How to control the growing habit of smoking and drinking in youth?

Compared to when I was in college, I see a vast number of youngsters falling prey to the self-destructing habit of smoking and alcoholism at a tender age. 20-30 years down the line, we will be a weak and sick nation. What steps can be taken by society in general to avoid this?How to control the growing habit of smoking and drinking in youth?
The problem is that we separate youth into their own catagory and treat them like helpless babies. Smoking and drink problems span age, gender and race. Lets solve the problem together. Taxing cigarettes works to some extent. Why not go that extra mile and ban health treatment for smokers. If its bad for you you have to be willing to accept getting sick or dying because of it.How to control the growing habit of smoking and drinking in youth?
If society wants to worry about anything they aught to worry about teaching youth how to drink responsibly, binge drinking is simply a result of a lack of education on responsible use and the necessity to hide their drinking. But that's just my opinion, and it would only make the teen drinking and smoking rates continue to drop, as they are not actually rising.





From 1997-2003 the teen smoking rate dropped from 36% to 22%, it has been stable at around 22% ever since.





SInce 1990 underage drinking has also dropped. By over 15%.
The parents need to be involved. But truthfully if they're setting a bad example at home by drinking and smoking themselves then they aren't really going to be able to put much sense into their kids heads. Their children will grow older and start to see the hypocrisy. Parents need to become the kind of people they wish their own children to be. If you want them to become healthy adults you need to teach them how to do that from a very young age. Show them how it's done. :-)
This goes back to a poor upbringing. If these kids' parents drank in front of them when they were growing up, then naturally, they'll drink too, because they believe its the right thing to do. If their parents walked around naked in front of them all the time, they're doing that at home as well, because they think its normal.





Whatever you see your parents do, you emulate, most of the time.
Oh please!! This is what parents are supposed to take care of....they don't....they are too danged busy with themselves to be good parents...and we wind up with a bunch of out-of-control kids who grow up to be out-of-control teens, and out-of-control adults.





Then the same terrible, worthless, scumbag people who had these children and neglected to go to the trouble to raise them properly whine and complain that the schools don't take their responsibility over...or the police, or the neighbors, or the mayor.





If your kid is bad, it is your own fault.
Interesting question.





I found something that can help all smokers, especially young people.





If you really want to smoke, don't smoke tobacco, smoke something healthy...... look at this: http://www.greensmoke.com/bestprice





My advice: don't drink, smoke healthy.
i see the exact opposite trend in young people. maybe it depends where you live. all we can do is be models for young people. if they see us messing up with drugs, they often decide they won't be like that. if they see us being honest hard working people who have morals, and they see the benefits, they will desire to be like that.
You can't. The more laws put into place to stop it then the more kids will do it.
Inform them of all the horrible things they do to you're mind and body.
stop hanging out with people that do them