Despite health risks, smoking still a problem

Cynthia Hawthorne/Madigan Army Medical Center

As we prepare to observe the 32nd annual Great American Smoke Out, we can all be proud of the progress we’ve achieved in raising awareness about the negative health effects of smoking and second-hand smoke. You’d think our work was done.

You’d be wrong, and that’s why it’s as important to quit for a day this Nov. 19 as it was in 1977 during the first Smoke Out.

Despite wide acceptance that tobacco and nicotine use carry unacceptable health risks, nicotine is still one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States. Most users still get their nicotine in the form of cigarettes.

However, due to price increases on cigarettes and public smoking bans, smoking has become expensive and inconvenient for a lot of users. But just as smoking has started to become less attractive, the tobacco industry is providing us with new nicotine products to assist you with maintaining your addiction and their profits.

One such product is the smokeless electronic cigarette, or e-cig. Another company has a new line of nicotine products in the form of candy-sized orbs, strips that melt on the tongue and toothpicks called “dissolvables.” The danger here is that smokers lured by the convenience may increase their daily consumption from half-a-pack’s worth of nicotine to two packs or just put off ending their nicotine addiction.

No matter the delivery system — inhalation, chew, orbs, strips or toothpicks — nicotine is a powerful and toxic substance. For example, research indicates that nicotine can cross the placenta and also be excreted in breastmilk. This early exposure could predispose children to smoking or other forms of nicotine addiction.

Nicotine also takes a terrible toll on the heart and vessels. It raises the heart rate, increases blood pressure and constricts blood vessels — all of which can lead to chronic hypertension and heart diseases like congestive heart failure and irregular heartbeats. So even if you don’t get lung cancer from nicotine, you can most certainly suffer from heart attacks and strokes.

These new products could also pose risks for more than just the user. Because these products are “smokeless,” smokers may start smoking e-cigs in their homes, sending a message to their children that this type of nicotine addiction is OK.

Don’t think of nicotine addiction as a fundamental right; rather, consider it a disease that we should be working hard at to prevent. Support the Great American Smoke Out on Nov. 19 by giving up the smokes and all forms of nicotine consumption.

To learn more about quitting tobacco, call TRICARE at 1-800-404-4506 and book a tobacco cessation appointment or go to www.ucanquit2.org or www.becomeanex.org. To schedule training on the impact tobacco use has on individual and unit readiness call Army Public Health Nursing at 968-4382.