Quit Smoking Support - Facts About Smoking and Ways to Quit (PART II)

Educate Our Youths
As of equal significance, the tobacco industry spends two billion dollars in advertising cigarettes per year. However, when asked, actual teenage smokers say they smoke for other various reasons, regardless of any tobacco industry’s attempt to creatively manipulate their decision to smoke. One such reason is rebellion. When I asked one of my roommates why he started smoking he said, “To give the finger to the man!” In response to such rebellious outbursts, people (most importantly teens) must be educated on the malefactors of smoking, and must learn that quitting, although difficult, is not only a beneficial transition for the smoker’s health, but also for the health of society. For instance, educate young people on the challenging struggles confronted while trying to quit, the financial hardships they may eventually experience, the dramatic effects that can negatively influence their self-esteem, and, of course, the ultimate risk of damaging their own life, while simultaneously risking the lives of others. Furthermore, as Gene Hamilton, author of Smoke Jokes states, “Doesn’t it seem ludicrous to spend years preparing children for adulthood, and then not warn them about a product that kills people prematurely at a rate of 1,000 a day?” Basically, young people start smoking due to various problems in their own individual life; however, these are problems that usually go away with time. Therefore, it’s necessary for these young adults to know and recognize that starting such a habit as smoking is not a positive or logical solution to any problem, because most likely, the habit of smoking, being such an addiction, will remain with them for the rest of their lives. For this reason, educating people about the hardships that coincide with smoking will help change the perspective of those who are thinking about smoking or already do smoke.

Regrettably, there are many people who will argue with the facts that I have stated. Hence, they will find some way to justify their decision to smoke. For instance, some will say they are free to do what they want, because it is their life; however, aside from this typical stance of freedom, others will claim that smoking calms them or, on the other hand, makes them more alert. However, while all of this may be true, it still does not change the fact that smoking not only affects them, but also affects innocent bystanders. Therefore, an action cannot be justified if it impacts the lives of others, which is one of the reasons why we have laws—to protect individuals. However, I am not suggesting that a law be passed to ban smoking; however, I am suggesting that we do everything possible to educate the public, especially young children, about the dangers and consequences of smoking. Therefore, through education we can evoke change.

Provide Moral Support
Furthermore, moral support provides a good basis for helping people understand the importance of choosing not to smoke. For example, there are many possible and logical approaches to effectively spread awareness, such as discouraging the use of cigarettes and all other related narcotics, informing people that smoking doesn’t just hurt them personally, but ultimately will harm the entire population, and repeatedly advising people about the unavoidable hardships that result from smoking. Furthermore, if people continuously do not comprehend the risks of smoking, it may be necessary for them to contact someone who has directly felt and experienced the hardships that come with cigarette smoking, a perfect guiding hand can be provided by a quit-smoking program. Of all positive efforts to create awareness, moral support may be the last hope a person has before getting involved with smoking or trying to quit.

Further Thoughts
As has been noted, smoking contributes to an incredible amount of deaths per year. Therefore, by lacking the proper initiatives, education, and moral support needed to bring an end to smoking, the world will remain hidden under gray clouds of ignorance, whilst pouring out billions of dollars towards our own deaths.

Quit Smoking Support - Facts About Smoking and Ways to Quit (PART I)

The Phillip Morris ad states, “There is no safe cigarette.” Therefore, it is obvious that cigarettes cause a number of health problems to not only the person partaking in the act, but also to others being exposed to secondhand smoke. In addition to smoking being extremely harmful to an individual’s health, smoking is also a financial burden for the smoker and all of society. For this reason, smoking has become a major dilemma, especially in the United States. Furthermore, according to a report from the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, smoking cigarettes is the number-one cause of preventable death in the United States. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that smoking it causes more deaths than alcohol, illegal drugs, traffic accidents, fires, AIDS, all forms of air pollution, homicides and suicides combined

Raise Cigarette Taxes
What can be done to reduce this terrible toll? First, raise the price of cigarettes through increased sales taxes. For this purpose, price is a significant factor in all products—as price rises, demand goes down. Second, educate young people on how challenging quitting is, how much money they will have to throw out, and how they do not only hurt themselves, but also hurt others in the process. And, finally, provide moral support by consistently working to change attitudes that encourage the use of smoking.

Where Did All The Money Go?
Smoking is an extremely expensive habit, not only for the smoker, but also for society. For example, according to a report from Tobacco Free for Life, the average smoker smokes a pack of cigarettes a day at a cost of $4.50 per pack, which results in $1,641.50 a year. Therefore, raising the sales tax on cigarettes would reduce the amount of cigarettes bought. Furthermore, Americans buy more that 500 billion cigarettes every year; teens under eighteen alone smoke seventeen billion of these cigarettes. In addition to the growing popularity of smoking, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention states that adults who live below the poverty line are more likely to be smokers than those above the poverty line. Furthermore, the financial burden of smoking is not only felt by the smoker, but also by the U.S. taxpayer. For example, Federal and State funds pay more than 43% of all smoking-related medical care expenditures. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, due to a smoker’s annual health care costs and the loss of productivity and financial earnings from tobacco-related disabilities, the cost to the U.S. economy is estimated at $100 billion. Therefore, increasing the price of cigarettes through sales tax will increase the financial burden of smoking on the smoker and cause that person to stop buying cigarettes, whilst helping the national economy.