How Addictive are Cigarettes?

It's astonishing what some smokers will do for a cigarette. Some people don't know when to quit. The seriously addicted will go through some amazing, sometimes ridiculous extremes, sometimes risking death & serious injury just to have another smoke. These are some true stories...

A man has a laryngectomy for cancer of the larynx from smoking, and a permanent tracheotomy hole in his neck. He resumes smoking THROUGH his tracheotomy!

A hospital patient on oxygen, lights up a cigarette (in violation of hospital rules) igniting the oxygen line and setting herself on fire - she ends up in the burn unit with 3rd degree burns. Another hospital patient once attempted to light up inside an OXYGEN Tent!

A lung transplant patient, and lung cancer survivor later resumes smoking with his "new lung."

"In 1983, our chemistry professor at FSU tells our class, he once saw a lab chemist dispensing Anhydrous Diethyl Either from a 5-Gal drum with a lit cigarette in his mouth!"

Tallahassee 1985 - A woman pumps gas, at a gas station while smoking a cigarette, sets herself on fire, resulting in 3rd degree burns over 60% of her body.

Ex-chain smoker in her 60s who's on oxygen, carrying a portable oxygen tank everywhere for severe emphysema, is still smoking with oxygen tube in nose! She's dead now.

Oct 2002 - A 56-year old Boston man, who's a smoker with lung disease on home oxygen therapy ignites a fire with a dropped cigarette, causing an oxygen tank to explode, killing his 8-year old daughter.

A young aspiring aerospace engineering student, touring the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in strict violation of the rules, pulls out a cigarette and lights up INSIDE the V.A.B! He is IMMEDIATELY thrown off the Space Center, told never to return and loses his scholarship. What a waste!

During the Bosnian civil war of the 1990s, starving smokers have been known to trade food rations for cigarettes.

Smokers on airline flights, desperate for a smoke have been known to tamper with the plane's lavatory smoke detector, attempting to disable or disconnect it so that they can "sneak" a smoke. They always get caught and find themselves in BIG trouble!

Poor people on food stamps have been known to return food items for a refund so they could scrape up enough for a pack.

"This evening my Sister, who just flew in from LA and I were on our way to visit my Dad at Tampa Gen. Hosp., when a middle-aged patient getting on the same elevator says: 'This is one of the best hospitals! I had new heart valves and a bypass done 5 days ago but I learned one thing in life... Nothing is more important than that cigarette I just had.' DeeDee: 'I thought you were smoking.' Patient said 'My doctor told me I won't need to quit yet, because it would be too stressful for me.'" Can you imagine that!? Smoking 5 days after heart surgery!

From a retired nurse in Kamloops, BC Canada: "Smoking outside in Canada is difficult for patients in the winter but they still do it anyway, so the patients on intravenous take their I.V. poles & pumps outside and the lines start to freeze and pump alarms go off."

"The forest fire we had in 2003 was started by a smoker and caused millions and millions of dollars damage. He has been charged and convicted but if I remember correctly received only a $1000.00 fine but the man is on welfare and would have trouble paying that."

Never underestimate the power of cigarette addiction! Stories like these demonstrate just how bad it is. Cigarette smoking addiction is a disease, same as alcoholism or any other addiction. It's all too easy for non-smokers to fail to understand just how addictive it is. If you started smoking in your teens, addiction is especially severe and you are likely a heavy lifetime smoker. Most chain smokers started their habit by age 12, 13, or 14. Most chain smokers don't live beyond their 50s, and some smokers have died of lung cancer in their 30s and 40s. Doctors are seeing an alarming trend towards young adults with lung cancer.

Within the USA alone, smoking related diseases is responsible for 1 out of 5 (or 20%) of deaths. That's 1200 people every day. Smoking kills more people in 3 days than died in 9-11. Lung cancer is already the most common cause of cancer death in women, far surpassing breast cancer.

How long does it take to get addicted? Not very long. A 2000 study has shown that 25% of 11-13 year old teenagers, can become addicted in as little as 2 weeks, just from smoking 2 or 3 cigarettes per day. On average, they will remain hooked for 20 years, spending $1200/year+ on cigarettes. Some smokers have died of lung cancer in as little as 20 years from the time they first took up the habit. Smoking nearly always starts out with a few "bummed" cigarettes from friends, which leads to the eventual first-time purchase of a pack of cigarettes.

The majority of cigarette addicts in America would love to quit but don't know where to begin, or simply give up the idea of kicking the habit, assume that quitting is impossible.