Tobacco Addiction

One would think that the health risks associated with smoking and using tobacco were a new

phenomenon. Yet, for well over the last 50 years, the health risks associated with tobacco use

have been investigated through national studies. It has been determined that cigarette use;

tobacco use is not only hazardous to ones health, but such use is a death warrant to some users.

In 1964, the Surgeon General published what was determined as the first publication officially

identifying the use of tobacco as a smoking agent which negatively affects the health of the

smoker. In 2014, on the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Surgeon Generals publication, a more

current documentation focusing on the adverse health associated with the use of smoking

tobacco and the effects of second hand smoke was published by the 2014 Surgeon General. This

latest publication documented specific health risks identified with smoking and tobacco use and

outlined the financial ramification on individuals and healthcare costs. Including the following

facts: Tobacco use imposes enormous public health and financial costs to our nation and

cigarette smoking attributes to 443,000 deaths a year (1600 people per day) adding $193 billion

dollars to health care costs yearly.

In 2013, Oregon State proposed a bill which would make the possession of cigarette smoking

illegal. While most states and national bodies have committed to addressing the tobacco

addiction epidemic by implementing national and state laws regulating the sale of tobacco and

pricing the purchase of cigarettes to control an individuals ability to purchase tobacco products,

states continue to debate the legality of tobacco use.

With so much information available to consumers, the consumption of tobacco continues

to rise each year. A National Youth Tobacco Survey (2015) conducted by the CDC found that
our youth are getting positive information about cigarette smoking from magazines, the internet,

movies and family members. Billboards throughout our state and in sports arenas continue to

advertise tobacco use. The ability for these companies to advertised is sometimes called,

Commercial Speech which one professor says is a right provided by the First Amendment. He

states that it is a denial of a tobacco users right to free access to information about cigarette

smoking; and that people endanger themselves everyday though car racing, dangerous sports and

much more (Den Yul However, our local government should place a ban on these types of

advertisements. Instead of promoting the use of tobacco products, local governments must

create laws preventing positive advertising and establish incentives for those companies that

create advertising against smoking as some of our television advertisements have done. When a

cigarette consumer looks at the television advertisements against smoking they are reminded of

the negative consequences of tobacco use exemplified by the mother who must nurture her

newborn child through a tiny opening in the incubator or the smoker who has replaced her vocal

chords with voice implants. Television advertisements against smoking are graphic and real.

Simply reading the warning on cigarettes THE SURGEON GENERAL HAS DETERMINED

THAT CIGARETTE SMOKING IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH is no longer an

effective mechanism used to encourage current smokers to quit and to change the minds of future

smokers.

Finally, it is important for tobacco users to be informed of the economic burdens

associated with cigarette smoking. However, the growing numbers of new smokers each year,

attests to the fact that few smokers consider the economic ramifications associated with tobacco

use. A connection between local governments, communities and families is essential if there is

to be a noted change in the mindsets of smokers and potential smokers (Ockene & Miller 1997).
This is especially needed in areas of concentrated poverty. A walk through neighborhoods

identified as low economic areas would support the findings that these areas are especially

vulnerable to the use of tobacco.

Over the last 50 years, data supplied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as

well as from the Office of the General Surgeon has proven that the use of tobacco products is

more than hazardous to ones health; that such use could be deadly. It has also been determined

that there are addictive ingredients in tobacco products and that the smoker can easily pass these

health issues to non-smokers by second hand smokers. The health data, death related to smoking

and the economic impact on our health system should be enough for nay-sayers to finally admit

that cigarette smoking and advertisements should be banned as local governments, communities

and families should come together to decrease the use of tobacco related products.
 References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Surgeon Generals Reports on Smoking
and Tobacco Use.

Den Yul, Douglas J. ( ). Should Cigarette Advertising Be Banned? :Foundation for

Economic Education (FEE.org)

Ockene, Ira S. & Miller, Nancy H. Cigarette Smoking, Cardiovascular Disease; And Stroke:
A Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association.
American Heart Association, Nov. 1997 nVol 96, 9, pp. 3243-3247.

Rettner, Rachael. (2013). Should Cigarette Smoking Be Banned? www.livescience.com

Slovic, Paul. (2001). Smoking: Risk, Perception and Policy. London: Sage Publications