Article: CIGARETTES: LEARNING EARLY

At the Robert F. Kennedy School in Cambridge, it's not that the eighth graders are toying with the idea of smoking.

Some are heavily addicted smokers already; they have trouble quitting even when they want to. "Some kids have a lot of stress," says one boy. "They smoke to get rid of the stress."

Others are adamant nonsmokers; they say smoking is dumb, stupid, or dangerous.

Says 12-year-old Javier Benzan: "I don't think it's right. It's dumb. You see all the kids on the street thinking they're baad. It's dumb. You can die of it."

A report on smoking issued last week by the US Surgeon General makes it clear that the teen years are the critical ones for smoking; most adult smokers ...

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