Smoking service for young people

Involvement of young people in the scheme is "crucial"

Scotland's first smoking information service for young people - run by young people - is launching in Glasgow.

Why Waste Everything Smoking Tobacco? (W-West) aims to provide information to inform choices about smoking.

Young people living in the west of Scotland can sign up to W-West via its website, which is being run by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC).

It is estimated that about 15,000 young people in Scotland become addicted to smoking every year.

W-West member, Michael Caine, 16, from Glasgow, said: "W-West is here to give young people information, but it's their choice.

"The great thing about the group is that no-one will try and pressure them to make any decisions they don't want to.

"We are just a group of young people here to tell our age group about smoking and smoking issues."

Target market

Sheila Duffy, chief executive of anti-smoking group Ash Scotland, described the involvement of young people in the scheme as "crucial".

"Tobacco companies are in the business of recruiting new consumers all the time and they will do this through every method available to them," she said.

"W-West can help counter that by appealing directly to their peers with the facts."

"The more young people start getting active to identify and resist the industry's target marketing, the better."