Archive: Opinions

Smoking is a thing I have never understood.  When I think about things I often wonder about the first person who did the thing.  What on Earth could have possessed a person to roll up some leaves in a piece of paper, set it on fire and suck in the smoke?  I mean, how do you even get an idea like that?  Yet smoking has been around for thousands of years.  And according to a new analysis by the financial Web site Wallethub, New York State is the absolute worst of the 50 states and Washington D.C. in terms of what smoking costs.

Smoking is one of those things that makes the person doing it feel good, but makes almost everyone else miserable.  I appreciated it when New York made it illegal to smoke inside restaurants.  But so many people smoke right next to the door that you can smell the smoke as you walk in and out -- somewhat nauseating, especially around eating places -- even if nobody is presently smoking there.

I grew up in a smoking household - both parents smoked.  Then they quit -- well one did and the other secretly (not so much, because we all knew) smoked for a time.  After they quite the smell became intolerable for me.  And I can even smell it if my car window is open and the person in the car in front of me is smoking.

I tried smoking in college.  I was completely inept at it.  I would buy a pack of cigarettes, smoke one or two, then forget I had them.  By the time I remembered the whole pack had gone stale.  So I bought another pack and the same thing happened.  It didn't take many packs before I wondered why I was bothering.  I had a pipe smoking roommate at the time, and he got me interested in smoking pipes.  I think Sherlock Holmes' Meerschaum pipe made it glamorous for me (I just had a plain looking pipe, but plenty of imagination), and I did enjoy it to a certain extent.  But everything smelled tobacco-y when you walked into our apartment, which was decidedly not 221-B Baker Street.  Stale tobacco-y.  And again, I didn't feel a compulsion to smoke, so I didn't last long.

It's not that I don't understand compulsion and habit.  Just the other day I made one of my grandmother's dessert recipes, and I happily stuffed myself for three days, even though I knew I was eating too much.  I don't do this often, but my grandmother was an amazing cook and in those days nobody knew or cared that certain ingredients were bad for you.  That's what made them taste better.  They still do (burp).

The Financial Cost of Smoking in New York (1=Lowest, 25=Avg.): Out-of-Pocket Cost per Smoker – $194,341 (Rank: 51st) Financial-Opportunity Cost per Smoker – $1,637,046 (Rank: 51st) Health-Care Cost per Smoker – $226,057 (Rank: 47th) Income Loss per Smoker – $241,818 (Rank: 36th) Other Costs per Smoker – $13,764 (Rank: 42nd) Total Cost Over a Lifetime per Smoker: $2,313,025 Total Cost per Year per Smoker: $45,353 Source: Wallethub

But after years of anti-smoking propaganda and education we know two basic facts.  Smoking has become very expensive.  And it is really, really bad for you.  The fact that it is repulsive to some of us belongs on that list, but it is those two facts that make it seem crazy for new smokers to start.

Setting aside the fact that it causes cancer and causes some people to die painful, miserable deaths, the Wallethub analysis calculates that the total cost per smoker in New York is $2,313,025, which includes out of pocket expenses including the cost of the cigarettes, lost wages, and the cost of health care, among others.  The annual cost per New York smoker is $45,353.

Seems like a lot of money for something that will kill you.  If you are intent on dying there are plenty of less expensive and faster ways to off yourself.

And smoking is such a passé way to do it.  Walking into traffic while staring at your cell phone is way more 'today'.

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