"smoking Smarties" - mimics cigarette smoking..

February 6, 2010 - Today's Oregonian features a story about middle school students in Hillsboro "smoking Smarties," which involves sucking the sugar dust of the tablet-like candies and blowing it out like smoke.

Related news brief: Smarties - a candy cigarette of a new generation..

While health experts said it was unlikely to cause any adverse health problems, they did worry about it's potential to mimic cigarette smoking. The students I talked with who said they had tried the fad vowed to never smoke cigarettes. But I have to wonder. They gave in to peer pressure involving the candy.

So far, nearly everyone who has commented on the story has reprimanded Brown Middle School for being overly attentive to its students. No one appears concerned about the potential for smoking Smarties leading to smoking cigarettes.

In 2008, nearly 9 percent of Oregon's eighth-grade students and 16 percent of its 11th graders reported smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days, according to the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey - Oregon Tabacco Facts and Laws - April 2009.

Reference: Could "smoking Smarties" lead to cigarettes? by Wendy Owen, The Oregonian, 2/3/2010.