Smoking thrills.... but kills

The cold hard facts as we know them. According to The National Cancer Institute in the USA.
1.Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths and is responsible for most cancers of the larynx,oral cavity,pharynx,esophagus and bladder.Tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking, is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smoking alone is directly responsible for approximately 30 percent of all cancer deaths annually United States.

2.Cigarette smoking also causes chronic lung disease (emphysema and chronic bronchitis), cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cataracts. Smoking during pregnancy can cause stillbirth, low birthweight, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and other serious pregnancy complications.
3.Secondhand smoke is responsible for an estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths among U.S. nonsmokers each year.

4.Tobacco smoke contains thousands of chemical agents, including over 60 substances that are known to cause cancer .

5.The risk of developing smoking-related cancers, as well as noncancerous diseases, increases with total lifetime exposure to cigarette smoke.

5.Smoking cessation has major and immediate health benefits, including decreasing the risk of lung and other cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease.

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Now Reality as I discussed with a good friend just last evening.
Someone who has been a hard core smoker for the last 30 plus years, struggling with quitting at least on two occassions, and then finally, succumbed.
All over again......
To the lure of the 'cancer stick'

I really needed to understand what it is that draws an educated, smart individual to it again and again.And what I gathered was that even though he had seen his own father die of lung cancer at the relatively early age of sixty, this was something that he just couldn't bring under control..

I quote, "My body just cried out for the niccotine, and I was overwhelmed with despair.As well as guilt.But it was finally the niccotine craving that overpowered me, as it's really, really addictive.Yet I pray that no -one in my family gets hooked, the way that I did...."

Some understanding that, tinged with a feeling of the deepest dismay.
Knowing that he would never be able to quit.
Yet hoping that this piece serves a purpose.
That of informing and educating.

Even though we like to believe that we've all heard this or similar stories before...