Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the United States. More than 400,000 deaths every year (in fact, about 1,200 per day) in the United States are attributed to smoking. At least one-third of these are related to cardiovascular disease. Smoking kills more people each year than AIDS, alcohol (including drunk driving), cocaine, other forms of drug abuse, and accidents combined. Indeed, almost 20 percent of all deaths in the United States are related to smoking, according to the Surgeon General.The toll of this human tragedy is compounded by the immense expense borne by all members of society, smokers and nonsmokers alike, in terms of higher health insurance costs, lower productivity, and higher taxes. Analysis has shown that the cost to each American—every man, woman, and child, whether they smoke or not—is $221 to cover the consequences of smoking in terms of increased health care and insurance and lost productivity. A national financial burden of $37 billion to $50 billion per year suggests that the incentive to reduce tobacco use should be very high on an individual and national basis.*228\252\8*
