False: Tobacco is a drug. According to the 1994 Surgeon General's report, the probability of becoming addicted to nicotine after any exposure is even higher than that of heroin or cocaine. Tobacco users, whether they use cigarettes, cigars, pipes or chewing tobacco, require increasing doses of nicotine with time (tolerance) and experience serious withdrawal symptoms and cravings on trying to quit.

9. Tobacco (nicotine) withdrawal is a group of very unpleasant feelings (i.e., nervousness, irritability, sweating, depression, inability to concentrate, inability to sleep) that occur when a regular (addicted) tobacco user tries to quit.

True

HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF TOBACCO: TRUE or FALSE

10. The death rate from smoking is less than that from AIDS.

False: The yearly death rate from smoking is greater than AIDS, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, car wrecks, suicide and murder combined. In the United States, alone, well over 1,000 people die every day from a disease which is directly caused from smoking. The cigarette companies have to replace these dying smokers to stay in business and they want you!

11. Half (50%) of long term smokers lose, on average, three years of life because of their tobacco addiction.

False: Half (50%) of long term smokers lose, on average, fifteen years of life because of their tobacco addiction. It is estimated by the American Thoracic Society that a heavy smoker at age twenty-five can expect a life expectancy at least 25% shorter than a non-smoker.

12. Cigarette smoking during teenage years causes very serious health problems before reaching the age of twenty.

True: Cigarette smoking causes serious health problems in teenagers: 1) slowed growth and development of the lungs so that maximum lung function is never achieved 2) cough and phlegm production 3) increased respiratory illnesses (such as asthma, bronchitis and infections) 4) increased blood levels of carbon monoxide which robs the blood of oxygen 5) decreased breathing ability, energy, endurance and athletic ability 6) abnormal blood fat levels and early hardening of the coronary arteries which leads to early heart disease 7) genetic changes (mutations) in lung cells which greatly increase the risk of lung cancer later on and the younger the smoking starts the greater the risk 8) black lung.