America's new tobacco crisis: The rich stopped smoking, the poor did not.

[Vinca]

18. That seems apparent just by watching people on the street, but why???

Cigarettes still make you sick whether you're rich or poor. That can't be a secret after all these years. And they're expensive! I live in a state where smokers amass because cigarettes are cheaper than in surrounding states, but they're half a week's groceries a carton. When I was in my late teens and early 20's I smoked off and on and it only took about 3 years and a chronic cough to figure out it wasn't a good idea. And they were cheap back in the 1960's so it wasn't a money thing. People can't possibly be so ill informed they don't know coughing and hacking and spitting up glop isn't bad. I just don't understand it. It's a bad addiction, but it's not an insurmountable addiction.