Smoking is an immense problem in many countries all around the world, including Australia. Many people who smoke have been plunged into their deadly routine, smoking up to 3 packs of cigarettes per day, causing their bodies to be damaged severely. Most of these routine smokers have been smoking for a long time, beginning their sprees when they are only teens and when they are first exposed to the idea of smoking.

A range of laws and regulations have been put in place to try and stop the young and upcoming generation from smoking. Some examples of such include a limit on the age where you can purchase cigarettes (eg. Drivers license, passport), and making it mandatory to present identification when purchasing cigarettes. Any contradiction of …show more content…
In fact, smoking causes almost half a million deaths each year, which is more than the deaths caused by HIV, drug use, alcohol use, vehicle accidents and firearm incidents combined. On top of that, smoking is one of the main, if not the biggest cause of lung cancer, which can cause death in only two to four months without treatment. Smoking can also cause almost any type of cancer and a range of cardiovascular diseases, including strokes, heart attacks, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These facts and statistics truly show how much of a problem smoking is, and yet there are millions of people who still smoke because of the beginning of an addiction when they were …show more content…
Teens usually smoke for three predominate reasons, peer influence, adult smoking influence, and to cope with stress. Peer influence means that teens see other people around them smoking, whether older or younger, and so the teen feels compelled to try smoking due to the influence which has been received. When someones friends begin to smoke, they are likely to begin smoking as to instil a sense of belonging from smoking together. This is the most common reason which teens, especially girls, begin to smoke. Adult smoking is relatively similar, yet different because of the influencer. Most teens and children look up to someone, usually an adult or older person. It is human nature to replicate what the people older than you do, which can be good or bad. When teens see older people smoke, especially their parents or close family members, there is a higher chance that they too will begin smoking. This is because of the influence that the older person has on the teen and so the smoking is regarded as ‘normal behaviour’. This is the complete opposite of what a good role model should be and so it should be made sure that all children have good role models, not only on the basis of smoking. Finally, teenagers have to cope with a large amount of stress. Coping mechanisms are needed to try to reduce the amount of stress which people experience, and smoking can be utilised as one of these coping mechanisms. An example of this being