Here are the facts:

Smoking rates are still decreasing, according to the American Lung Association's website.

According to the latest statistics (2017), the average percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes is around 14%. This is down considerably from the rates in the mid-1960s when they had reached over 40%.

Smoking among teens had spiked in the mid-1980s at 36%, but that number, too, has fallen. The most current data shows that less than 9% of American youths smoke cigarettes.

On the other hand, usage of electronic cigarettes (E-cigs, Juuls), has risen drastically: rates among middle school students increased by 720% between 2011 and 2018; rates for high school students for the same time period increased by 1280%.

The increase in E-cig rates is alarming for a few reasons, the first of those being that we do not know much about the effects of E-cigarettes on humans. Second of all, mysterious illnesses have been plaguing E-cig users, and researchers still can't figure out why.

Here is the opinion:

It still baffles my mind that people chose to smoke. I understand personal freedoms, God-given rights, etcetera; what I don't understand is people continuing to smoke when the research shows the damage it causes to the smoker, to those around the smoker, and to the environment. Baffles. My. Mind.

 

 

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