In the April 6, edition of The Famuan, I noticed an opinion article on the issue of tobacco smoking. In contrary to the article, I feel as though a side is not being looked at.
My grandmother died of lung cancer and both of my other grandparents smoke cigarettes. I used to think that it was their fault that they smoked. However, I have found that is hardly true.
The correlation between “sucking a thumb” and nicotine addiction is very insensitive. In fact, in February 2000, the Royal College of Physicians published a report on nicotine addiction, which concluded that, “cigarettes are highly efficient nicotine delivery devices, and are as addictive as drugs such as heroin or cocaine.”
Two years earlier, the report of the Government’s Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health stated that, “Over the past decade there has been increasing recognition that underlying smoking behavior and its remarkable intractability to change is addiction to the drug nicotine.”
“Nicotine has been shown to have effects on brain dopamine systems similar to those of drugs such as heroin and cocaine.”
So you see, nicotine is highly addictive and their effect as a causer of cancer has been well hidden from consumers until the last 20 years. The most affected generation of this exhibition of lies and irresponsibility has been the elderly. When they were growing up, young adults made up the highest market for tobacco companies, which included teens.
“KOOL has shown little or no growth in share of users in the 26 plus age group. Growth is from 16-25-year-olds. At the present rate, a smoker in the 16-25year age group will soon be three times as important to KOOL as a prospect in any other broad age category,” stated a 1973 Washington Post memo from Brown & Williamson.
The tobacco industry was intentionally advertising to the unknowledgeable and the inexperienced. On top of that, they did not inform the smoker of the highly dangerous effects of smoking not to mention they did not warn the public of the possible effects of second hand smoking.
The last article asked people who have smoked for 20 plus years to give up something that is highly addictive and even thought of by some as unbeatable. I just find that to be a little harder than anything that most of us who do not smoke have had to face.
To recap, the tobacco industry for decades lied about the effects of smoking, and targeted children. As far as I’m concerned, the tobacco industry has deserved all of what has come on them, and I hope more is done.
Jarred Morgan is a second-year business administration student from Houston. He can be reached at famuanopinions@hotmail.com.