Maekala Mims used to dislike tobacco smoke because it smelled bad.

Then she learned about the 4,400 harmful chemicals that go into cigarettes. "I still think it stinks. It's more of a smell on top of the fact it's killing people," the 16- year-old said. "Now, it stinks, and it's dangerous." Mims, a senior at Seeworth Academy charter school in Oklahoma City, became educated about the dangers of smoking through Students Working Against Tobacco, a youth- driven grassroots movement taking on the tobacco industry. Mims, co-chairwoman of the state board of directors of SWAT, is one of 4,000 youths statewide on the group's mission to grind out tobacco use. Inspired by a Florida program, SWAT is not a conventional prevention and education effort. In addition to telling teens tobacco is unhealthy and dangerous, SWAT encourages youths to avoid being enticed into smoking by the tobacco industry's marketing campaigns. The 4-year-old program empowers teens to spread that message, said Doug Matheny, chief of Tobacco Use Prevention Services at the state Health Department. "It's about exposing the truth about the tobacco industry's marketing tactics," Matheny said. "The tobacco industry is against kids smoking, they say. They know when they say that, that message will actually encourage kids to smoke. There's nothing that probably makes a kid want to smoke more than to tell them, 'You can't smoke because you're not old enough.'" He said tobacco companies spend billions to develop brands and images attractive to youths. More than half of the Oklahoma high school students that smoke use Marlboro, a heavily advertised brand with an image of independence and strength appealing to teens, while adults tend to change brands, he said. SWAT has a marketing and outreach brand of its own called "reality." The group turns the same teenage tendency for rebellion that might move youths to smoke against the cigarette makers. "They are the source of replacement customers ... so it's appropriate for them to be the ones fighting back," he said. "SWAT isn't against the smokers -- they know most smokers want to quit -- they are against the tobacco companies." The Health Department's Oklahoma Youth Tobacco Survey released in November found one in four high school students smokes regularly. Cigarette smoking among high school students declined from 33.5 percent in 1999 to 24 percent in 2002. Youth prevention is particularly important because statistics show that people who don't start smoking by age 18 most likely never will, Matheny said. "It's a very effective message, a very effective program that also builds leadership skills in our youth," he said. The program has been funded by a three-year grant from the American Legacy Foundation that ends Aug. 31. Matheny said the program does not have a guaranteed funding source after that but hopes a small portion of any increase in tobacco sales tax might go to effective prevention programs such as SWAT. In the future, he hopes the tobacco trust fund board might consider SWAT to receive help from the tobacco trust fund endowment. Jennifer Wilson, SWAT program coordinator, said the program gives the 12- to 18-year-old members the chance to lead. Adult facilitators of local teams provide guidance, but the teens sit on the statewide board that makes policy, serve on the five regional boards that handle budgets and come up with the ideas to spread the message. The program has about 40 active local teams and 11 new teams based out of schools, churches and community organizations across the state, she said. They plan events to promote SWAT's three initiatives -- improving indoor air quality, preventing youth access to tobacco and passing 24/7 tobacco-free policies in their schools. SWAT teams in Edmond, Guthrie and Guymon recently conducted sit-ins in restaurants, filling the smoking section to give eateries, their customers and employees a smoke-free lunch. In Checotah and Enid, local groups have done "unconsummated buys," mock stings in which underage members visit stores to see if retailers will sell them tobacco. Teams in the Picher and Commerce area, where there is a large Latino population, plan anti-smoking activities on Hispanic holidays. More than 1,200 adults and youths attended the Reality X Jam last month in Tulsa, which included performances by bicycle stuntman Mat Hoffman and anti-tobacco messages from SWAT members. Last year's SWAT Youth Access Demonstration in Oklahoma City drew 350 members, adult partners and community leaders along with national media attention, Wilson said. The Pleasant Grove SWAT team succeeded in getting the board at the Shawnee dependent school to pass a policy outlawing smoking on school property 24 hours a day, seven days a week, said Aja Tainpeah, Pleasant Grove eighth-grader and member of the statewide SWAT board. "Just knowing what we know, what we've grown to know, we wanted our school to do more to be tobacco free," she said. "It's actually been an awesome thing that happened because it shows youth have a voice and how powerful it can be." She tries to teach that smoking is uncool and influence other teens and adults not to smoke or to quit. Since the school has a large American Indian population, she also tries to show the difference between natural tobacco used for ceremonial reasons by American Indians and smoking chemical- laden commercial cigarettes to feed a bad habit. Koorosh Zahrai, president of the Bishop McGuinness SWAT team and member of the state board, said it is appropriate that youths take the message to other youths, as teens often will listen to their peers when they won't listen to an adult. "We have the power and get to be in charge, so it's teens speaking the teens' language," he said. "It's really affecting kids. They feel a part of something really big, like they can make a difference in it." Oklahoma youths seem to be identifying with the SWAT message, Matheny said. While the group has 4,000 registered members, about 22 percent of middle school students, or 30,000 youths, said in the Youth Tobacco Survey that they consider themselves SWAT members. For Mims, who recently helped her mother quit smoking, the numbers are encouraging. "Peer pressure is a big part of everyday life -- it just is -- and the tobacco industry has taken advantage of that," she said. "It's important to think for yourself and not just follow the crowd. ... One of the reasons this has made a big difference for me is the life lessons I've learned."

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