The pleasurable effects of nicotine can obscure the bad parts of smoking so that smokers choose to jeopardize their own well-being and cause health problems for other people. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), smoking eventually ends in death for about half of tobacco users and causes fatalities each year for nonsmokers who breathe secondhand smoke.
In addition, the effect of smoking cigarettes on quality of life detracts from any of its perceived benefits. Smoking can dictate which choices and opportunities are open to smokers for the rest of their lives.
Nicotine Addiction
Tobacco addiction is a mental and physical health problem. As the National Institute on Drug Abuse website explains, a physical tolerance for nicotine creates the psychological need to smoke. This results in all the other implications of smoking, including poor health, spending money to buy cigarettes and prioritizing smoking over doing other things. Nine in ten smokers are unwilling or unable to stop smoking cigarettes due to nicotine addiction.
Health Problems
The short-term realities of tobacco use include coughing, wheezing, phlegm and bad breath. Long-term, the worst parts of smoking include contracting deadly, incurable diseases such as emphysema and lung cancer. In 2004, the U.S. Surgeon General added many diseases shown to be related to smoking to this list, including leukemia, cancers of the kidney and pancreas, cataracts, pneumonia and periodontitis, a disease that attacks the gums and bone and around the teeth.
Harm to Nonsmokers
Nonsmokers exposed to cigarette smoke and tobacco users alike are at heightened risk for heart attack and stroke, respiratory disorders and reproductive health problems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that breathing secondhand smoke causes 46,000 deaths from heart disease and 3,400 from lung cancer annually, as of 2004.
Financial Investment
The cost of smoking cigarettes begins with product prices---boosted by added "luxury taxes"---and increases with smokers' worsening health problems. Medical expenses and work absences account for $157 billion lost to tobacco use per year, according to the U.S. Surgeon General.
Employment Restrictions
Lower productivity and indoor environmental concerns may cause employers to pass smokers by when hiring, promoting or retaining workers. The ACS notes that business managers face higher insurance, building maintenance and temporary worker costs when the employ smokers. Jobs in which smoking is prohibited for safety represent missed career opportunities for those who smoke.
Social Limitations
More missed opportunities follow in the social realm. The ACS reports that nonsmokers may choose not to interact with smokers for health or practical reasons related to supporting an addiction. Raising a family, for instance, becomes a riskier prospect with a smoker. Cigarette smoking can affect personal relationships with friends, family members and even dating prospects.
