Tobacco and the College-Bound in the New Millennium :: Essays Papers

Tobacco and the College-Bound in the New Millennium Today’s high school and college age Americans will have to deal with the actions and attitudes of those involved in the current debate over tobacco use in America. As today’s and tomorrow’s smokers and non-smokers, we need to understand that aspects of our future are being decided now. What is at risk? Primarily at risk are two things: first, our health and welfare and that of our friends and loved ones, and second, individual liberty. Risks to Health and Welfare The negative health effects of smoking and other tobacco use are well known and documented by nearly every health-conscious organization in the United States. Cancer, heart disease, and most major pulmonary diseases top the list of the most painful and deadly reasons to quit and not to start. It’s estimated that more than one in six deaths in the United States is due to cigarettes alone. More than three million people die every year worldwide from smoking related diseases (Pringle, 44). Besides the mortality statistics are the millions of additional colds, canker sores, cases of chronic bronchitis and incredibly bad breath. Tobacco use is also incredibly financially taxing. Smoking just half a pack a day will cost over five hundred dollars a year if the smoker uses one of the most popular brands, and most young smokers do. Add to that national annual health care costs and lost work revenues totaling seventy billion dollars ($70,000,000,000), and damages from the 38% of accidental fires attributed to cigarettes, and the life-long cost of smoking is easily in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per American smoker (Pringle, 44). Besides the problems smokers cause for themselves, there are others to consider. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), otherwise known as second-hand smoke, is not a significant risk for someone who is only exposed to a couple of hours a week in a neighborhood restaurant. It is, however, dangerous to family and friends who may allow themselves to be exposed for many hours a day so as not to inconvenience a smoker.