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Op-ed: The Ultimate Price of Nicotine Use

cigarettesBy: Penny McCaslin, Tobacco Program Coordinator, Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health

With the Great American Smoke Out happening on Thursday, November 20th, there will be many advertisements, articles, and programs out there to help nicotine users quit for the sake of their health. While this is certainly the most important reason to quit, there is a large financial burden that is attributed to this habit that many users do not fully comprehend.

Many people don’t realize the financial weight a nicotine habit can carry. Nicotine addiction costs even more when you consider the costs incurred from illnesses caused by smoking, including treatment costs and days of missed work or school. The more cigarettes you smoke and the longer you smoke, the more these costs will add up from smoking-related medical problems.

If you are interested in seeing how much your nicotine addiction is costing you, Google “Smoking Calculator”. These calculators will have you enter information such as: “What does a pack of 20 cigarettes cost you?”, How many cigarettes do you smoke per day?”, and “How many years have you smoked?” We answered these questions based on the typical smoker.

1. What does a pack of 20 cigarettes cost you? $5.00

2. How many cigarettes do you smoke per day? 20 cigarettes (one pack)

3. How many years have you smoked? 30 years

The results from this are astounding! If you fit this mold, did you know that your nicotine habit costs you approximately $1,825.00 per year? How about if you continue your habit at this rate, you will be losing 840 days from your lifespan and will have spent $54,750 to do so?

In a recent four year span, over $96 billion has been spent on tobacco-related health care costs in the U.S. With the U.S. coming in highest, France is a distant second at $16.6 billion. With the average price of a pack of cigarettes in the U.S. at $6.36, there is $35 worth of health-related costs to the smoker per pack of cigarettes! Yet, we still see people continue this fatal habit.

Smoking causes terrible damage throughout the body. Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals and compounds. Hundreds of these are toxic, and at least 69 are cancer causing. Smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the U.S. This is approximately one in five deaths. If no one smoked, one of every three cancer deaths in the U.S. would not happen.

My question to you is this: why start? The Partnership for a Tobacco Free Cerro Gordo County and Tobacco-Free North Iowa are working toward making our next generation tobacco-free. Youth are being educated in school about the terrible effects smoking can have on their body and their pocketbook. Our hope is these kids will grow up knowing nicotine products are something that can negatively affect their family, their health, and their overall quality (and length) of life in the future.

I ask you all to take the pledge today, to put down your nicotine products during the Great American Smoke Out on Thursday, November 20. Whether it be just for the day, or as the start of a nicotine-free future, we support you. At the Health Department we have FREE “Quit Bags” available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The bags contain items and tools that can help you through cravings that come on throughout the day. We also have our Freedom From Smoking clinics beginning Tuesday, November 18th at the Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health.

Please, take a moment and think about how you want to live the rest of your life. It’s never too late to quit!

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