So you've got no excuse. Virtually no one starts the smoking habit during adulthood. Seventy percent of adolescent smokers say they would never have started if they could choose again. That's because the nicotine in cigarettes is addictive. The risk of becoming addicted to nicotine is between one in two and one in three.
Tobacco is responsible for nearly one in every five deaths in the United States.
It is the largest cause of preventable death. More than 400,000 people die every year from smoking-related diseases. The percentage of students who reported smoking in the 30 days prior to the survey rose by about 10 percent among both 8th and 10th graders. All parents should be concerned and alerted. The survey was conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research under a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.