ISU Bengal

Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Life

Nancy Casperson, a 17-year-non smoker, has made it her personal mission and career to get people to quit smoking.

"My job is to make you so mad that you don't want to support (the tobacco) industry," said Casperson.

Some 12 attendees, including myself, participated in the week long afternoon sessions of the Tobacco Cessastation class held by Southeaster Idaho Health Department. Casperson travels around Idaho hosting these week long classes in the hopes of educating and encouraging others to a non smoking lifestyle.

"You have to change your thoughts to change your brain chemistry," said Casperson.

The program holds four classes that cover addiction, habits, quitting methods, coping skills, nutrition and social support, weight gain, exercise and relapse prevention.

Her career has given her many insightful stories to educate and gross out students. For instance, the Phillip Morris Company was the number sixth company in tobacco sales until their employee sprayed his bathroom cleaner on tobacco leaves and discovered the Ammonia technology that makes the nicotine enter the system quicker. That little discovery took Phillip Morris from number six in 1964 to number one in 1968.

A process so addictive that one student said, "(I'm) hooked on the taste of Marlboro lights."

If the some 5,000 additives ingested like ammonia when people smoke doesn't gross you out, the amount of money the tobacco companies make off the death of smokers might upset you. The state taxes each pack of cigarettes 45 cents. Four cents goes to smoking education and the other 41 cents is currently going to rebuilding the Idaho Statehouse. If the statehouse gets money to rebuild the capitol, it would stand to reason they wouldn't want people to quit smoking. It could be considered a bit unethical that so many people are making money off of the deaths of Americans and specifically Idahoans.

On April 15 of every year, Idaho receives a smokers settlement check between 25 to 30 million dollars. A penalty imposed by the government to tobacco companies for deceitful advertising on the harm of their drug. Though it's supposed to be a punishment in 2000 when the sentencing occurred, cigarette prices went up 50 cents. Local smokers are literally paying for the cigarette companies fines.

But the big buck doesn't just stop there. Idaho spends $600,000 a year in tobacco education, the smoking industries spend 1,000,000 dollars every five days on tobacco advertisement in Idaho.

Continued...

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