Dominic Broderson
English 102
Sonia Begert
December 1, 2015
Smoking
Kills More Than Yourself
I
can imagine living in a luxurious life. I have a wife and six kids who go to
private schools because I can afford it. My house has five bedrooms and I can
even hire a maid. But simple actions such as pressing the brake puts me in pain.
When I go to the doctors they open me up and then they close me back up with sickening
news. The doctors say a heart wrenching line similar to, Dominic there is
nothing we can do. You have six months left with your family and life. It will
all be taken away from you because of smoking cigarettes. Cigarettes are
harmful, addictive, expensive, and even deadly. Working as a Safeway courtesy
clerk I will frequently retrieve cigarettes from behind the glass case for the
customer to buy. The customer always smells bad, has unpleasant oral hygiene,
and looks rundown. I believe cigarettes should be illegal. They kill 430,000 Americans
each year and cause numerous health defects to people and others. They are
addictive, costly, and bad for people around the smoke.
Sure
smoking will lower the risk for obesity which is an immense United States difficulty
when we have high fat and high sugar foods available to us. Also because of low
weight the chances of knee replacement surgery is slim. Nicotine (which is
found in cigarettes) contains an anti-inflammatory agent, which can lower
chances of having an inflammatory disorder. Smoking also provides a relaxant;
many stressful people smoke to relieve stress. However, what is the point of
avoiding the benefits of smoking when smoking will kill people sooner.
In
an article titled, “Effects of first exposure to plain cigarette packaging on smoking
behaviour and attitudes: a randomized controlled study,” by Olivia M Maynard,
Ute Leonards, Angela S Attwood, Linda Bauld, Lee Hogarth, and Marcus R Munafò
state that, “Plain cigarette packs reduce ratings of the experience of using
the cigarette pack, and ratings of the pack attributes, and increase the
self-perceived impact of the health warning, but do not change smoking
behaviour, at least in the short term.” Which means that current ways to detour
smoking are not changing people’s attitude to do so. Their quote is based off a
lab experiment they conducted.
With
cigarettes being addictive they will kill people. It is hard to quit. People
fall into the conviction that it is easy to quit. If I smoked then (in addition
to cigarette purchases) I should set money aside for my wake. It may start with
one cigarette a day, but then it is impossible to stop. Instead I will want
more until it is a pack a day or more. When people become addicted to smoking then
the addiction might progress to worse drugs. Cigarettes are widely accepted as
a gateway drug.
Gateway
drugs are drugs that might lead to other more perilous drug addictions. With
daily smoking cancer development is high and many other health defects. At Safeway
I have met many people who have no voice, use a white board to communicate,
have a hole in their neck, or sound like a robot. I ask myself is it really
worth it? Not only would I lose my money but also my health all for a temporary
satisfaction.
Before
I say goodbye to my life I need to say goodbye to my wallet. Cigarettes in
Washington State are at $8.98. If I smoke a pack a day for a year that is
$3,277.70, looks like no annual vacation. Now many people who smoke a pack a
day are around the age of 26 and older. A pack a day for the next twenty-five
years accumulates to $81,942.50 if the price of cigarettes stays the same. With
this new knowledge I can ask myself, should I pay the $82,000 to die agonizingly
or should I find a cliff and jump? Quick, painful, and free. If I really wanted
to spend the money I would spend it on something that is good for me. A fast
car, or a getaway cabin in the woods next to a lake. I understand that quitting
can be difficult. So instead of wasting that money in the long run spend it on
rehab to survive.
Cancer
caused by smoking is a definite way of making family spend thousands and
thousands of dollars on treatment that may or not work. Treatments are expensive
and rough. Why would I leave my loved ones in debt because I had get that
excitement of a cigarette? Do not leave family and friends with a hindrance. Also
smoking around others can give them secondhand smoke.
The
yearly death toll for victims with secondhand smoke is at 53,800. An example of
secondhand smoke affecting others is provide by a man named Nathan. Nathan used
to be a marine and was athletic. He belongs to the Oglala Sioux tribe and never
smoked a cigarette, but because of his employment in the tribe’s casino where
everyone smokes, he can no longer take a few dance steps without getting tired.
