Deadly Butts More than ten times as many Americans have died prematurely from cigarette smoking than have died in all the wars fought by the United States during its history (CDC). At first, one would find this hard to believe when they think about all the wars this country has been through over the years and the fact that many people have died from something as simple as cigarettes. However, when one looks at the research and statistics, the damaging effects of smoking are not so hard to believe anymore. It is estimated that in the United States there are currently 36.5 million adults who smoke cigarettes (CDC). As a result, there are millions of people that have the risk of many serious and irreversible health effects that could result …show more content…
Smoking results in more than 480,000 deaths in the United States every year (CDC). All of these deaths could have easily been prevented by simply not smoking cigarettes anymore. However, this is easier said than done, as smoking is very addicting once one starts due to the drug nicotine. After years and years of use, smoking causes many health problems that greatly affect the life of someone. In fact, smoking greatly increases the risk of oneself to develop heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer compared to that of nonsmokers (CDC). More specifically, 90% of all lung cancer deaths and 80% of all chronic pulmonary disease (COPD) deaths are caused by smoking (CDC). With all of these health risks, this results in a shorter life span for the smoker. On average, the life of a smoker is shortened by thirteen to fourteen years compared to that of a nonsmoker (“Tobacco Facts and Figures”). As can be seen, smoking is something that cannot be taken lightly. When one thinks about it, are all of these risks and consequences worth a few moments of satisfaction with …show more content…
It is not a secret that smoking is an extremely expensive habit, especially people that smoke multiple packs of cigarettes a day. On average, one pack of cigarettes costs around $5.51 and if someone keeps up that habit for 20 years, then the expenses are greater than $38,000. This wasted amount of money for a bad habit could have been used to pay more important expenses, such as purchasing a motor vehicle or other sorts of investments. Furthermore, after one’s health deteriorates after smoking for such a long period of time, then a lot of money would be invested in medical expenses. For example, if someone were to get lung cancer, the yearly treatment to try and remove the tumor would be very expensive. To start the treatment, it costs over $60,000, then an additional $8,000 every year after until the cancer is gone. As can be seen, there is no way to escape the financial burden smoking causes on people in this