“SEKOLAH HARAPAN BANGSA MODERNHILL HOLDS A LITERACY EVENT ON THE DANGERS OF SMOKING WITH DR. MARIO REGGYNAL: A SMOKE-FREE, HEALTHY GENERATION”

On December 9, 2025, a health seminar was held for the students of Harapan Bangsa Junior and Senior High School Modernhill, with the theme “Trend or Trap? The Dangers of Cigarettes and Vapes Among the Younger Generation.” The seminar was delivered by Dr. Mario Reggynal, SpP, a pulmonologist who routinely treats patients with respiratory problems, from infections to lung cancer. That day, he was not at the hospital. He was present among the students for a purpose he considers very important: saving the young generation from the dangers of smoking.

At the beginning of his presentation, Dr. Mario displayed statistics that immediately brought the room to silence. According to the Indonesian Health Survey (2023), the number of active smokers in Indonesia has reached 70 million people, and 7.4% of them are children aged 10–18 years. “This is a serious alarm,” said Dr. Mario. “The fact that children and teenagers have already begun smoking shows that the cigarette industry has successfully marketed a medically proven deadly product. And children are easy targets. At that age, the brain is still developing, and nicotine can damage it,” he added.

A new trend now spreading among teenagers is electronic cigarettes or vapes. E-cigarettes are often promoted as a “safer” option, but according to Dr. Mario, that claim is baseless. “What you inhale is not fresh air scented with vanilla,” he said. “It is aerosol containing nicotine, metal particles, formalin, acrolein, and even carcinogenic substances.”

One of the parts that captured the most student attention was the explanation of nicotine’s effects on the brain. “Nicotine is sneaky,” Dr. Mario said. “It attaches to receptors in the brain and makes users feel comfortable through the release of dopamine. Over time, the brain demands that sensation.” When someone stops smoking, the body reacts: restlessness, anger, difficulty sleeping. These are nicotine withdrawal symptoms that cause many teenagers to return to smoking. “Not because it’s cool,” he said. “But because their brains are already controlled by nicotine.”

Damage caused by both vapes and conventional cigarettes can include airway inflammation, pneumothorax risk, bronchiolitis obliterans, permanent lung tissue damage, and even lung cancer. He also explained various methods of quitting smoking—from brief advice, counseling, and behavioral therapy to pharmacological therapy such as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). “What matters is the willingness. When you choose to quit, you are saving yourselves,” he said.

Before the event ended, Dr. Mario repeated one important sentence that summed up the day’s message: “There is no safe dose of cigarettes—whether conventional or electronic. Quitting smoking is the best choice for your health.”At Harapan Bangsa School, literacy about the dangers of smoking is not just material delivery—it is an effort to safeguard the future. Dr. Mario closed his presentation with a simple message: “A great generation is one with healthy lungs.”