GOALS AND RESOURCES

1. We want you to see what we see in hospital patients every day from the use of tobacco so you can make an informed decision whether or not to smoke. (Video; Video Study Plan pgs 42-50)

2. We want you to actually witness the suffering and early death from mouth, throat and lung cancer, emphysema and heart attacks and to understand how the tar in tobacco causes these diseases. (Video; Video Study Plan pgs 31, 42-50, 60-63; PowerPoint Slides)

3. We want you to know that the chances of these diseases happening to you (i.e., dying early from a disease seen in the Video) are 1 in 3 if you choose to smoke as a teenager and are 1 in 2 if you continue to smoke through adulthood. (Video; Video Study Plan pg 32; PowerPoint Slides).

4. We want you to know how tobacco very seriously harms your body, not just later as an older adult, but right now while you are still a teenager or pre-teenager. (Video; Video Study Plan pgs 26, 27, 56; PowerPoint Slides)

5. We want you to know that nicotine in tobacco gradually makes you need more and more of it to produce the same effect. This is called tolerance which leads many youths (perhaps 50%) who start smoking only occasionally, into becoming regular smokers. (Video, Video Study Plan pg 16).

6. We want you to know that most teenagers who already smoke regularly are already addicted and want to quit, but can't. When they try to quit they feel sick and irritable. These are called withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine addiction occurs, on average, after three years of first tobacco use but it can occur after smoking only 100 cigarettes. (Video; Video Study Plan pgs 16-19).

7. We want you to know that the great majority of today's teenagers are not smokers, never will be and prefer to date nonsmokers. (Video Study Plan pg 15).

8. We want you to know not just why but also how to resist peer pressure to smoke and that self esteem, individuality, sound decision making, assertive verbal skills and tobacco awareness all play very important roles. (CD-ROM-2-Interactive Exercises; Video Study Plan pgs 11-14).

9. We want you to know how big tobacco companies try to manipulate you through their ads and promotions to buy their product even though they've known for over forty years that it's highly addictive and lethal. This makes us mad and that's why our Program is called "They're Rich, You're Dead". (Video; Video Study Plan pgs 9-10; CD-ROM-1-Interactive Exercises; PowerPoint Slides)

10. Finally, we want to recruit you as teachers who convince others to be tobacco-free and to give you the teaching tools to do it. Toward this end, the Video, Video Study Plan, Interactive CD-ROM's and PowerPoint Slides and Slide notes can all be made available to youths who are interested in community presentations. (See Preface)
Most importantly, we want to answer your questions!

Most importantly, we want to answer your questions!