Students Study Tobacco Tactics

Source from:  By DOMINIKA MASLIKOWSKI/The Daily News April 19, 2008  04/21/2008

Gas stations and liquor stores aren't typical field trip destinations for junior high students, but teachers hoped the outing would teach awareness to Fox Creek teens and make them pay attention to how tobacco is marketed. Twenty-one students from the school's after-school club SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) spent Friday afternoon touring a dozen local convenience stores. They'd been taught tobacco awareness at school and were now looking at how stores marketed tobacco - if they stored it behind the counter or displayed signs saying, "We card for minors." They used their observations to answer questions on a survey. "It's to make the kids aware how they're promoting the stuff," said teacher Cheryl Mireles, "and how it can actually be promoted to younger people." Mireles hoped that students would learn how to spot the signs and become immune to advertisers. And though the stations played by the rules, and nobody was found to be breaking the law, officer Andy Sevillano of the Bullhead City Police Department said the trip was more about awareness than giving stores a pass or fail grade. He did notice, however, some nervous shuffling of displays and said such visits help keep merchants "on their toes." Sevillano said he hadn't seen any incidents of smoking at the school but added that children are influential at such an age. Eighth-grader Ashley Dancy, vice president of the club, said she hoped students would see the dangers of tobacco and stay away from smoking. Eighth-grader Darrian Myatt also noted the dangers to students' health and the perils of peer pressure. "I've seen kids our age smoking, and it's ruining their lives. They could achieve a lot, but smoking really takes it down," she said. "So many people smoke, so it influences kids and they see that their life is fine, so they can do it, too." Enditem