The 20th century will be remembered in many ways – one of which is the epidemic of lung cancer, emphysema, and cardiovascular disease related to tobacco abuse. Remember when cigarettes were less than a quarter a pack and the cheapest prices were at the VA Hospital canteen? Remember Bob Hope, Arthur Godfrey, doctors, and Joe Camel praising the cool aspects of smoking? Also to women, “You’ve come along way, baby.” What a way to equate women’s lib to smoking, and it worked!
We’ve got lots of problems in the 21st century, but there is some progress in the decline of smoking, but not enough. According to Wikipedia “As of 2002, about twenty percent of young teens (13–15) smoke worldwide. 80,000 to 100,000 children begin smoking every day. Half of those who begin smoking in adolescent years are projected to go on to smoke for 15 to 20 years.[9]“
There are a variety of smoking control programs and some medications which can help the smokers, but it proves to be one of the most difficult additions. A thoracic surgeon, friend, and patient of mine would be operating on a lung cancer – but then break in the middle to smoke in order to handle the jitters of nicotine withdrawal. Group Health, where I worked, became the first large health care organization in the country to become “non-smoking.” This was done in the early 80’s so we’ve indeed come a long way. Our respiratory therapists, doctors, and ICU nurses gradually become non-smokers.
Have you noticed the prices of cigarettes are rising. New York City has proposed raising the price to $13 a pack – or about 65 cents a cigarette. This might work, or might drive the poor to cheaper substances. Let’s see how it plays out. The “newest kid on the block” is the e-cigarette, the latest method to become nicotine addicted.