health. emerge from the a research project where we were looking into the fact in terms of young adult smokers within urban centers finding more and more cases of smoking, and in the case of african-americans, smoking tends to start later in life. so we researched this growing, i guess, not necessarily epidemic, but growing situation, and really started to delve deeply into why people started smoking and why they continue to smoke. >> what are your findings when it comes to young people smoking, african-americans smoking, what ki of tasks are these young men and the other people involved, what are they up to? should be rather douing? >> these guys did incredibly brave thing, putting their lives out there on the cameras quitting smoke something very difficult for most folks, but for young people like this specially difficult. the environment really sort of continues to motivate them to coinue to smoke, and it is a big climb uphill. but i think what they did was actually very helpful for folks who are interested in quitting, there is a lot of information, a lot of incites into what the smoker typically goes through. >> gentlemen, how did you start, and how difficult was the process? >> oh, i started at 17. my brother died, so like it was a lot of stress, so my step mom gave me my first cigarette. ever since then i've been addicted. >> and how has the process gone for you? >> i went from like two to three packs a day to just regular smoking loosely nowadays. >> yourself? >> i started early, i started at 14. i got involved in some things in my neighborhood, ended up doing some juvenile time for, you know, things i don't want to put out there. >> i understand. >> i just started when i got locked up, i started and i got out when i was 17, and since then it been hard to stop. and i actually congratulates shadeia because she quit. >> she is one of the young ladies on the show? >> yes. she is not here. so she quit completely. and i'm in the process of quitting. like i'm still, it is hard, like for anybody who thinks it is easy, it is not easy. >> you're shaking your head too. you agree? >> i agree. to me, like definitely she went smoke-free. she is my hero right now. >> definitely. >> okay, well that's good. because we need our influences, doctor, i would imagine, and our roll models if you will, even if they are our same age to help, strength in numbers, i would imagine? >> absolutely. these guys are actually are role models for most folks. quitting process is difficult. their experience is rather typical. folks cut down on the number of cigarettes, quit for a little bit, kind of go back, quit something not the kind of thing that happens immediately. it is the kind of thing you sort of grow into. so i'm really actually very proud of how much ground they've actually, you know, made up. going from three packs of cigarettes a day to couple cigarettes a day is a huge thing. >> major step, major step. do you think we need more shows, more programs like this to help, especially our young people to live fuller lives? >> i don't know about more shows, but what breathing room does is it starts a honest dialogue, that's what you need more than anything, in terms of why people continue to smoke, stress ers that are related, environmental, or other circumstances. i think there is more honest dialogue, better chance we have of helping folks. >> gentlemen, continued success making our world and and yourselves breathe a little easier when it comes to life. gentlemen, thank you so much. we have posted a link to breathing room on our website at cbs3.com. coming up in our next half hour, gulf coast oil spill could be an unprecedented environmental disaster. see what's being done to limit the devestation. also, we want you to know what you think about conan o'brien's first tv interview since jay leno reclaimed the tonight show. log on to facebook or twitter to join the morning chatter. and we're talking to danny bonaduce coming up live in 15, 20 minutes. stay with us.