Dear Smokers,

It’s time we all had a talk. Cigarettes are not doing anybody any favors.

The health problems caused by cigarettes to yourself is no longer a risk worth taking. Do you really want to get lung cancer? Cigarette smoking the number one leading cause of lung cancer (90%). The lung cancer five-year survival rate is only 17.7%. Your kids, your spouse, your family (close and extended), your friends... No one wants to watch you die of a disease that has one of the lowest survival rates on earth. Why do you stay a slave to an addiction that is greatly harming you?

The amount of litter caused by cigarette butts is getting absolutely out of hand. This is just disgusting and it is EVERYWHERE. There is nowhere that anyone can go without finding at least one cigarette butt lying somewhere on the ground.

On hiking trails; at amusement parks; outside of hotels, restaurants, stores, etc. You can’t even go into nature anymore without finding cigarette butts littered everywhere. It is gross, unsanitary, and unhealthy. Animals eat these cigarette butts.

Tobacco is not good for people or animals. It makes them sick. It has gotten to the point that it makes me angry every time I’m driving behind someone and see him or her throw a cigarette butt out of the window onto the street. I want to ask you all, what do you think happens to all those cigarette butts? They stay there or are picked up by some animal. Neither alternative is acceptable.

The health problems to others caused by your smoking habits are unacceptable. AKA: secondhand smoke. In the United States alone, two out of five adults and half of children who do not smoke cigarettes are still exposed to secondhand smoke.

Every year, 7,300 people who have never smoked a day in their life are dying of lung cancer because of your secondhand smoke. Not only are you harming yourself, but you are now harming others. You are harming your children, others’ children, pets, and anybody else who inhales your secondhand smoke. That smoke doesn’t just go away after you put out your cigarette butt. It lingers on your clothes, breath, and even furniture (if you smoke inside). Do not put others in danger for the sake of your addiction.

Cigarettes are an unhealthy and expensive addiction. The average American smoker spends anywhere between $1,500 and $3,300 a year on cigarettes. Not only does smoking take years off your life, but also it takes a significant amount of money out of your pocket. There are so many things to be spending those thousands of dollars on, like a weekend family vacation or school supplies for your children. You, literally, burn through cigarettes, and the money spent on them, in absolutely no time at all.

Stop smoking. Stop risking your lives and others’ lives just for an expensive 70 mm addiction. It is no longer worth it. The risks extremely outweigh the benefits in this smoking situation Americans have found themselves in. It is time for you to stop.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Citizen