TEENS WORK TO SHED LIGHT ON SMOKING

Most people know smoking is harmful to their health. Nevertheless, about 440,000 people die of tobacco-related diseases every year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research by the U.S. Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, and the CDC has found that more than 65 percent of all smokers begin smoking before the age of 18. For this reason, many antismoking campaigns have been directed toward teenagers.

Now, some Indiana teens are taking the fight into their own hands.

You probably have heard of the state's White Lies media campaign that works to educate people about the dangers of tobacco. VOICE is the youth branch of the organization in which teens raise awareness about tobacco.

White Lies and VOICE are sponsored by the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Agency, which is financed by tobacco settlement funds. The agency has more than 1,200 local organizations statewide to spread the word.

One partner is the Montgomery County Youth Leadership Academy in Crawfordsville. Y-Press recently spoke with teens about their efforts to prevent tobacco usage in their community.

Whitney Anderson, 16, Matt Winchester, 16, Eric Hutson, 13, and Ana Yesnik, 14, had various reasons for becoming involved in VOICE.

"I had a family member who was smoking, and I convinced him to stop. . . . I still have family members who are smoking, but they're getting along in age, and once you're like in your 60s or 70s, you know, it takes a lot of strength to quit smoking . . . and it's really sad because they want to," said Eric.

These teens' VOICE campaign has been active for a little over a year. They have set up booths at fairs and passed out VOICE calendars and "Stick-It packets," which are a contract between an adult smoker and a friend or family member.

They also wear VOICE shirts, which gives them an opportunity to explain VOICE to people who ask.

But perhaps the haunted house was most effective. The Hoo-Haw Haunted House was held last fall at the Old Jail Museum in Crawfordsville.

Matt, who is spearheading VOICE in Montgomery County, said the group talked about VOICE at the entrance, where visitors would see such gruesome items as jars filled with "tar" and "bile," and hear tales of former prisoners, some of whom had been executed.

After that, visitors moved into a boiler room and entered a maze, where they witnessed terrors such as nicotine fits.

"We had people being operated on, like their lungs being taken out because they smoked too much," said Whitney. "And we had the grim reaper taking people's lives away. We had a bunch of jocks smoking cigarettes, being cool, and then they die later on."

After the maze, visitors would go back outside and receive VOICE handouts.

"We gave them stuff like T-shirts and key chains and candy and Frisbees and we scared them a lot," said Matt. "It was kind of cool."

The haunted house was the first such antitobacco event held in Crawfordsville and was a huge success, the teens said.

"Six hundred people came to our haunted house, so obviously we were having an impact on the community," Eric explained.

"A lot of adults and teachers were really impressed that we were even taking on such a (project)," said Whitney.

The teens think their projects are as effective as the antitobacco ads on TV.

"Advertisements work really well because you see them a ton of times, . . . but our way worked, too, because we involved the kids," Whitney said.

VOICE members know the pressures kids face to smoke.

"One of the main reasons that people start smoking, even though they know it's bad, is that they're simply curious," Ana said.

Matt said that some teens think it is cool to smoke because it means you're a rebel. Teens also get a lot of pressure from their peers to smoke.

"If you see all these people smoking, and it's all the popular crowd, you might start thinking, 'Is smoking the reason they're popular?' " Ana said.

Peers are not the only ones who influence teens.

"Your parents are role models; parents are a big factor in a kid's life. And if they smoke, I think that it's gonna be very hard to convince you that that's wrong," Eric said.

These teens know, too, that most youths have heard these messages before but don't take them seriously.

"As long as it's not happening right now to them, they don't give a hoot," Matt said.

"I think that everybody knows that smoking is bad for your health. But teenagers tend to think that they're invincible," added Whitney. "When you smoke, right off the bat you're not gonna die. But really, it's slowly killing you."

The teens hope the haunted house and other efforts will help people to make more educated decisions about tobacco. They plan to sponsor high school convocations, a concert and another haunted house.

"It's really a matter of what the kids can do with the information, and you kind of have to present it in a good, fun way, just not give them statistics and facts," said Whitney.

The teens have high hopes for the future. But they realize that they can't change the world.

However, as Matt said: "If we got one person out of that 600 people, we have done something. We're saving a life."

For more information about VOICE, go to: www.voice.tv

REPORTERS : Katie Ciresi, 13; Amber Gray, 13; Izaak Hayes, 12; Meera Patel, 11.