Why Quit?

In Idaho, smoking kills more people than alcohol, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined. More than 1,800 Idahoans die from smoking-related diseases annually – an average of four people per day. And yet, tobacco companies spend an estimated $43 million each year in our state.

In Idaho:

  • 10,200 high school students smoke (12.2% of the total high school population)
  • 61,000 children are exposed to secondhand smoke at home
  • 30,200 youth are projected to ultimately die from smoking
  • $319,000,000 in annual healthcare costs are caused by smoking
  • $527 is the average Idaho household federal and state tax burden due to smoking

Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, including 50 known cancer-causing chemicals. But how many of these chemicals are still unknown? Without knowing what you’re consuming, you could be putting your health at a greater risk. With drugs, you can take something like a saliva test, (https://www.countrywidetesting.com/collections/saliva-tests), to establish just what is in the drug, but you can’t yet do the same for cigarettes. This is why you have to be cautious when it comes to smoking, as you don’t know what it can do to your health. For example, the poisons in cigarette smoke include carbon monoxide, which is found in exhaust fumes produced by cars and trucks, and hydrogen cyanide, a colorless gas that causes nerve, lung and heart problems. You shouldn’t forget the harmful impacts that it can have on your oral health too. From stained teeth, and gum disease, which has been caused by a build-up of plaque, can have a significant effect on your mouth. And as a result, you may be in need of a treatment called periodontics to help prevent it from getting worse. But it is so important that you are aware of the consequences that smoking can cause to your physical and oral health.

  • Infants and children of parents who smoke are more likely to have ear infections and asthma and have more frequent lower respiratory problems such as coughs, pneumonia, bronchitis and croup.
  • Smoking can contribute to tooth decay and gum disease, both of which are also linked to heart disease.
  • Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to give birth early to a baby that is underweight and prone to health and/or learning problems later in life.
  • Exposure to secondhand smoke increases an infant’s risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
  • People who live with a smoker have a 20% greater risk of developing lung cancer than those who live with a nonsmoker.
  • Employees exposed to secondhand smoke on the job have a 30% greater risk of getting lung cancer than employees who work in a non-smoking environment.
I'M READY TO QUIT