• Lung cancer has now surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women (link: smoking and pregnancy).
• Cigarette smoking is the # 1 cause of cancer death in men.
• Lung cancer incidence rates are 50% higher in African American men than in white males.

SMOKING IS ADDICTIVE

• According to the US Surgeon General, nicotine is just as addictive as heroin and cocaine.
• A "hit" of nicotine reaches the brain in seven seconds, twice as fast as injected heroin.

SMOKING IS NOT SOPHISTICATED

• A cigar can produce more than 25 times as much secondhand smoke as a cigarette.
• Tobacco smoke stains teeth. Nicotine damages collagen, which causes skin to wrinkle.

SMOKING IS COSTLY

• Cigarettes are the most heavily advertised products in the U.S. Tobacco companies spent over 4.9 billion dollars in 1995 on advertising and promotion of their deadly products.
• Smoking costs the nation over $97.2 billion per year in health-care costs and lost productivity - that's about $276 per American.
• At least 3.1 million adolescents smoke: 24.6% of high school seniors are current smokers.