This addiction is especially prevalent among those who suffer from alcoholism and from other drug dependencies. Nicotine and other tobacco toxins cause free-radical damage to cells and destroy vitamins and minerals and therefore weaken the immune system. Cigarette smoke reaches the brain faster than drugs that enter the body intravenously. Secondhand Smoke Smoking harms not only the smoker, but also family members, co-workers and others who breathe the smoker's cigarette smoke. My smoking bothers a lot of my friends, but when I'm around those that it bothers, I try not to smoke as much.
Secondhand smoke harms persons of all ages.
Each year, approximately 3,000 non-smoking adults die from lung cancer that is attributed to secondhand smoke inhalation. Among infants up to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year. Secondhand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a child's chances for middle-ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing and worsens asthma conditions. If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke than a young person whose parents are both nonsmokers. In households where only one parent smokes, young people are also more likely to start smoking.