Social smoking - Essay Example

Despite that, 21% of adults, 22% of high school students and 8% of middle school students smoke. One in five of all deaths every year in the United States have been credited to smoking, killing more than AIDS, suicide, alcohol, car accidents, homicide, and illegal drugs combined (American Cancer Society, 2004). Smoking socially has become a problem for the social smokers as it has been found that these social smokers are at the same health risks as are the regular smokers. The tobacco companies use the aspect of social smoking to increase their sales which is discussed subsequently.

Smoking socially makes it difficult for a smoker to quit even on occasions. These social smokers tend to smoke only when they are in some kind of gathering or party. The social smokers never tend to agree to the fact that they are addicted to nicotine. Most of the social smokers are seen to have started smoking socially in their high school. A social smoker Vickie from New York was stated as saying "If I’m out drinking, or hanging out with people who are smoking, then I usually get the urge to smoke" (Hainer 2008).

People who smoke socially face difficulties in quitting because of various reasons. It has been found that these people do not usually have withdrawal symptoms like regular smokers but they don’t to have a temptation because of which they smoke. After remaining in a company in which individuals smoke a social smoker gets the urge of smoking automatically (Pope 2008). The social smokers do not tend to smoke because of their withdrawal symptoms but rather smoke to induce the psychoactive effect of nicotine.

This means that these social smokers are addicted in a similar fashion that the regular smokers are. One of the social smokers stated when asked about quitting “It’s been difficult” (Hainer 2008). Another reason because of which the social smokers find it difficult to quit is the reason that the friends urge them to smoke every now and then. Whenever a person is present at an occasion he is tempted by his friends to smoke and this makes it difficult for him to smoke. Moreover the social circle of the smokers also matters because of which the smoker is tempted to smoke.

For social smokers to quit it is necessary that they realize the danger that they are facing because of their habits but in real life scenarios it is seen that these social smokers are in a state of denial. The social smokers never agree to the fact that they are addicted to smoking in one way or the other and categorize themselves in the class of non smokers. These are primary reasons because of which the social smokers are in a difficulty to quite the habit of smoking (Schane et al 2009). The tobacco industry has used the platform of social smoking to increase their sales from the very early years.

The industry is believed to have been conducting research in the field of smoking earlier than the health professionals which has helped them to increase their sales. Social smoking has been used by the companies as it is the best way through which they can attract a consumer towards the cigarettes (Landman et al 2008). The tobacco companies use social smoking by creating an image for the ciggarrete brands. This brand image refers to a specific crowd or cliques who are involved in social