Long-term cigarette smokers face serious health problems, including lung cancer and emphysema. Teenagers are vulnerable to these long-term consequences, as well as additional dangers when they start lighting up. Public health officials have targeted young smokers with restrictions in an attempt to break the cycle of addiction, economic strain and mortality due to smoking. The nonsmoking public has also revoked its acceptance of smoking, placing young people who choose to smoke on the outside of many social opportunities.
Health Problems
The Nemours Foundation notes that young smokers get sick from respiratory health problems more often than nonsmokers. Respiratory stress from smoking causes a higher incidence of colds, flus, acute bronchitis and pneumonia for teens. Teenage smokers may also develop chronic bronchitis, a health problem that can be fatal and often leads to more serious lung disease.
Financial Problems
Smoking cigarettes costs money. The American Lung Association says that a pack-a-day habit can cost $1,825 to $3,650 per year. A daily habit can divert teens' money from jobs and savings. That doesn't count the expense parents can incur when teens come down with a preventable illness.
Dependency Problems
The danger of nicotine dependence is very high among teenagers. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that most smokers who begin tobacco use before age 21 never quit. This makes their financial burden a lifelong prospect, and the chances of dying from smoking cigarettes about 50-50, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Social Problems
As the evidence about the harm of secondhand smoke grows, smokers are increasingly becoming segregated from nonsmokers. The danger of isolation threatens teenage smokers, who make up only 20 percent of their age group, as calculated by the Centers for Disease Control. Their interaction with the other 80 percent of the population may be limited. Tobacco use may bar them entirely from sports and other activities that prohibit smoking. Employers realize that smokers take more work breaks and are sick more often, so employment opportunities may become limited, as well.
Legal Problems
It is illegal to sell cigarettes to minors in all states, and teen tobacco use itself is illegal in some areas, according to the American Cancer Society. Implicating adults in a crime may have personal repercussions. Violating teen smoking laws can result in community service sentences, participation in a mandatory drug-abuse program and even driver's license suspension.
