Good News! Americans Are Smoking Less Than Ever

Full disclosure: I used to smoke a lot back in my early days. Somedays I would smoke up to 2 packs a day and thought I would never be able to quit smoking. I started smoking as a teenager growing up in Maine at the age of 14, taking after my father who smoked himself to literal death at the age of 57.

Looking back, I have to wonder what the heck I was thinking, after all like I said, my father passed away after suffering a major heart attack. It was brought on by his lifelong smoking habit that he was never able to conquer. I recall him smoking non-filtered brands like Pal Mal and Camel. If you have never inhaled one of those, you have no idea how much dangerous smoke and nicotine goes into your lungs. One drag would send my head spinning and body coughing to get it out of my system.

Teen age boys in the 70's were brought up on the notion that cigarette smoking was not such a bad thing. We would see rough cowboys on TV telling us the virtues of smoking Marlboro's or how a Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.

Back then it was very common for High Schools to have designated "smoking areas" outside of the school where half the students spent their recesses.

Cigarette commercials were banned from television in the early 70's and the smoking decline had begun. Which was just about the time of the rise of working out and jogging became very popular. Who wants to smoke after a tennis match or a good workout?

I smoked until the age of 27 about the time that I joined a very pricey gym and started to feel strange lighting up a butt after a grueling workout. The Great American Smoke Out was an annual event that was set aside for smokers to designate the day to give up on smoking. I participated in it and gave up smoking "cold turkey" meaning all at once and not tapering off to the point where you reduced the amount you smoked gradually.

The first week was rough, I would dream of smoking cigarettes in my sleep and wake up feeling guilty. After 3 weeks the desire got to be more bearable and before long, I had ceased craving them.

It has been over 30 years now and I have never smoked a cigarette again. Something that I am very proud of. I have gone past the age that my father passed away from his inability to quit. That's a badge of honor I wear proudly and sadly at the same time because I wish he wasn't robbed of so many years.

Recent surveys in the UK and US reveal that smoking rates have reached historic lows, with significant declines observed across all age groups. A study published in JAMA projects a national smoking prevalence of below 5% by 2035. States like California, Utah, Hawaii, and Colorado are expected to fall well below this target. In the UK, smoking rates hover around 11.5% nationally, dropping even lower among young adults. . Experts predict a decline in the smoking epidemic in the near future. (Goodnewsnetwork)