The seven million deaths a year should be enough. The cancer, heart disease, strokes, lung ailments, diabetes, tuberculosis, and arthritis should be enough. The formaldehyde, arsenic, and methane should be enough. Yet, according to the American Lung Association, more than 25% of adults ages 18 to 25 use tobacco products anyway.
Hillsdale students may think they live in a bubble, but they are just as vulnerable as anyone else to the addictive and destructive properties of nicotine and tobacco. Students smoke outside the Grewcock Student Union on Wednesdays at noon, ask upperclassmen to buy them a pack of cigarettes on Thursday evenings, and puff away on the porches of Manning Street houses every Friday night.
As a freshman, I Facetimed my mom while walking to the library. I passed a group of students who were standing outside, smoking at 11 a.m. My mother questioned why they were braving the 12-degree weather, and I informed her that they were puffing away on cigarettes.
“I thought Hillsdale students would know better!” my mom gasped. “You’re all good, smart kids, why would you waste your time and your money smoking? Don’t they know it causes cancer?”
My mother was right. Don’t we know better? Even if your elementary school didn’t have police officers speaking at assemblies, I’m confident most of us heard the “don’t smoke” lesson. So when did it become cool to stand in a pile of snow with your friends at 1 a.m., holding a cigarette between your shaking fingers?
Truth Initiative, a nonprofit committed to educating youth about the harms of tobacco, reported WHEN that smoking cigarettes shortens your lifespan by 10 years. If that doesn’t scare you enough, think about the chemical processes occurring inside your body when you smoke. As you lift your cold fingers to your lips and take a deep breath, you allow more than 600 chemicals to seep into your body. Hillsdale students are skeptical of FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines because we “don’t know what’s in it.” Yet, we ingest chemicals used in gasoline, elements known to cause cancer, and radioactive materials for the sake of “community.”
Within 10 seconds of inhaling, nicotine spirals up to your brain where it releases dopamine – the chemical that causes feelings of pleasure – giving you a sense of relaxation and bliss. But the more these chemicals permeate your system, the more your body begins to develop a dependence on them. Your brain will stop producing dopamine on its own, relying on nicotine to do the work instead. You’ll notice heightened feelings of anxiety, intensified feelings of depression – and cravings for nicotine.
Maybe it’s an escape from the gray skies, grayer coats, and even grayer streets. The gloomy weather makes many people melancholic. But cigarettes are not your solution.
You might think you can create a “cool,” new reputation by holding onto that white stick; people will think you’re edgy and dangerous, or that you’re appealing to the influence of C.S. Lewis. But, not only is the lingering smell of cigarette smoke absolutely repulsive, it also doesn’t carry the same effect it used to. Now, upon seeing a smoker, onlookers don’t immediately think of your class or allusion to the great men who’ve come before you, they see your addiction. Dependency is not attractive, especially when it’s to an inanimate object known to cause cancer. Future friends, coworkers, and especially significant others will not encourage the hundreds of dollars you spend on cigarettes a year, and they’ll think you’re more pathetic because of it.
You were smart enough to make it into Hillsdale, don’t be dumb enough to think your new hobby won’t turn into an addiction. Don’t smoke.
