According to the CDC,
Cost of Smoking-Related Illness
- Smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion each year, including:11,12
- Nearly $170 billion for direct medical care for adults
- More than $156 billion in lost productivity, including $5.6 billion in lost productivity due to secondhand smoke exposure
Nicotine is a drug just as addictive as heroin, perhaps more so. Given that smoking prevalence is now down in the teens in most States, isn’t it time for a final push to wipe out smoking once and for all? The strategy now under serious consideration is to mandate a slow, steady decrease in nicotine concentration in cigarettes until it falls below a level necessary to maintain the addiction. That’s around 1 mg per cigarette. Smokers would not notice the decline very much over a decade, but eventually the cigarette would just fade away. Cigarettes range from about 8-20 mg nicotine. So a drop of 10% per year would result in a weaning off of the smoking population.
It is, in fact, how I quit smoking back in 1980. I started by never buying the same brand twice, leaving my cigarettes at home, not smoking at work (you could in those days at your desk!). Then I waited until the inevitable cold. Bingo. Relatively easy. Went from a pack a day to nothing in a couple of months. Mind you, smoking appeared in my dreams for the next 2 years!
One issue in healthcare that is often ignored is the health of the US population. Smoking is the #1 preventable cause of illness in the country. It’s time we committed to a final elimination of this immensely harmful addiction. Let’s save lives and money with a national weaning off campaign.