Tobacco use

Tobacco Use

In my old school, St. Laurence High school, I would often walk to the bus stop through an alley. There would be 3 or 4 sophomore kids secretly smoking cigarettes behind one of the houses. To be honest, I even know one of them. I asked my best friend why these morons would harm themselves with something as stupid as cigarettes. Do you know what he told me? He said they thought smoking made them look cool, made them look mature. Does social acceptance in high school worth one of your lungs?


It is estimated that each day, 3,000 under 18 individuals smoke their first cigarettes and 2,100 of young adults become frequent smokers. Relating to my story, 18% of high school students are smokers. That's a huge number.

Yes tobacco is bad. 440,000 US citizens are claimed by tobacco each year, more than alcohol, illegal drug use, homicide, suicide, car accidents, and AIDS combined. Cigarette can harm nearly every single organ of an individual's body. Let's start with our lungs. 9 out of 10 lung cancers have been linked to cigarettes. 90% of documented lung cancer cases are a result of cigarettes. Also, smoking has also been linked to numerous other cancer such as cancer of the mouth, esophagus, bladder, and kidney  and the most dangerous one of all, leukemia. Other than cancer, cigarettes can cause chronic bronchitis and asthma in some adults. Some research also indicate that smoking increases one's risk of heart disease, stroke, and vascular disease.


Smoking is also harmful to others. An estimate of 88 million of non smokers are exposed to second hand smoke. This phenomenon increases their risk of heart disease and lung cancer by 20 - 30%. That's a lot for not smoking. 

It is also detrimental to one's financial. A pack of cigarette can cost between $10 to $20. Taking my father case, he smokes about 1 pack a day. He told me that he even knew people who smoked 2 - 3 pack a day. That's almost $40 worth of cigarettes a day. That's $1,200 a month wasted on something that would eventually decrease your life span significantly.  


It is important for everyone to understand completely how detrimental smoking is. There should be more school speeches on the bad effects of smoking. If your friends have taken the habits of smoking, it is your duty to convince them that smoking is terrible and not cool at all. It carries too many health risks. For frequent addicts, it is important to help them go through the period of no nicotine. It would be difficult but trust me, it would be very worth it. Ask Chandler. For those non smokers out there, just don't alright?