Magicians hope to make youth smoking disappear

Ken Johnston
Editor

Last Thursday students from every elementary school west of Emo converged on Rainy River High School to learn how to “Just Say MOE!”
A husband and wife team of magicians, Maxwell and Ta-Dah, not only entertained the students they brought them a message about the harm smoking can do to their bodies.
Maxwell, once a heavy smoker, told the kids that he nearly died from it. He started in grade 4 and smoked until he was 19. “I did a considerable amount of damage to my lungs and nearly had a heart attack. When I realized I was going to die and never see my wife and kids again I chose to quit.”
Maxwell and Ta-Dah hope that through their show that they can influence kids decisions about smoking before they start.
MOE stands for: M-Making the right choice. O-Opportunity of a life time. E-Everyday is a smokefree day.
Health Canada partly funds their show which has been seen by nearly 115,000 elementary students in Ontario.
Using volunteers from the audience they performed magic tricks that had a theme to them. The first trick saw Maxwell put in wrist shackles. “For some people smoking is like wrist shackles; there is no escape.” Maxwell is living proof that people can escape and using the magic words, “Just Say MOE,” he escaped from the shackles.
“Remember if you never start you never have to stop!”
At the end of each trick the volunteers were given cigarette packages and asked to throw them in the garbage.
Maxwell noted that each year 12,000 people in Ontario die from smoking related illness. “The cigarette companies have to spend millions of dollars to attract new smokers.”
He noted that there are 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes, 50 of which are known to cause cancer. They include hydrogen cyanide (also known as rat poison), paint thinner and nicotine.
Ta-Dah encouraged the kids not to let their friends trick them into smoking. “Friends don’t give friends cancer,” said Ta-Dah.
At the end of the show the magicians encouraged the kids to always be a non-smoker and take care of their lungs and heart by “Just Saying MOE!”