[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 25, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11318-S11319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       AD HOC HEARING ON TOBACCO

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, on September 11, I cochaired 
with Senator Kennedy an ad hoc hearing on the problem of teen smoking. 
We were joined by Senators Harkin, Wellstone, Bingaman, and Simon. 
Regrettably, we were forced to hold an ad hoc hearing on this pressing 
public health issue because the Republican leadership refused to hold a 
regular hearing, despite our many pleas.
  Yesterday I entered into the Record the statements of the Senators 
who attended the hearing. Today I am entering the testimony of the 
witnesses from the first panel which included Justin Hoover, a 12-year-
old addicted to tobacco, and his DARE officer, Jody Hayes.
  Mr. President, I ask that the testimony from the first panel of this 
ad hoc hearing be printed in the Record.
  The testimony follows:

             Testimony of Justin Hoover, September 11, 1996

       Hello, my name is Justin Hoover. I am twelve years old and 
     a sixth grader at Clegg Park Elementary School in West Des 
     Moines, Iowa.
       I would like to tell you how I became addicted to 
     cigarettes. I tried my first cigarette when I was six years 
     old. My mother smokes and always kept a carton of cigarettes 
     in her bedroom. I would see her go into her drawer and take a 
     pack of smokes out every now and then. I had an older brother 
     that was fifteen then and saw him and my mother smoking all 
     the time. I wanted to be older than I was and thought smoking 
     was cool and would show everyone that I wasn't a little kid. 
     One day I stole a pack of cigarettes from my mother's drawer, 
     went outside and smoked four or five. My little sister told 
     my mother I was smoking. She found me smoking them. My mother 
     told me that I was never to smoke again or I would be in big 
     trouble. She said that even though my brother and her smoked, 
     it wasn't a good thing to do.
       I didn't smoke again until I was nine. I started again 
     because I thought it was the cool thing to do. I saw people 
     smoking on T.V. shows, when we went out to eat, driving down 
     the street on billboards and in stores I would always see 
     tobacco advertisements especially Joe Cool for Camel 
     cigarettes and I always thought it looked kind of cool. I 
     started sneaking cigarettes from my mother again I did that 
     for awhile until I needed more than just one or two a day. I 
     started to steal cigarettes and sometimes chewing tobacco 
     from stores. Sometimes I would sneak out of the house to 
     steal them from convenience stores late at night because that 
     was when the clerk was in the back room a lot making it 
     easier to get away with. I tried to stop three times, but 
     never made it longer than five days before I started again. I 
     would smoke butts that I found in the ashtray at the store 
     across the street. Sometimes I would pick up a bunch of used 
     butts, take several of them and pour the unused tobacco on a 
     piece of paper and try to roll my own. Sometimes I would drop 
     the cigarettes in the house burning the carpet and furniture. 
     One night I fell asleep and dropped a cigarette on the bed. 
     It caught fire and we had to put it out. No one was hurt.
       I am now smoking seven cigarettes a day. One in the 
     morning, and six after school and before bedtime. Officer 
     Hayes and my mother have tried to help me stop, I have come 
     close, but can't completely stop.
       When I was told that I was going to come to Washington, DC, 
     I was embarrassed to tell people what I have done. But I know 
     that smoking is bad for me and can affect my health. I don't 
     want my little brother and sisters to start smoking. My 
     brother who is three acts like his crayons are cigarettes 
     because he sees all of us smoking. If things don't change, I 
     am sure he will follow in my footsteps. That would make me 
     feel bad.
       I believe the only way I will be able to stop smoking is if 
     I can't get them. If stores make them harder to steal, and 
     there are no more vending machines that sell them, I think I 
     could stop. As for my brother and sister, if I don't smoke, 
     and they don't see cigarettes on T.V. or billboards I think 
     they have a better chance of not using them and becoming 
     addicted to cigarettes like me.
       Everyone else in my life has tried to help me stop smoking 
     cigarettes. My mother, my brother, Officer Hayes, teachers, 
     my principal and my counselor at school. I came here today 
     for myself and my brother and sister. I hope you can help us.

