Teens and even younger children get caught in the snare of smoking in spite of all the negative publicity about it. What makes smoking attractive to young people? Why do they disregard health warnings to participate in such risky behavior? These questions and more will be explored in this unit as students have the opportunity to learn all they can about smoking, the influences that prod young people to do it, and the health risks they face. They will also engage in a simple aerobic activity to determine how smoking affects physical performance. One activity will have them take a critical look at advertising, while another will urge them to spread their new-found knowledge by writing editorials. This unit addresses TN Curriculum Standards 1 and 2 in the Comprehensive Health area for the middle school grade cluster: "The student will understand appropriate and inappropriate uses of chemical substances" and "The student will understand the consequences of chemical use and abuse." From studying this unit, the students will hopefully show growth in pre-survey items 2,5, and 24 because they will be trying to understand why some of their peers smoke, they will be learning all they can about this topic, and they will be using the internet to answer questions about smoking. By performing their own research they will be trying a different approach to gathering information, so this unit also addresses item 1 of the pre-survey. As they ask pertinent questions in critically analyzing tobacco ads, they will be showing growth in item 9 of the pre-survey. In writing editorials, they will be trying out a different way to tell others what they have learned (item 7 in the pre-survey.)