Is there a safe way to smoke?
No. All cigarettes can damage the human body. Any amount of smoke
is dangerous. Cigarettes are perhaps the only legal product whose
advertised and intended usesmokingis harmful to the body and
causes cancer.
Although some people try to make their smoking habit safer by
smoking fewer cigarettes, most smokers find that hard to do. Some
people think that switching from high-tar and high-nicotine
cigarettes to those with low tar and nicotine makes smoking safer,
but this is not true. When people switch to brands with lower tar
and nicotine, they often end up smoking more cigarettes, or more of
each cigarette, to get the same nicotine dose as before.
A low-tar cigarette can be just as harmful as a high-tar cigarette
when a person takes deeper puffs, puffs more frequently, or smokes
them to a shorter butt length. Even if smokers who switch to
lower-tar brands do not make these changes to compensate, the
health benefits are very small when compared to the benefits of
quitting for good.
Is cigarette smoking really addictive?
Yes. The nicotine in cigarette smoke causes an addiction to
smoking. Nicotine is an addictive drug (just like heroin and
cocaine) for three main reasons.
When taken in small amounts, nicotine creates pleasant feelings
that make the smoker want to smoke more.
Smokers usually become dependent on nicotine and suffer withdrawal
symptoms when they stop smoking. These symptoms include
nervousness, headaches, irritability, and difficulty
sleeping.
Because nicotine affects the chemistry of the brain and central
nervous system, it can affect the mood and nature of the
smoker.
