According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, cigarette smoking is perhaps the most devastating preventable cause of disease and premature death.

Nearly 50 million Americans smoke, including one in five teenagers, resulting in nearly 450,000 deaths each year.

Smoking is particularly dangerous for teens because their bodies are still developing and changing. The 4,000 chemicals, including poisons, in cigarette smoke can adversely affect this process.

Cigarettes are also highly addictive, both mentally and physically, and can serve as a major gateway to other forms of drug addiction.

Adolescent cigarette smokers are 100 times more likely to smoke marijuana and are more likely to use other illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin in the future.

One-third of young people who are just `experimenting' end up being addicted by the time they are age 20.

Second hand smoke is also a dangerous killer and is responsible for about 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually of non-smokers in the US.

The risks of cigarette smoking: diminished or extinguished sense of smell and taste frequent colds smoker's cough gastric ulcers chronic bronchitis increase in heart rate and blood pressure premature and more abundant face wrinkles emphysema heart disease stroke cancer of the mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, lungs, pancreas, cervix, uterus, and bladder The use of tobacco is addictive. Most users develop tolerance for nicotine and need greater amounts to produce a desired effect.

Smokers become physically and psychologically dependent and will suffer withdrawal symptoms.

Cigarettes can interfere with intimacy as smoking makes you smell bad and gives you bad breath.

It has been said that kissing a smoker is like licking as ashtray. More seriously, cigarettes are a known killer so why begin a habit that you know can eventually kill you, unless you have a death wish.

DRUGS DGS