Methods used to snare children into bad habits

[Juliet]

Check the picture
Looks like a cigarette doesn't it?
Well, it's not. It's actually a chewing gum shaped like a cigrette and packaged in a cigarette like wrapper.
I found this treat on a counter in a drug store, in a multi-coloured container with little cartoon characters on it. That was about 3 months ago
I was so shocked by it I decided to buy it and carry it down with my receipt to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
In this day and age where tobacco companies are being prosecuted for knowingly witholding information about the addictiveness and deadliness of cigarettes, that is what a pharmacy will sell? Cigarette chewing gum for all little girls and boys everywhere.
Products of this nature should be banned altogether and the persons who bring them in, fined.What are the consequences of selling these treats of this nature to our children? Why is there so little interest on the issue of smoking in the Caribbean?

[BlackCryptoKnight]

You know, I remember "chewing gum cigarettes" from my childhood days. Those things do play on the kids desire to fit in and appear "cool" by smoking or pretending to smoke. It's messed up indeed.:eusa_snoo

[ramesh]

You know, I remember "chewing gum cigarettes" from my childhood days. Those things do play on the kids desire to fit in and appear "cool" by smoking or pretending to smoke. It's messed up indeed.:eusa_snoo Yep, I remember them too. It's been three decades since I've last seen them. Thought they were extinct.....

[Manu]

Well...blame my upbringing....I used to buy those sweets...but they didnt affect me. I did however have a curious stage where i smoked everything....but I really can't for the life of me see what the big deal is about samoking anyways. Just puffing nasty, distasteful smoke to ease tension? Get a freaking punching bag!

[nester-san]

I liked them alot, thought i looked mucho cool.

However, being curious I had read the Surgeon Generals on ciggy ads when I was 6, and asked about cancer. So I never had even the slightest impulse to smoke.

But even now, as a grownass man, I will buy them.

I do think smoking ciggy's are nasty and stinky, If a girl smokes I will not even stand near her, much less chat 'er up.

[Bahama Mama]

I remember thos 'gum cigarettes'. I figured they discontinued them amidst all the anti-smoking campaigns that have surfaced over the years. I am sure they are banned in North America, but probably not in the Caribbean. Probably because the problems of nicotine smoking amongst kids is more prevalent in North America as compared to the Caribbean. But they should still remove those candies as they can pose a problem among future generations.

[bernie]

yeah i remember pretending to smoke with those gums as well. fact is its a bad influence. haven't seen them for a long time tho

[Juliet]

I thought it was so cool i decided to try it with one of my dad's cigarettes. Of course i choked , coughed, my eyes turned red etc etc. I was then convinced that people who smoked this stuff were crazy ! I definitely think the candy helped me to look at how cool my father seemed to appear when doing it. The thing is that this is available at the school cafeteria, at the drug store, at the corner shop, places you may not necessarily visit with your child. I think parents and concerned citizens on the whole should be on the look out for this kind of treat and report it immediately to the relevant authorities. The world is a hard enough place to live in as it is. Lets try to make our part of the hemisphere a little better.

[Jae]

Well those cigs can't compare to the toy guns they have selling. Why in heavens name would I give a child a toy gun? Next thing some careless idiot leave the real thing lying around, and the child see it and play with it, kill himself and somebody else. Toy guns should be banned.

[easyskanka]

:icon_arro @ Manu. I like you a lot Manu but u comeen like a likkle bredda who needs to be taken to task sometimes in order to drum some common sense ina u. A luv still ya Manu mi bredrin, if mi neva beleve eena u mi woodn' even try fi seh anyting:D

:icon_arro @ Juliet. Go girl you got it spot on. More power to your conscientious awareness:eusa_clap

[bernie]

i remember when i first tried smoking. i remember putting the spliff in my mouth and then realising i was on the ground laughing helplessly.

[Juliet]

i remember when i first tried smoking. i remember putting the spliff in my mouth and then realising i was on the ground laughing helplessly.

Wow, that is serious. How old were you then?

[Bahama Mama]

I have never smoked a ciggy in my life, no thankyou:eusa_hand . I have held a smokers lung in my hand, and it aint pretty.

[Leina]

I tried when i was younger, i couldn't stop coughing. I haven't touched it since then and i don't plan ever. People make it look as if its so much fun and if you are not doing it then you are some kind of social reject.