2008 Woodie Awards
Breaking the Habit
Overcoming addiction difficult
By Rachel Seeman
Rocket News Editor
Issue date: 1/27/06 Section: News
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According to Philip Morris USA, "it has been estimated that more Americans die from tobacco-related illnesses than from alcohol, car accidents, HIV/AIDS, firearms and illegal drugs combined."
Smoking cigarettes causes heart disease, emphysema, stroke and most lung cancer diagnoses in the United States. It is also known to increase the risk of oral cancer and gum disease.
Chewing is another way people use tobacco.
As stated on syndistar.com, and educational publishing company focusing on health care issues, smokeless tobacco contains 28 different cancer-causing ingredients.
Users of smokeless tobacco have 50 times greater risk of oral cancer than non-users. Just eight to 10 uses of smokeless tobacco delivers the same amount of nicotine as 30 to 40 cigarettes, according to syndistar.com.
Nicotine is the drug that is the active principle in tobacco.
According to nicotine.thegraveyard.org, nicotine is a colorless, transparent, highly poisonous oily liquid, with an acrid odor and an acrid burning taste.
Jodi Solito, coordinator of health promotion and health services, said smoking is a problem for the minority of college students who do smoke.
She said cigarettes are addictive because of the way it's administered to the body: it goes to the lungs and affects the brain.
There is no one answer as to why people start smoking.
"For women, I know it's especially related to weight control," Solito said.
Solito said they try not to quit because they want to stay thin.
Solito said she is not sure why men start smoking. However, for male adolescents, it's about image. She said they think it makes them cooler or tougher.
In a 2003 national survey, about three-quarters of first-time smokers were under the age of 18, according to Philip Morris USA.
Some teens and preteens report signs of addiction with only occasional (non-daily) smoking, as stated on the Philip Morris USA Web site.
Michael Gundel, a business major at SRU, has been smoking for five years. He said peer pressure is why he started.
"This pack, in my pocket," Gundel said, pointing to a zippered pocket on his coat, "I had it in the garbage yesterday. I don't like it, it's a nasty habit. I'd like to stop."
