Your Addiction Is Literally Killing Me
Your Addiction Is Literally Killing Me
Janet P. Santos
Health Behavior: PU505
November 21, 2012
Professor Oguegbu
Your Addiction Is Literally Killing Me
Janet P. Santos
Health Behavior: PU505
November 21, 2012
Professor Oguegbu
Abstract More than 70 million individuals, aged 12 years and older have fallen prey to the deadly disease of addiction to Tobacco Abuse in the United States of America (National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), 2012). While this does account for a tremendous decline in tobacco users, it does not however depict the alarming premature death rate which is attributed to tobacco use. Currently more than 90 % of those individuals have begun tobacco use prior to 18 years of age, and for those individuals, more than 6 million have succumbed to premature deaths as a result of their exposures to tobacco related diseases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2000-2004). According to the Surgeon General, “Every day, more than 1,200 people in this country die due to smoking. For each of those deaths, at least two youths or young adults become regular smokers each day. Almost 90% of those replacement smokers smoked their cigarette by age 18 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Sevices (DHH), 2012).”
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Your Addiction is Literally Killing Me In order to understand just how volatile the situation has become regarding tobacco abuse, one must either be a smoker or a non-smoker directly bothered by the effects of someone who smokes in close proximity. As a non-smoker with various medical conditions including asthma, I completely understand the medical effects of second hand smoke and the extent that I would go to, just to rid this world of tobacco and nicotine once and for all. When an individual uses tobacco, the nicotine contained within is said to be “one of the most heavily used addictive drugs and the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the U.S.
Janet P. Santos
Health Behavior: PU505
November 21, 2012
Professor Oguegbu
Your Addiction Is Literally Killing Me
Janet P. Santos
Health Behavior: PU505
November 21, 2012
Professor Oguegbu
Abstract More than 70 million individuals, aged 12 years and older have fallen prey to the deadly disease of addiction to Tobacco Abuse in the United States of America (National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), 2012). While this does account for a tremendous decline in tobacco users, it does not however depict the alarming premature death rate which is attributed to tobacco use. Currently more than 90 % of those individuals have begun tobacco use prior to 18 years of age, and for those individuals, more than 6 million have succumbed to premature deaths as a result of their exposures to tobacco related diseases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2000-2004). According to the Surgeon General, “Every day, more than 1,200 people in this country die due to smoking. For each of those deaths, at least two youths or young adults become regular smokers each day. Almost 90% of those replacement smokers smoked their cigarette by age 18 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Sevices (DHH), 2012).”
| | | | | | | |
Your Addiction is Literally Killing Me In order to understand just how volatile the situation has become regarding tobacco abuse, one must either be a smoker or a non-smoker directly bothered by the effects of someone who smokes in close proximity. As a non-smoker with various medical conditions including asthma, I completely understand the medical effects of second hand smoke and the extent that I would go to, just to rid this world of tobacco and nicotine once and for all. When an individual uses tobacco, the nicotine contained within is said to be “one of the most heavily used addictive drugs and the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the U.S.
References: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2000-2004). Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses---. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a3.htm National Cancer Institute (NCI). (2010, October 25). Smokeless Tobacco and Cancer: National Cancer Institute Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from National Cancer Institute: at the National Institute of Health: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/smokeless National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). (2012, July). Tobacco Abuse (Nicotine). Retrieved November 13, 2012, from NIDA: The Science of Drug Abuse & Addiction : http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/tobacco-addiction-nicotine U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institute of Health (NIH). (2012, October 23). Nicotine addiction and withdrawal. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from Medline Plus: A Service of U.S. National Library Of Medicine, NIH: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000953.htm U.S. Department of Health and Human Sevices (DHH). (2012, November 13). Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from Surgeon General.gov: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/preventing-youth-tobacco-use/factsheet.html WebMD, LLC. (2005-12). Substance Abuse Overview. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from WebMD: Illegal Drug Use and Addiction : http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/substance-abuse