Modesto students out to kick big tobacco’s butts

Jessy Garcia’s mother smoked from age 14 to 32, and quit with help from her daughter. Six months later, Jessy herself started smoking – about a cigarette a day – and quit with the support of her mom.

The 17-year-old senior at Elliott Alternative Education Center in Modesto said even that relatively small amount of smoking led her to cough when she’d breathe deeply, and she’s happy to be tobacco-free for eight months now.

Why, knowing the health dangers and having helped her mom quit, did she start smoking herself? The simple answer, Jessy said: stress. “But I knew it wasn’t healthy, especially if I like sports.”

Fighting tobacco became an important enough cause that the one and only school club she’s ever joined is PHAST, which stands for Protecting Health and Slamming Tobacco.

Now, Garcia is president of her school’s roughly 25-member PHAST Club, which on Wednesday posted on school walls tombstones representing actual and fictional deaths related to tobacco use. For the nationwide Kick Butts Day, they also hung graphic images of the ailments tobacco can lead to, and hosted lunch-period activities to raise student awareness.

According to Kick Butts organizers, more than 1,000 events were held across the United States and around the world for the annual day of youth activism, sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

About 80 percent of Elliott students smoke, said PHAST leaders and the club adviser, teacher Fred Johnston. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2014 nearly 25 of every 100 high school students and nearly 8 in 100 middle school students used some type of tobacco product, whether it was cigarettes/cigars, e-cigarettes, hookahs or smokeless tobacco.

Elliott’s PHAST Club members said they realize the tobacco industry targets youth to ensure lifelong consumers, even though those lives are being cut shorter by the products. The students also know that impressionable youth follow the cues of celebrities, older siblings and parents.

“They see parents doing it, so as little kids they think that’s cool,” said 17-year-old Alphreia Peterson. “My little sister – every time my dad comes around, he’s smoking, and I tell her, ‘Don’t do what my dad is doing. You can die.’ ”

When youth see smoking portrayed in a positive light in video games and movies, and a long list of celebrities – Johnny Depp, Rihanna, Kristen Stewart and Harry Styles, to name just a few – indulging in the habit, convincing them it’s not cool is a big challenge.

Unfortunately, Peterson said, by the time they’re older and the reality of cancer, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease sets in, many are hooked.

Fortunately for some, a bad first experience may be all it takes to turn them off tobacco.

“When I was 13 or 14, my friend got me to try it. She said, ‘It’s so cool. I took one from my dad,’ ” said Faith Rohrer, 17 and vice president of the PHAST Club. “I took one drag and I was sick for two days.”

Smoking often begins as a social activity, something to do on a Friday night when hanging out with friends, Rohrer and Garcia noted. But for many teens, “the next thing they know they’re smoking daily,” Rohrer said.

Garcia and her twin sister have three younger siblings, and she said she doesn’t want them deciding that smoking is OK. It angers her to see tobacco products prominently displayed around checkout stands at stores. She’s especially upset, she said, at the colorful packaging of e-cigs and the added flavors that appear so clearly aimed at kids: chocolate, lemonade, bubble gum, cola and a variety of fruits.

At one convenience store, she said, she even was asked if she wanted to buy e-cigarettes, “when I just went in for a bag of chips.”

So, what gets youth to stop smoking? Club member Giselle Zapien said graphic ads that feature longtime users showing what tobacco has done to them are effective, especially when aired on channels popular with youth, such as MTV.

Friends and older siblings also can be influential, said Zapien, Peterson, Garcia and Rohrer, all of whom come from homes where someone smokes or has smoked.

“My cousin, who’s in his 40s or 50s, he has COPD and about six to 12 months to live,” Rohrer said. “You can’t even recognize him anymore. He’s like a skeleton walking around.

“I think most of us are rooting for this club,” she added, “because we’ve seen what smoking does to family and friends and we don’t want that to happen to other people.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Modesto students out to kick big tobacco’s butts."