Smokeout

I’m surprised at how many people under 40 smoke.  Anyone over 40 kinda gets a pass as there wasn’t full disclosure about the hazards of smoking.  Addiction came before you had the value of HUGE warning messages on packages, government and media campaigns, and the general pariah-like status smokers have in society today.  When I see teenagers and 20-somethings smoking I think, “are you serious?”

Whether you’re sixteen, twenty-six, or sixty-six, you need to quit.  And today is the day to do it.  Even if you quit for just one day, that’s one day your lungs will thank you for and a whole day of willpower you may not have known you had.

Do we really need to go through the laundry list of health problems and diseases related to smoking?

Just in case you haven’t paid attention over the last twenty years, here are some important facts about tobacco use:

• Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the U.S.
• Cigarette smoking accounts for about 443,000 premature deaths – including 49,400 in nonsmokers.
• Thirty percent of cancer deaths, including 87 percent of lung cancer deaths, can be attributed to tobacco.
• Smoking also accounts for $193 billion in health care expenditures and productivity losses.
• Great progress is being made in reducing tobacco use in the U.S., with adult smoking rates in 2007 declining among all adults to 19.8 percent.

Smoking and African Americans (American Lung Association)

In 2008, about 5.6 million, or 21.3 percent of non-Hispanic black adults smoked cigarettes compared to 22 percent of non-Hispanic whites. African Americans accounted for approximately 12 percent of the 46 million adults who were current smokers in the United States during 2008.

In 2008, 25.5 percent of non-Hispanic black men smoked compared to 23.6 percent of non-Hispanic white men. On average, white men tend to consume more cigarettes (about 30–40 percent more) than African American men. Despite their lower exposure, however, African American men are 37 percent more likely than white men to develop lung cancer. Black women tend to smoke less than white women but the two groups have similar lung cancer rates.

What more do you need to know?

Resources to QUIT:

• Local resources by state.
• Great American Smokeout Survey
• Reasons to quit
• Guides to help you quit smoking

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