Smoking – an old problem of modern society

Smoking is a big social problem in many countries, nowadays widely discussed in newspapers, radio and TV-shows.

Tobacco smoke contains the nicotine, which forms a strong physical and psychological addiction. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, claim that nicotine is a “very addictive drug” that can be “as addictive as heroin or cocaine”.

Medical research has found that smoking is a major contributing factor towards many human health problems, especially lung cancer, heart attack, and other disorders.

Reasons why young people
start to smoke
Maybe their parents smoked.
Maybe they think they will look like their super-cool hero.
Maybe they feel that it makes them look older and more interesting.
Maybe they believe that smoking can calm them down, relieve stress, help them to concentrate, help them have a good time or any of the dozens of reasons that smokers can come up with to hide the facts.
The fact is that if kids start smoking before they are 15, they are likely to still be smoking as adults.

Cigarette smoking is highly addictive, widely done and very dangerous.
Smoking killed 100 million people in the 20th century, and is predicted to kill 1 billion in the 21st century.
Worldwide, there are about 1.1 billion smokers and there are expected to be 1.6 billion by 2025.
Half of all smokers will die early unless they stop smoking.

Smoking can age skin faster, second only to the effect sun exposure has on giving premature wrinkles.

Statistics
90 percent of smokers began before the age 21.
On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
1 of 5 teenagers who are addicted to cigarettes smokes 13-15 a day.
In the United States, about 20 percent of teens consider themselves to be regular smokers.
Teen smokers are more likely to have panic attacks, anxiety disorders and depression.