Reply #1: Consider those years of painful disability

[Warpy]

My mother spent over 20 years fighting for every breath she took until she died last year.

Cancer is the easy way out. It generally kills within a couple of years, at most.

Heart disease and emphysema cripple people for decades until they finally succumb. It's slow and agonizing way out as the person loses the ability to breathe, or slowly drowns in his own fluids.

And yes, these people should be included in smoking deaths, since they were dying for such a long time.