Secondhand
smoke also effects the future. It hurts the child exposed to the smoke. Eman Al-Sayed
and Khadiga Salah Ibrahim wrote an excellent article titled, “Second-hand
tobacco smoke and children,” which is about the negative health effects smoking
has on children. In their conclusion they stated, “Children who are exposed to
passive smoking are subjected to oxidative stress, which has been implicated in
the etiopathogenesis of many disorders. Some of which occur in organs that have
no direct contact with the smoke itself such as the liver. Smoking induces three
major adverse effects on the liver, immunological, toxic, and oncogenic
effects. ETS exposure is associated with physiologic evidence of systemic biochemical
alterations in children. They have lower plasma levels of antioxidants such as
vitamins C and E, B-carotene, folate and uric acid. Meanwhile, they have higher
plasma levels of some pro-oxidants such as iron. The relationship between SHS
exposure and markers of oxidative stress in children strengthens the proposed
relationship between SHS, oxidative stress, inflammation, and diseases. It
provides evidence suggesting that these pathways are integrally associated with
SHS-exposure-related mechanisms of harm. Understanding these pathways may
improve prevention and treatment of SHS-exposure-related diseases. A diet rich
in antioxidants is important for children exposed to SHS such as those
containing excess vegetables and fruits. Supplementation of antioxidants may be
warranted in SHS-exposed children, but more studies are necessary to determine
the optimal doses and clinical impact of the supplements. Our article provides
additional evidence that children need to be protected from SHS exposure, both
through vigorous efforts to encourage smoking cessation among family members
and through policies that eliminate smoking in places where children exist.”
From
research I know that smoking not only hurts me but others around me. It not
only kills me but kills others around me. Smoking can take the money away from
me that I could use to have a happy life. I do not believe smoking would make
me look cool, I know it would make me look like an idiot. After many years I
would look like a train wreck. Who would be selfish enough to kill themselves
so that others can mourn at their painful loss?
I
know that I am not alone in my thinking. A survey was taken on debate.org
titled, “Should Cigarette Smoking Be Banned?” The survey concluded that 79% of
people believe that smoking should be banned. A user on the site by the name
of, rhianramos, states that, “Cigarette smoking damages the body gradually in a
number of different ways. There are thousands of chemicals in the average puff
of cigarette smoke. Despite all that, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention or CDC, 26% of American adults continue to smoke, with
heart-rending outcomes. Each year smoking is blamable for 430,000 deaths (one
every five). Smoking is not just a habit as many people thought for many years.
Some groups like Pro-Tobacco Group often claim that cigarette smokers have the
right to abuse their body if they choose. They believed that all the health
dangers of cigarettes will fade in a puff of smoke; when they quit, assuming
that smoking from, say, age 16 to age 28 will have no long-term effects,
smokers often fall back on an "I can always quit tomorrow" (next
month or next year) philosophy. Recent studies show that the quitting success
rate among teenagers is very low; less than 16% of the 633 teen smokers in the
study were able to quit. Cigarette smoking needs to be banned because it
affects the health of the smoker, the health of non-smoker (secondhand smoke)
and, the environment.” Another powerful statement on the site was submitted by
an unknown thirteen-year old. The child said, “Many people die from lung cancer
and heart disease each year from smoking. So I honestly think it should be
banned and I'm 13 years old. My grandfather died of lung cancer about 6 years
back and it just causes a great sense of denial and emptiness if you lose
someone close at the hands of nicotine. So yes, cigarette smoking should be
banned.”
Thankfully
to my knowledge I have never smoked. Smoking wastes $82,000 before death. Cigarettes
will addict users; they will take away free agency. It will make people endure
a painful year before going six feet under. Smoking will hurt everyone. I will
not pay for the short, painful way out of this world and neither should others
who are addicted and cannot stop. Other
feel the same way too. It’s not about restricting people’s freedom to be
bullies, but it is about protecting fellow citizens, family, and friends. Cigarettes
should be illegal to possess and smoke.
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