotional dependence on tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs with use of increasing amounts
Socially acceptable: Satisfactory to the community
Secondhand Smoke: The combined smoke from the lighted tip of a cigarette and the smoke exhaled by the smoker

2. Smoking: Myths and Realities Introduction
In this unit students will:
Identify that the majority of teenagers and adults are not cigarette smokers
Discuss reasons young people have for smoking or not smoking
Discuss realities of what cigarettes can and cannot do
Discuss the immediate and long-term effects of cigarette smoking
Describe the process of becoming a smoker
Identify that smoking is becoming less socially acceptable
Discuss nonsmokers’ rights

3. Smoking: Myths and Realities Introduction
This session will provide you with important factual information about smoking so that they will be aware of how many people smoke, the reasons why people do and do not smoke, the immediate and long-term consequences of smoking, and the process of becoming a smoker. It will also cover the issue of nonsmokers’ rights and the decreasing social acceptability of smoking.

4. Smoking Prevalence Answer the following questions:
What percentage of teenagers smoke at least once a month?
12%
What percentage smoke daily? 6%
What percentage of adults smoke daily?
20%
Smoking rates for 8th, 10th and 12th graders on page 24
Take away?
Fewer people smoke than we think. In reality, smokers represent a small minority, with the vast majority of teenagers and adults being nonsmokers.

5. Pros and Cons of Tobacco Use
Why do some teens smoke cigarettes but others do not?
Make a T chart in your notes and label one side Pros and the other Cons
What are some reasons for smoking?
What are some reasons for not smoking?
Where do we get the idea that cigarettes do these things we listed on our chart?
Do you think that cigarettes can really do all of these things?
Take Away-Cigarettes are not magical and cannot do all the wonderful things that advertisers would have us believe they can do.
Take Away- In examining the pros and cons of cigarette smoking, one thing is clear: there are many excellent reasons for not smoking and no good reasons for smoking

6. The Cost of Smoking
Estimate the cost of smoking cigarettes and consider other ways of spending the money saved.
Average cost for a pack of cigarettes is $5.50
Weekly cost?
Monthly cost?
Cost per year?

7. Long-Term Effects of Smoking
What are some of the long-term health effects of smoking?
Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for developing several types of cancer, heart disease, and chronic respiratory diseases.
The survival rate for all these diseases is generally poor.
Together, the three causes are responsible for more than 400,000 of the total deaths in the United States each year.
Additional Facts…

8. Smoking and Your Body Read pages 25 and 26 in your student guide
What are some short and long-term effects on the body.
Take Away-Cigarette smoking has a negative effect on many parts of the human body. Some occur fairly immediately, while most develop over several years.
Take Away- Smoking makes people’s clothes smell bad. It also stains their teeth and causes premature wrinkling

9. Process of Becoming a Smoker
Step 1: Trying cigarettes
Step 2: Smoking cigarettes on occasion. Usually with friends, only a few times a month
Step 3: Increasing how often you smoke. From a few times a month to a few times a day.
Step 4: Smoking a pack or more of cigarettes every day.

10. Summary
Teenagers tend to overestimate the number of people who smoke. Nonsmokers are the real majority.
Cigarettes are not magical and cannot do all the things that people think they can do.
There are many immediate and long-term effects of cigarette smoking on the body.
Smokers go through a number of stages in developing the habit.
Smoking is becoming less socially acceptable now as more and more adults are giving up smoking.
Secondhand smoke is hazardous to nonsmokers.