Teen Smoking Spotlight: What’s the Local Picture?

More and more teens are taking up the habit of smoking, according to a new report by the U.S. Surgeon General.

Nationwide more than 3 million high school students and 600,000 sand middle school students smoke cigarettes

In Oregon, 20 teenagers take up the habit every day, and it’s a statistic Central Oregon health officials are working to change.

“All of our K-12 have a 100 percent tobacco-free policy for schools.” said David Visiko, the Deschutes County tobacco control coordinator. “We have a more intensive tobacco-free policy for the Bend Metro Park and Rec (District).”

In Deschutes County, 19 percent of 11th graders say they use tobacco products — that’s 3 percent higher than the statewide numbers.

But five years ago, the number of teens in the county who said they smoked was 27 percent.

A push to eliminate smoking in public places has helped lower the that number.

“We are seeing the norm kind of shift,” said Visiko, “from being able to smoke everywhere to actually reducing the number of places where you could be exposed to tobacco.”

According to the Oregon Health Authority, between 1998 and 2008, the tobacco industry spent more than $125 million a year marketing its products in Oregon.

“About a third of all movies that are marketed to children — these are the top-selling ones — have images of smoking in them,” said Visiko.

Public health officials believe a rise in alternative forms of flavored tobacco has helped spur continued youth smoking.

Area doctors say teenagers who do smoke need to look at the risks involved and how their body may be impacted 20 or 30 years down the road.

“Even if you say, ‘Well, it’s not that bad — I can breathe, I can get oxygen — if you have a stroke, not being able to walk, not being able to talk, that’s a major issue,” said Jamie Conklin, pulmonary critical care specialist at St. Charles Medical Center-Bend.

Health officials reiterate: The best thing to do is to not start in the first place.

“If you don’t start, it’s easier to quit — because it’s not even there,” said Conklin.

Those fighting tobacco use in Deschutes County say they’ve seen a direct correlation between funding for anti-smoking campaigns and the percentage of teens who smoke — the more funding for such programs, the lower the figure, and vice-versa.