KEY POINTS:
Miriam, 15, started smoking this year. Roll-your-owns are her choice, puffing between five and six a day.
Her parents are aware of her habit and mum allows her to smoke at home.
Like other teen smokers the Herald spoke to, peer pressure was a major factor in her taking up the habit. "All my friends were doing it."
Asked if she was worried about the health effects, Miriam said, "Not really".
Ann, 18, started three years ago.
"Everyone was doing it - my older brother, my mother, my cousins. I just wanted to see what it'd feel like.
"It's something that my father didn't want me to do, so I wanted to get back at him in a way."
She stopped for about a year, "but when things got too much at home and stuff, that's when I started again".
Stress was also a factor for Miriama, 17, lighting up her first cigarette at the start of the year. "My friend said it takes away the stress, so I tried it. Now I want to stop but I'm addicted."
But she does not have to worry about cost yet, because she gets her cigarettes from family and friends.
