The habit of cigarettes and smoking tobacco used to be considered a glamorous and sophisticated habit. Nowadays, one cannot smoke indoors almost everywhere and the attitude towards smoking is much less tolerable. And for good reason. Tobacco-related diseases claim over 400,000 lives per year; more than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders and suicides combined. Heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, emphysema, and angina are just some of the long term effects of tobacco use. America spends almost $90 billion a year in medical costs for tobacco-related conditions.
One may wonder how so many Americans can become addicted to cigarettes when it is so widely known how bad the effects on one’s body from it are. The ones who suffer from it most of all are the poor, young, and minorities. Most smokers start in their teenage years as a result of stress, peer pressure, the desire to rebel and, of course, the relentless advertising by tobacco companies. Being related to someone who smokes is considered one of the biggest factors for one to start smoking. Other factors include being a member of a blue-collar household, low income household, single parent household, poor school performance, and a school drop-out.
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