Nobody really knows what smoking pot does to your lungs

Smoking is bad. Even smokers know this is so. Many people view marijuana as “a relatively safe drug,” they write, and there’s a lot of literature out there touting its health benefits and safety. But there are also concerns that there hasn’t been enough scientific research to really define the health problems that marijuana might present.

 Smoking still kills over 6 million people a year

Of all the ways to die, rolling up tobacco, setting it on fire, and voluntarily breathing in the acrid, smoky, result is a surprisingly common one. Smoking killed roughly 1 in 10 people worldwide in 2015, according to a recent study in the journal The Lancet. It remains the second leading risk factor for an early death and disability.

 The Rising Cost of Cigarettes Doesn’t Stop All Smokers

Last month, in its continuing effort to stop people from smoking, New York City raised the minimum price of a pack of cigarettes from $10.50 to $13—the highest in the nation. But that hasn’t stopped my neighbor, John Melia, from merrily puffing away. A self-described “proud smoker,” he says there’s nothing better than a cigarette after a good meal.

 The Risks to Children From Adults Who Smoke

Although smokers may refrain from lighting up around children, the youngsters they contact are exposed to health-robbing toxicants in thirdhand smoke, the residue that lingers on furniture, clothing and skin. If you’re a nonsmoker, I’m sure you can smell a smoker at arm’s length. Do you really want that person holding your baby?

 The unfortunate tenacity of the most common piece of litter

Cigarette butts have the proud distinction of being the most common form of litter on America's beaches. Some 6 trillion cigarettes are manufactured on Earth each year, and between 750 million to 1,500 million pounds of cigarette butt waste — largely made of a plastic-like material called cellulose acetate — are ultimately flung to the ground annually, according to the World Health Organization.

 We Used Terrible Science to Justify Smoking Bans

Will we look at the new evidence for long enough to at least consider whether we’ve gone too far?

Pity the Poor Cigarette Smoker

The smoker has become shunned by society and pushed farther and farther towards its dark recesses and outer fringes. Are there any solutions to alleviate the pain that smokers are suffering?

Sept. 25, 1878: Yes, Smoking Is a Health Hazard

1878: Eighty-six years before the U.S. surgeon general issues a report confirming the dangers of smoking tobacco, a letter from English physician Charles R. Drysdale condemning its use appears in The Times of London.

100 Years Of Smoking Studies In Popular Science

Popular Science has reported on tobacco smoking throughout its history. There are some fun anachronisms, like a 1910 declaration that "there is no scientific evidence that the moderate use of tobacco by healthy mature men produces any beneficial or injurious physical effects that can be measured." Health organizations now say there is no healthy level of smoking, nor of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Health Check: how harmful is social smoking?

Modern social smokers are typically younger, better educated and more affluent than other smokers and often smoke to gain acceptance among their social group, rather than in response to a craving for nicotine.

If My Friend Smokes Sometimes, Should the Cigarettes Have Filters?

The standard answer from a doctor is simply never have a single cigarette. Never bring your phone to bed, never have unprotected sex, never sit for eight hours at a time. Never is the directive for a lot of things that a lot of people will do more times than never.

Is It Safe Yet to Have an Honest Conversation About Secondhand Smoke and Lung Cancer?

Several years ago I was talking to an epidemiologist who is skeptical of the idea that smokers pose a mortal threat to people in their vicinity. Although he supported workplace smoking bans, he was frustrated by the willingness of so many anti-tobacco activists and public health officials to overlook or minimize the weakness of the scientific case that secondhand smoke causes fatal illnesses such as lung cancer and heart disease.

Michael Douglas' Real Life Fatal Attraction

Tobacco use is the single greatest risk factor for developing throat cancer - 75% to 80% of patients are smokers. Quitting is difficult and scary but dying slowly is worse.

No Clear Link Between Passive Smoking and Lung Cancer

A large prospective cohort study of more than 76,000 women confirmed a strong association between cigarette smoking and lung cancer but found no link between the disease and secondhand smoke.

Obama Likes His Butts

21% of the population smokes cigarettes and every year approximately 20% of them try to quit, yet only 2% will be successful. President Obama can relate, he is still struggling with smoking and is using 'nicotine replacement therapy'.

Passive smoking: Out from the haze

Kris Novak finds that epidemiologists are still arguing about the effects of second-hand smoke.

Shoot the Messenger

Don't blame the messenger because the message is unpleasant - Ken Starr.

The Battle Against Tobacco Rages On

Today, 50 years later, we've cut the US smoking rate by more than half. Increasingly, effective tobacco control efforts have prevented at least eight million Americans from dying prematurely. It's a great public health success, one of the biggest of the 20th century. But the battle against tobacco is far from over. At least 5.6 million kids alive today will die prematurely from smoking if current rates continue.

Thirdhand Smoke: A Lingering Threat

You undoubtedly know about secondhand tobacco smoke, even though there is less of it these days because fewer people smoke in public. But do you know what thirdhand smoke is?

What’s worse for you–your boss, or smoking a pack a day?

Bad bosses are more common than you think. Recent research from the American Psychological Association reported that 75% of American workers identify their boss as the worst and most stressful part of their job and 60% of US workers would take a new boss over a pay raise.

Why CVS Quit Smoking

What inspired CVS’s rhetorical shift from saving pennies to saving lives? Again, as in the sixties, a change in the law has presented businesses with an opportunity.

Your Nose Knows: The Invisible Threat of 'Thirdhand Smoke'

While people are less likely to be affected by these thirdhand toxins than by the more widely recognized first- and secondhand smoking, Timo Hammer of the Hohemstein Institute for Textile Innovation in Germany suggested that touching contaminated surfaces and ingesting dust can still be hazardous, especially if that exposure extends over a period of time. At particular risk are children and people with compromised heart, respiratory or immune systems.