              Testimony of Jody Hayes, September 11, 1996

       My name is Jody Hayes. I am a Police Officer with the West 
     Des Moines Police Department located in Iowa. I have been an 
     officer for seven years. I have served as a patrol officer on 
     the street for three of those years. For the past four years 
     I have been a community relations officer. I teach a wide 
     variety of safety education programs to the public, with my 
     primary responsibility focused on teaching drug awareness to 
     the youth of West Des Moines. I do this through the D.A.R.E. 
     program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). I am here today to 
     share with you my concern over tobacco use among youth.
       As a police officer, I have had the unfortunate experience 
     of seeing how bad the drug problem in society really is. I 
     see kids as young as twelve years old walking home from 
     school with cigarettes in their hand. The police department 
     has hundreds of cases on file where youth have been caught 
     trying to steal cigarettes from stores because they're not 
     old enough to purchase them. Our high school kids cross the 
     street at lunchtime to smoke their cigarettes so they don't 
     get in trouble by the school for smoking on the grounds. It 
     is not uncommon to see twenty or thirty teenagers smoking 
     across from the school during and after it lets out. There 
     are countless teenagers in our community that have worn a 
     hole in their jeans from carrying a chewing tobacco can in 
     the back pocket. Tobacco use among teenagers is the worst I 
     have ever seen.
       Some parents that I talk with say ``Well, if all they do is 
     smoke or chew tobacco, then that's not so bad. It's not like 
     they're doing drugs.'' The D.A.R.E. curriculum, which is 
     currently taught to children in every state within America, 
     defines the word drug as this: Any substance other than food 
     that can affect the way your mind and body work. Some people 
     would lead you to believe tobacco doesn't affect both your 
     mind and body.
       First, let us consider if it affects the body. What about 
     the high school athlete that used to be the best in his/her 
     class that has now taken up smoking? They can't make it 
     around the track during practice, or run down field to catch 
     a pass during the big game, or even swim an entire lap in the 
     pool because the cigarettes have limited their oxygen intake? 
     What about the band or chorus member who can't seem to manage 
     enough air to play their instrument or to reach the next note 
     they have to sing? What about the deadly diseases that seem 
     to follow tobacco use, like cancer or emphysema? What about 
     gum disease and yellow teeth? What about the tar left behind 
     in their lungs causing them to wake every morning to the 
     sound of coughing and hacking and their body trying to flush 
     the poison out of it's system? Yes, tobacco does affect the 
     way the body works.
       Does tobacco affect the mind? An addiction is defined in 
     the dictionary as this: ``To become psychologically or 
     physiologically dependent upon something.'' Since the word 
     psychological refers to the mind and behavior, I think it 
     would be safe to say yes, tobacco does affect the way your 
     mind works. It is called addiction. Thus, tobacco is indeed a 
     drug that is both affecting our children's minds and bodies 
     during the most vulnerable time in their life.
       Cigarettes are a gateway drug, meaning they are opening the 
     door for our youth to experiment with a world of even more 
     deadly drugs. After tobacco comes marijuana. ``Why not,'' the 
     child asks. Why not try marijuana, I'm already getting smoke 
     in my lungs from

[[Page S11319]]

     the cigarettes. After that comes all of the other drugs that 
     society continues to lose children to, cocaine, heroin, 
     methamphetamines, and LSD. The list goes on and on. We have 
     to stop where drug use starts and that is with tobacco.
       We can not allow the tobacco industry to brainwash our 
     children, through colorful cartoon billboards and 
     advertisements, into believing tobacco use as a hobby that is 
     fun to do. We can not allow them to advertise tobacco 
     products as a glamorous habit to be involved with to feel 
     grown-up. Children are too vulnerable to expect them to 
     resist these types of pressure. As a D.A.R.E. officer, I know 
     how hard it is to convince youth to stand up to peer 
     pressure, to face challenges in their life; not escape them, 
     and to ignore the curiosity surrounding drugs. The last thing 
     our children need is another type of pressure in their life. 
     Tricky advertising techniques by the tobacco industry attempt 
     and often succeed in luring kids to try their product. They 
     place cartoon billboards where children play and go to 
     school. They give away thousands of promotion products such 
     as T-shirts, ball caps and jackets that we see children 
     wearing around the community. They get T.V. role models and 
     athletes the kids look up to to advertise their products. 
     Lastly, they portray tobacco use as the grown-up thing to do, 
     which again influences children that want to feel older, only 
     need to smoke to do so. It is a known fact that most children 
     will always want to be older than they are. This type of 
     advertising plays on that wish. I was surprised to learn the 
     tobacco industry can deduct the cost of advertising from 
     their taxes. This alone is an incentive for them to advertise 
     more often. I was personally glad to see Senator Harkin 
     introduce a bill that would put an end to such a ridiculous 
     tax deduction.
       The fact is we can not change a child's wish to feel older. 
     Although, we can change what they do to feel older. We can 
     take away the billboards advertising tobacco where our 
     children play and go to school, and put up positive messages 
     against drug use for them to see. We can make stricter 
     consequences for tobacco vending that sell to under age 
     buyers without checking their identification prior to the 
     sell. We can get rid of the vending machines that offer 
     tobacco products to any one with enough change in their 
     pocket to buy them no matter the age. We need to put a stop 
     to free tobacco samples and promotional items such as caps, 
     shirts and jackets. We need to use our role models in society 
     to promote drug awareness instead of drug use. Lastly but 
     most importantly, we need to educate our children 
     continuously as to the harmful effects of tobacco use.
       Yes, tobacco is a drug that will extinguish a child's 
     dreams and goals. It is a drug that will keep them from 
     reaching their full potential and it is a drug that will keep 
     them from living a long and prosperous life. Remember this, 
     the children are our future, and without our help they may 
     not have a future. Our children are in desperate need of your 
     help.

                          ____________________