THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, November 20, 1994              TAG: 9411180170
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON    PAGE: 18   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   83 lines

3,000 TEENAGERS START SMOKING EVERY DAY, MOST OF THEM GIRLS SEVERAL YOUNGSTERS SAID THEIR PARENTS BUY CIGARETTES FOR THEM.

Even with the publicity about the Great American Smokeout observed Thursday, the anti-smoking message is not reaching a major segment of the very group at which it is aimed - people like Jackie Foulk, 15, a 10th-grader at Bayside High School.

When classes are over, the first thing she does after leaving school property is light up. A smoker since she was 12, she now smokes a pack ``about every four days.''

Jackie is not alone. On any given school day, next to the vacant field between the school and a ``U-Fillem'' convenience store, in the morning before classes or after the 2 p.m. dismissal bell, young people pass the fence and light up.

Most are female. And they are not alone; they are part of a national trend.

Since the beginning of the flood of warnings about smoking and health in the mid-'60s, smoking has declined among the general population. It has held more or less steady among teenage males. But it has increased among teenage females, to the point that, according to the state office of the American Lung Association, more 11th- and 12th-grade girls than boys have tried smoking - 75.8 percent to 74.8 percent - smoke at least one cigarette a day - 28.5 percent to 24.7 percent - and report having smoked 10 or more cigarettes during the past 30 days - 21.4 percent to 20.4 percent.

The lung association further reports that some 3,000 young people start smoking each day. It would appear that the image of the smoker as the ``Marlboro Man'' has given way to the Virginia Slims ``baby;'' Joe Camel to Josephine Camel. And these trends could have profound implications for former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's call for a smoke-free society by the year 2000.

With all of the warnings and scientific reports, and smoking banned in practically every public space, why would young people - especially females - still be picking up the habit?

For Jackie, it was ``just something to try.'' She's aware of the health warnings, but ``I don't care about them.'' She observed that it's better to smoke a cigarette than ``punch someone out,'' suggesting that, in her mind at least, her habit exerts a calming influence.

The majority of the cigarettes in evidence among the Bayside students aren't ``lights.'' Most are full-strength. Someone volunteered the information that, with this group, Marlboros and Newports are the ``cool'' brands. Some researchers have suggested that menthol brands can create an additional dependency - to the menthol. Newports are menthol.

Jackie's friend, Tina Tower, 14, has also been smoking since she was 12 and admits to a pack-a-day habit now. She's more specific about her reasons for smoking. ``Stress,'' she responded, ``and family problems.'' Regarding the warnings, ``I listen to them, but I don't pay attention.''

Mary Ellen Douglas, program director for the American Lung Association of Virginia, said the rise in female smoking can be traced to the late '60s and early '70s with the introduction of brands such as Virginia Slims, aimed specifically at women.

Brandy, 16, who didn't want her last name used, started at age 12, ``because I was around it.'' She quit but started back when she was 15. Like Tina, she now smokes a pack a day. ``It's something to do.'' Asked why, she said, ``It's mostly because your boyfriends and friends do.''

Although these kids claimed that their parents are non-smokers, the girls were not bashful talking about their smoking or even being photographed doing it. Several remarked that their parents buy all or some of their cigarettes for them. One volunteered that, although her parents are non-smokers, she smokes at home in her bedroom.

Seana Brophy, 16, was waiting for her mother to pick her up as she smoked her Marlboro red.

``I've smoked since I was 10,'' she reflected.

``I just picked it up. Everyone in my family smokes. Or used to. Mom quit. Dad smokes cigars. My family knows; Mom bugs me to quit. But it's a habit and I like it. We're all going to die eventually.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by DAWSON MILLS

Ryan Jones, left to right, Matt Creech and Seana Brophy smoke at a

vacant lot next to Bayside High School.

KEYWORDS: CIGARETTE SMOKING

by CNB