A Just Say No Moment

By Floyd Martin

I was in the 8th grade and living in Lake Wilson, Minnesota. We had a lake across the street from the school. The railroad track went along the lake. They put in a large culvert so the deer could get to the lake and not get hit by the train.
One day during the noon hour, I went with two friends to this culvert. One of the boy’s parents smoked so he would take a package now and then. They offered me one but my folks were so against it, I decided at that Moment that I didn’t want one.
When I got cancer much later in my life, the doctor said that if I had smoked, they wouldn’t even try to help because I had such a slim chance to make it. I was able to beat the cancer.
I lost my brother when he was 59 years old. He had the same class when he was in the 4th grade and made the choice to smoke. The doctor said the smoking is what killed him.
If your parents smoke, let them know how much you love them and you are against smoking.
Look at the picture of two nerves, A and B.

Can you tell which nerve is in the body of a healthy person and which nerve is in the body of a person who smokes cigarettes? Signals from your brain flow along these nerves to all the parts of your body. The nerves are not connected to each other. The signals flow from nerve to nerve by chemical messengers. When a person smokes cigarettes, nicotine attaches to the receiving end of the nerve cells, to what are called receptor sites. After a short time, the nicotine damages the receptor sites. The damaged receptors cannot receive signals well unless nicotine is present. This explains how a person becomes addicted to cigarettes because damaged nerve cells in smokers don't work well with each other unless more nicotine is added by cigarettes.
Nerve A is in the body of a smoker and you can see the nicotine that has taken the place of part of the nerve cell. The nicotine will wear off and the smoker will have to have another cigarette to get more nicotine for the nerve.
A cigarette for the beginner is a symbolic act. I am no longer my mother's child, I'm tough, I am an adventurer, I'm not square … As the force from the psychological symbolism subsides, the pharmacological effect takes over to sustain the habit. (Philip Morris, 1969)
Younger adult smokers are the only source of replacement smokers... If younger adults turn away from smoking, the industry must decline, just as a population which does not give birth will eventually dwindle.
(RJ Reynolds, 1984)