When we were kids in middle school, there was a rocky, wooded area just off the first base side of the softball field that also doubled as an auxiliary playground.
The ‘tough and cool’ seventh graders used to like to refer to these highlands as “Marlboro Country.” We never saw any rugged cowboys in that area but I’m sure we imagined that we were just as manly.
From our middle school years, we matriculated on to high school where we found it was permissible for teenagers to smoke cigarettes on school grounds as long as they received written permission from mom and dad. I guess this practice made the teens feel “tough and cool” as well.
The two outdoor smoking areas at FHS in those days were known by the lovely moniker: ‘The Smoking Pit.’ I can tell you that any self-respecting (and socially mobile) Farragutter in those days went out of their way to avoid being outside near the downstairs green wing and upstairs red wing if at all possible.
On one occasion, my friend Ed and I witnessed one of the characters in one of our classes bragging that he was heading to ‘The Pit.’ All dressed in black, he told his friend that he was going ‘to take a puff.’ It sounded like he said ‘take a poof.’
Our classmate looked a little like this black-clad dude depicted in this artwork located at the Fedex Forum.
Anyway, as for ‘poofing,’ it became our catchphrase to describe the surreal, yet deadly, pastime.
Still, the fact that ‘poof taking’ was legal and appropriate behavior in those days – and would never be permitted now – shows we have, indeed, come a long way (baby) in the fight against smoking in the U.S.
The latest report from the Surgeon General’s Office – released late last week to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the initial Surgeon General’s Report on smoking – shows that while we have made progress, there is still much work to be done.
When the original Surgeon General’s Report was released a whopping 42 percent of adult Americans – nearly half – were smokers. While that number has dropped to 18 percent today, it’s still nearly one in five. And the government fears we may not be able to reach its stated goal of reducing the percentage to 12 by 2020.
The report also confirmed what we’ve known for years, that smoking causes heart disease and lung cancer. But, the 2014 report also links other diseases to smoking: Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, erectile dysfunction and much more. Even such cancers as colorectal and liver are linked to ‘taking a puff.’ Smoking-related illnesses are judged to cost the nation at least $289 billion in medical bills.
Since that initial report was released in 1964, the Surgeon General’s Office says more than 20 million Americans have died because of smoking-related illness.
With this in mind, the Surgeon General’s Office has said enough is enough. They’re ramping up efforts to ‘kick butts’ in the fight against smoking including encouraging more restrictive laws against smoking inside, encouraging higher taxes with the goal of increasing the cost of a pack of ciggies and unveiling a 980 page report that will serve as the blueprint for this ongoing fight.
Whenever I feel like we have turned the corner, it seems like I’ll see another group of young smokers and realize that this is a long-term fight. Maybe it won’t take 50 more years to eradicate smoking in this country.
But surely, we’re much better off now than during the days of ‘The Pit.’
JG
Originally posted 1/21/2014
No comments:
Post a Comment