Jump to full article: whyquit.com, 2008-04-05
Intro: How many smokers would be able to afford that next pack of cigarettes if they had to pay in advance the full cost of smoking them? Chemically captive to an endless cycle of bouncing between insula pathway urges, craves and anxieties, and dopamine pathway "aaah" reward sensations, few ever stop to reflect upon the lost income their slow-suicide and premature passing will eventually cost them and their loved ones.
What is the full cost of a smoker killing themselves early? A study now in press for the Journal of Health Economics found that the "economic value of the premature mortality due to smoking dwarfs the purchase price of cigarettes." According to the study, the 2006 mortality cost per pack for men was $222 and for women $94.
The study, authored by Vanderbilt University Law School economics Professors W. Kip Viscusi and Joni Hersch, statistically determined the per cigarette pack price of the economic value of life lost by the average smoker. . . .
Whether male or female, obviously, smoking more cigarettes per day or earning greater wages than this study's "averages" would cause a smoker's true per pack price to be significantly higher.
The next time you plop your hard earned money down on the sales counter try to picture the full cost. If that picture is disturbing, visit the Internet and master the "Law of Addiction," the most important quitting lesson of all. Knowledge and understanding truly is a quitting method.
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