High school program shows smokers how to kick butts

Debra D. Bass

Thursday, March 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Clark High School students took a stand against butt kissers.

Smokers were urged Wednesday to quit cold turkey and leave their vices at home for Anti-Tobacco Day.

The event featured a range of anti-smoking activities. One was called Adopt a Smoker. An 11th-grader who adopted a smoker said she had been smoking for five years, but had been tobacco free for three weeks preceding Wednesday's event.

"I'm involved in a lot of things now, modeling, track and other things. I started smoking with friends. It was the thing to do. I quit smoking because it wasn't doing me any good."

A Hall of Shame was erected along a well-traveled school hallway featuring names and photos of celebrities who died of tobacco-related diseases.

Students from the Students Taking Actions to Terminate Unlawful Substances club also coordinated a Butt Bowl. Cigarette butts were collected from campus and placed in a glass bowl. Prizes were awarded to students who could guess how many butts were in the bowl.

American Cancer Society representatives were invited by the STATUS club to present special tobacco classes for each of the school's 18 health classes.

"They need to know how the tobacco industry advertises to them and how the industry affects legislation and especially how harmful tobacco can be and how to turn away from the lures of advertising," said Mandy Canales-Salazar, a director of programing for the American Cancer Society.

Students were tested on various tobacco facts, including some of the 200 poisonous chemicals used in cigarettes and their everyday uses: ammonia used in toilet bowl cleaner, arsenic used in rat poison, carbon monoxide emitted in car exhaust, tar used in roofing and waterproofing; cyanide used in gas chambers and nicotine used in bug spray.

Clark Principal Wayne Tanaka said the timing of the event couldn't have been better because students will be on spring break next week. All this week, students have been taking part in anti-drinking, anti-drug and anti-smoking activities.

On Monday, the Grim Reaper roamed the halls of the school and picked out drunken driving victims. Students wore shirts reading, "I Drank, I Drove, I Died." They had to be silent the rest of the day.

"Easter break is next week and the weather is warm. The lake beckons, as do the mountains, which means longer drives," Tanaka said. "We just want to remind kids to be careful."