smoking....a small rant

I'm just gonna say it. Hate on it if you will. I don't care.

How can anyone at this day & time of  immediate information and constant commercials on TV and radio and such, SMOKE?

How can you light up something rolled by some company that you have no ties to and you have no idea what was put in said cigarette?

consider the alarming facts: from AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION

• On average, smokers take 25% more sick days a year than nonsmokers

• Smokers spend 8% of their work day in smoking activities; this adds up to one month per year--double the amount of time that nonsmokers spend

• The lifetime medical cost for smokers is 32% higher

• On average companies spend about $1100 more per year in healthcare on employees that smoke

and least we forget about the cost:

The price of a pack of cigarettes has greatly increased over the years, as has the tax on cigarettes. It might be surprising to some smokers how much expenses go up in smoke with their habit each year.

The average cost of a pack of cigarettes is $4.50 to $5.00, plus taxes. A smoker who smokes a pack a day will, on average, spend about spends $49 dollars a week, $208 dollars a month, and $2,548 a year.

This is based on a $5 pack price with $2 for taxes. Prices and taxes vary by state and country.
source: WIKI answers

Think of what else a smoker could be doing instead of paying for packs of cigarettes (not even considering how much is spent on lighters and such).......

How about a family vacation to Disney World?
How about a romantic get-away for you & your sweetie?
How about helping out others?

THE BIG PICTURE

The facts are overwhelming. Smoking is the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Each year, an estimated 5.4 million people die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke. All of the death and disease caused by smoking and other tobacco use in this country places a huge emotional and economic burden on society. Something must be done.  

According to INFO RESEARCH LAB

• Around 5.4 million deaths a year are caused by tobacco. * Smoking is set to kill 6.5 million people in 2015 and 8.3 million humans in 2030, with the biggest rise in low-and middle-income countries.
  * Every 6.5 seconds a current or former smoker dies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
  * An estimated 1.3 billion people are smokers worldwide (WHO).
  
• Over 443,000 Americans (over 18 percent of all deaths) die because of smoking each year. Secondhand smoke kills about 50,000 of them.
• 1.2 million people in China die because of smoking each year. That's 2,000 people a day.
• Tobacco use will kill 1 billion people in the 21st century if current smoking trends continue.
• 33 percent to 50 percent of all smokers are killed by their habit.
  * Smokers die on average 15 years sooner than nonsmokers 

 with all of that information how can someone that is considered a reasonable human being even start smoking in the first place, and if after finding these things out, how can you continue smoking??

Approximately one third of adult Medicaid recipients smoke (CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION ). How is this a fair expense to those of us, like me, that haven't and won't smoke their entire lives? I spend my life trying to be healthy and eat healthy and paying the medical expenses for someone that didn't care to smoke their lives away...that is SO UNFAIR. Do I ask the smokers to pay for my protein? What about my gym membership? Or my extra expenses for healthy grocery items that I purchase (yes, eating healthy costs more)?

I am all for personal liberties and being able to do what we want/desire to..Honestly I do believe in those things..but I also believe in having the liberty to not pay for smokers medical expenses or living expenses. I am extremely upset that some of the same people that my taxes go to help support are standing in line to get smokes. If you can afford cigarettes, why can't you afford to pay for your own food? WTH?

think about some of  the physical side effects of smoking:

*you smell like a stinky ashtray

*your breath always smells like smoke

*your home smells like an ashtray

*riding in your car is paramount to riding in an ashtray

*each cigarette you smoke you are smoking away 5 seconds of your life source ANSWERS

*wrinkles, wrinkles, wrinkles. Have you ever seen the mouth of someone that has smoked their lives away? How about how wrinkly their faces are? Have you EVER seen someone that has smoked their whole lives NOT look like an old leather bag?

*cancer, emphysema, blood pressure problems

*possibly not ever having the PALATE to taste foods, wines, etc. 

Now this may not be the popular consensus...but this is a tangent......even if it is a small one....by someone that is fed up of being the girl behind a smoker that is laying a pack of cigarettes up on their WIC items as they tell the cashier that is separate from their FOOD STAMP purchase...

as they sheepishly grin at me. Yeah. I'm judging you. How dare you live off of  every hard working persons dime as you smoke like a train. No I will not smile at you. How can I smile at someone that is either so dense they shouldn't have a drivers license in the first place or so ignorant of the truth of the dangers of smoking they should be pitied, not smiled at (take your pick).