On almost every street corner in America, you will find a teen smoking. Even though a number of commercials and school orientations have given the effects of smoking, the kids feel they are invincible to the effects smoking can cause. Tobacco companies have targeted the youth, ages eleven to seventeen, because they are the future of their industry and very influential. The future of America has been the focus of their progression. However, how can we have a healthy outlook on the future if 34.8 percent of our youth are inhaling five hundred chemicals into their bodies?
             While no one really understands why teenagers take their first puff, whether it's peer pressure or another reason, the fact is that they do. Obviously they don't care much for their health. A very common theory on why teens start smoking is obviously peer pressure. On numerous occasions, I have watched underclassmen at parties smoke their first cigarette so they fit in better and try to impress the upperclassmen. Once they take that first puff its all over. Now that they have had one, they might as well have another, and so on. As they grow older, they go from being a social smoker to having one after a hard day at school or after work. In the end, you become addicted to the nicotine and it becomes a regular habit.
             Another problem with smoking is the effects it has on others around you. Studies have shown that second hand smoke is just as if not more dangerous than first hand smoke. It causes those around them to be more susceptible to getting respiratory problems and cancer. Now the 34.8 percent of the youth are not only bringing themselves down, but they are bringing down the rest of the population with them.
             There is a plus side to cigarettes. The outrageous tax the state puts on cigarettes helps keep the economy up. In the state of Indiana, each pack is taxed $.55. In other states, such as New York and New Jersey, taxes are as high as $1.50 a ...