You don't need to join a gym or a health club to safeguard your health. Regardless of the number of toxins, however, there is little doubt about the devastating effect smoking has on one's health. Few other consumer products come close to tobacco in the number of deaths they cause. In the United States, for example, ten times more people die from tobacco-related illnesses than from automobile accidents. In addition to an increased risk of cancer and heart disease, smokers suffer more frequently from colds, gastric ulcers, chronic bronchitis, and higher blood pressure than nonsmokers.
Smoking also diminishes one's sense of smell and taste.
Clearly, giving up smoking is one of the most important preventive health measures an individual can take. Drug abuse has taken an enormous toll on human life worldwide. But illicit drug users are not the only ones affected by the drug trade. In order to finance their habit, many addicts turn to violence and a life of crime. Drug abuse, of course, is far from being a problem only in the United States.