Why You Should Not Smoke Cigarette?

Introduction

Tobacco smoking is the single, largest preventable cause of bad health and premature cause of death in the US & other developed countries. In United States, smoking causes more than 100,000 deaths per year, which is more than any other drug if compared. Smoking has been characterized as a “pediatric disease”, as large number of people start smoking during their adolescence. In addition to that when a younger person starts smoking s/he is more at risk of developing several diseases. The decrease in smoking preponderance in the US is partially attributable to older adults ceasing and partly because of the steady raise in the proportion of young people who have never smoked (Hopkins, Briss, Ricard, Husten, Carande-Kulis and Fielding, pp. 16-66).

While most of the diseases related to smoking occur in older and middle age groups, teenagers who smoke, have poorer lung function, more respiratory infections and for those with asthma, a worsening of symptoms compared to non-smokers (Hopkins et al. pp. 16-66; Laliberte, pp. 106-110). There is also growing evidence that youth smoking is a marker for mental health problems in adulthood and there are some evidence to suggest that anxiety and depression in teenagers increases the likelihood of nicotine dependence.

Deterring young people from smoking may be seen as the holy grail of tobacco control since the majority of smokers take up the habit during adolescence (Royal College of Physicians, 2000). Logically one would expect a “prevention is better than cure” approach to solve the tobacco epidemic. However, despite the fact that significant resources have been deployed to tackle youth smoking, children persist in experimenting with cigarettes and in many cases become long-term users of tobacco. This study examines trends in smoking among young people in the US along with exploring the answer why you should not smoke cigarette?

Smoking trends

The prevalence of cigarette smoking in the United States varied dramatically over the past century. Cigarette smoking gained popularity in the late 19th century following the mass manufacturing and marketing of machine-rolled cigarettes. Although several organizations voiced concerns about the health effects of smoking, cigarette consumption increased dramatically between 1900 and the early 1960s. A sharp acceleration in cigarette smoking rates occurred during the 1940s, aided by cigarette companies' successful efforts to link smoking with patriotism and U.S. military efforts in World War II. By the mid-20th century, cigarette smoking was seen as a socially acceptable and normative behaviour.

There have been anti-smoking campaigns since the 1960s, and today the ads and commercials on TV are aimed more towards the youth culture—those who've not started smoking yet and might be around it—while commercials to stop the addiction to nicotine through patches and gums are geared towards the adults who've already become addicted. (Hopkins et al. pp. 16-66)

Not smoking is a very big issue as we can see from the proliferation of ads and commercials as well as the governmental involvement with tax-hikes on cigarettes to discourage smokers and the declaration of public places such as restaurants and shopping ...