02. Why Do People Smoke Cigarettes

Cigarette advertisements have said time and again that cigarette smoking is dangerous to one's health.  According to United States studies, cigarette smoking is responsible for one out of every five deaths in the U.S. Smoking robs more than five million years of lifespan because of premature death. Cigarettes are the most addictive and destructive over-the-counter drug known to man. Cigarette smoking is equivocal to lung cancer. With this said, one may wonder why do people still smoke cigarettes?

Before World War I, tobacco was smoked in the form of cigars.  They were primarily smoked by the wealthy. Cigarettes, which are basically leftovers of the cigar making process, were smoked by the less fortunate. The number of people who smoked cigarettes boomed when tobacco companies started to mass-produce cigarettes.  Their clientele: soldiers of World War I.

It took some time before a deadly by-product of smoking became evident.  Doctors only noticed the increase in lung cancer incidents 20 to 30 years after WWI. With this increase, Reader's Digest published an article "Cancer by the Carton,” which prompted the public to be aware of the effects of cigarette smoking. Similar articles have been published to condemn cigarette smoking. Medical advancements have proven the correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. But despite all of these, lung cancer has remained to be one of the most common diseases in the modern world.

Cigarettes' most common ingredient is nicotine. Nicotine is more addictive than heroine, which is in fact, a prohibited drug in most parts of the world. Aside from heroine, doctors ranked nicotine ahead of alcohol and cocaine in terms of dependence. Indeed, research has shown that smoking four cigarettes a day can induce life-long addiction to nicotine.  People who smoke tend to see smoking as a part of their personality, as something that they cannot live without. That is a clear sign of addiction. And the addiction to chemicals, which in the case of nicotine, is considered a sickness.

What adds to the addiction to smoke cigarettes is the psychological pleasure or satisfaction a smoker gains when puffing a cigarette. Smokers describe smoking as a "pat-on-the-back" after a hard day's work. One smoker confesses that it is not the taste of the cigarette; it is actually the sense of satisfaction that you get from it that keeps you smoking. Studies have also shown that depression is twice as common to people who smoke against those who do not smoke. Some also use cigarettes as an ersatz activity to pass time and be patient. Just like in war movies, when a soldier is waiting for the signal to attack, he is seen as holding a gun on one hand and a cigarette on the other.

Nicotine triggers the smoker's brain to be more efficient in processing information. It also reduces anxiety and induces euphoria. Researches have also shown that nicotine induces alertness and arousal, and sedation and relaxation based on the dose of nicotine intake. These effects, though, do not outweigh the harmful effect of nicotine addiction, which is lung cancer, and possibly other ailments, which will all eventually lead to death.

People who cannot stop from smoking may see it the other way around. They may be blinded by the short-term effects of nicotine. Aside from nicotine, smokers rarely know that a cigarette contains acetylene (fuel used in welding), cyanide, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide, all of which are harmful chemicals. These chemicals are also used as poison.

Psychosocial factors also contribute on why people continue to smoke. Persons surrounded by people who smoke, like family and friends, can soon develop the habit of smoking. And as its addictive nature, the smoker will have a hard time quitting the habit. An environment permissive and indifferent towards cigarette smoking will produce significant numbers of smokers.

Recently, researchers have reported that genetic variables also play a role on why people keep on smoking. These genetic variables affect the tendency of a person to smoke to the chances of quitting.

Given the many facts and figures related to the hazards of smoking cigarettes, the percentage of smokers has not experienced any considerable decrease. In fact, it continues to increase. The World Health Organization has estimated that by year 2020, tobacco will kill more people than any single disease in the world.

Educating the people about the dangers of smoking doesn't seem to strike sense out of smokers. For some smokers, thinking that smoking is directly related to lung cancer and eventually death is a myth yet to be proven.

But whatever the reason why smokers have why they still make smoking a habit will never justify that smoking is indeed an addiction, and sooner or later, this will eventually cause death.