Tobacco Usage In The United States

Although it remains a large portion of the U.S’ economy, tobacco smoking can lead to a variety of diseases and disorders that affect the user. The effects of smoking tobacco not only affect the user but surrounding people as well: permanently destroying their lungs and children, increasing the chances of diseases and of cancer.

With such an expansive history in Connecticut, the subject of tobacco is just as encompassing. With roots in Windsor colonial history through its height in the 1950s, sources try to capture it all at a surface level. Scholars have studied tobacco over time evaluating its role in the community at that moment in time. Over a variety of sources, overall the response to tobacco in Windsor has been positive as it serves as both an economic influence and a cultural one as well. Starting at one of the most recent sources, Brianna Dunlap looks at the entire Connecticut River valley as the backdrop as Connecticut’s tobacco industry in Connecticut Valley Tobacco. Published in 2016, Dunlap captures tobacco’s history starting at its roots in the 1600s through Cuba’s reopening trade ports in 2015. This book serves to establish Windsor’s connection with tobacco and how it changed over time to match the changing landscape around the tobacco sheds.

Many drugs are used, misused, and abused in American society today. Some of these carry stigma in the general population, forcing users into an underground drug subculture. Others are accepted and almost promoted under certain circumstances. Tobacco is one of those drugs. Tobacco will be discussed in the context of cigarette smoking. This is not to undermine the existence or danger of other forms of tobacco, but instead to have an exhaustive discussion of cigarette smoking and its societal impact. Cigarettes are a means of inhaling tobacco, where it enters the lungs and is absorbed through the blood vessels, traveling to the heart, from which it is finally pumped to the brain (Hogan, Gabrielsen, Luna, and Grothaus 2003:76). Cigarettes are detrimental to society because they not only affect the user who chooses to smoke; they impact people around them through second-hand and residual smoke. The damage done by cigarettes is not impossible to address. Successful prevention measures are already in place, but this paper intends to suggest other more direct measures, especially related to statutory regulations.

Tobacco is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. According to the American Lung Association in 2009, 20.6% of adults were current smokers. In 1970, the United States banned television and radio advertisements of cigarettes. Across the world countries battle similar issues in how to help prevent deaths, lower healthcare costs, and educate the population. Countries have banned advertising, posted health causes, renamed brands, and even included informational fliers in packs of cigarettes. In 2001, The Government of India decided to ban the advertising of cigarettes. This ban was created to help the youth of India and hoped to reduce the amount of future smokers. The proposal of this restriction caused debates between the government, advertising companies, and tobacco manufacturers. The supporting and dismantling arguments for these ethical and commercial causes of the ban have enabled the government to make their final decision.

“Loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs.” says King James of England and Scotland, describing smoking in 1604 (Connolly 13). Tobacco use kills millions of people a year but still only has few legal restrictions. Many argue that the use of tobacco is a right we have in the United States but the harm that it does to the innocent may outweigh those rights. Because the use of tobacco negatively impacts the health of both the users and those around them, all tobacco products and their use should be illegal.

Tobacco and the U.S share a rich history; it dated back to the 17th century when the first commercial crop was planted. Many people claim tobacco had an influence in the colonization of North America and without it; the colonies would not have survived. While our history with tobacco is long and rich, it doesn’t erase the fact that it kills more people annually than cocaine, heroin, meth and all other illegal drugs combined. In the argument of whether or not tobacco should be banned, many people are evenly split. Tobacco could become a black market if banned, and it is widely practiced in Native American ceremonies, while the high mortality rates, and the financial burden have others petitioning for it to be banned.

illegal. We must also consider the thousands of employees who will be left unemployed if such a

The negative health effects of tobacco use have been well established. Tobacco use has been shown to cause acute and chronic respiratory disease, heart disease, many types of cancer, and is the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States, causing an estimated 443,000 deaths per year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2004). As the dangers of smoking have become better understood, reducing the number of people who smoke has become a major focus for those interested in public health. Efforts to restrict the advertisement and sale of tobacco, implement public smoking bans, and educate citizens through public service announcements have all had a sizeable effect on smoking rates in the U.S. In Fact, over

In the United States, when a disease is rapid, many steps are taken to reduce causes and find cures for the disease; walks, fundraisers, commercials and research are held by those that are committed to assist in the elimination of these diseases and the treatment of the sick. The leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic respiratory disease. The most deadly origin of disease is cigarette smoking. A cigarette contains many harmful chemicals that damage the smokers’ body as well as the people that surround the smoker. Its negative impacts regarding health carry more burdens than what some may say is the “positive” social outcome of smoking. Tobacco was originally used as a heavy sedative

Young people may start to be curious about smoking at some point in time in their life. They might like the idea of doing something dangerous or something that makes them look like an adult. Young people do not know that smoking and tobacco use can cause cancer and heart disease. They do not look into the future to worry about the consequences. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States (Persoskie, Donaldson, & King, 2016). In this cohort study, there was a research if there was an interest about or ever-utilization of tobacco items among the US middle and high school students changed from 2012 to 2014. The research data came from the 2012 and 2014 National Youth Tobacco Surveys of US students in grades 6 through 12 (Persoskie, Donaldson, & King, 2016). 2014 data of students who used cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and e-cigarettes were classified as ever-users or never-users of each product. The never-users were questioned about their curiosity about each product if they had been definitely, probably, probably not, or definitely not been curious about using the products.

An estimated 36.5 million or 15.1 % of adults aged 18 years old and older currently smoke cigarettes and more than 16,000,000 have smoking or live with diseases that are related to smoking. According to US department of health and human services, over the past five decades, there is a significant decline in cigarette smoking in the U.S. The progress has slowed in recent years and the prevalence of use of other tobacco products such as vapes, e-cigars and smokeless tobacco

The use of tobacco is a very controversial topic here in the United States. The harmful side effects of tobacco are well known and consequently, many believe that it should be outlawed. Though this has not yet occurred, constant regulations on the industry and

“Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States (cdc.gov).” We cannot push this topic to the side and think it will change soon. This topic needs to be addressed now. People need to know the magnitude of tobacco and the effects it has on individuals and the influential effect it has on adolescents. “Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States (cdc.gov).” Since there are two types of tobacco use, Smoking tobacco and non-smoking tobacco, smoking tobacco is the most commonly used substance of the two. “Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year, with more than 41,000 of these deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke (cdc.gov).” A recent study in 2015 estimated that 36.5 million adults of the United States population were current cigarette smokers (cdc.gov).

The smoking of tobacco has continued to have an unfavorable influence on our health care system in association with spending. In recent studies and surveys, researchers discovered approximately $170 billion dollars of healthcare spending is paid towards diseases produced by tobacco smoke (Kennedy). A large sum of the money put towards tobacco-related illnesses is also taken from government sources. Making smoking tobacco illegal would allow the government to save billions of dollars, money that could be used for important needs in our country. Roads, bridges, and government projects could all be funded with smoking becoming illegal. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that more than $156 billion in lost productivity is due

Smoking among adolescents is a problem that affects countries all across the entire world. Yet, not every culture believes that teenage smoking is an issue of urgency. However, the United States has taken severe actions in attempting to decrease and eventually eliminate the use of tobacco products by teenagers. According to Te-Wei, Zihua, & Keeler (1998), ninety-percent of teenage smokers began before the age of sixteen years old. Looking into the future it is extremely important to reduce the number of youth who start smoking before this age. The issue of teenage smoking is important because it can affect the health of an entire society as those young smokers grow older and continue with a bad habit. For many adults, their first puff of a