10/4/04

Richard J. Codey

Secretary of the Senate
State House, CN-099
Trenton, NJ 08625

Trenton

Dear Mr. Codey:

The stresses of high school life should be evident to you. As of now, every single day has been dedicated to work, with writing essays and studying for tests going on for well past midnight. Often this leads to amazing loads of stress not easily rid of. In years past, students passed this stress by partying, listening to music, or watching TV. Well since there are no parties to attend and TVs to watch due to lack of time, and music being increasingly banned in my high-school hallways, this leaves few methods for relaxation. A controversial, but effective, remaining method is smoking.

Through its application in our entire history, tobacco has been proven to reduce stress. According to Vitality, a health website, surveys show one of the major reasons teens start smoking in the first place is its stress-reducing value. I wish to apply this by allowing smoking in our high school of New Jersey. Of course, this would only be applicable to those of age. If secondary smoke is an issue, there could be designated 'smoking areas,' much like those of a restaurant. To further reduce the risk of tobacco smoke-related diseases, a bill could be made into effect only allowing 'Safe-cigarettes' in school property. These safe-cigarettes, according to Phillip Morris, a major producer of cigarettes, either reduces the amount of overall smoke produced or cuts down on the amount of tar inside each cigarette, reducing the harmfulness of each cigarette. This could quell some of the uprising such a controversial bill is surely to produce now that some of the danger is removed.

Another benefit of allowing smoking on high school premises by students of age is the financial benefits. Now that junk food must leave all vending machines by 2006, cigarettes could provide an alternate means of raising monies. All surveys across the board agree that cigarette prices are skyrocketing as of now. According to the USDA, in 1999, congress passed a bill to add 45 cents to each pack of cigarettes as a tax. They also suspect cigarette prices will go up 25 percent in the next ten years. By allowing smoking, it could immediately become a profitable venture even if strict non-addiction policies are set into effect.

According to , an anti-smoking website, it states that smoking might, in fact, be beneficial to health in some way. Regular smoking has been shown to reduce the risk of endometrial cancer, Parkinson's disease, ulcerative colitis, hypertension of pregnancy and Alzheimer's disease.

But the main reason for allowing smoking in public schools is stress. A cigarette is portable, requires no special effort, and legal. By allowing smoking on school property, a bout of relaxation might sweep across the school, along with a financial and a possible health benefit to boot.