Maryland Attorney General - Teen Consumer

You probably know by now that smoking can kill you. But even if you didn't care about that (!), did you know that smoking burns quite a hole in your wallet, too?

You might start out smoking just a couple of cigarettes a day, but it can quickly turn into a pack-a-day habit. If you smoke a pack a day, and a pack costs $6.50, look at how much you'll spend:

Pack a Day	For			Costs You	You Could Have Bought
	X	1 Year	=	$2,372	100 movie tickets, a trip to a concert in New York, and a leather coat
	X	5 Years	=	$11,862	a trip to Cancun, a motorbike, and a large-screen TV, a DVD player and 300 DVD movies
	X	20 Years	=	$47,440	a fully loaded SUV, OR a diamond engagement ring and a down payment on a house

Other ways smoking can cost you money:
smoker coughing It could cost you a sports scholarship. Smoking can wreck lungs and reduce oxygen available for muscles used during sports. Smokers run slower and can't run as far.

It will make you pay more for life insurance or health insurance. You may not care about that now, but you will later.

It can cost you money for holes you burn in your clothing or furniture and for cleaning to get the smell out of your car.

But wait--there's more!

Smoking Can Kill Your Looks...
Smoking causes wrinkles, stains teeth, turns fingernails yellow, causes industrial-strength bad breath and makes your hair and clothes stink.

It Can Make You Sick and Die...
Smoking is major or contributing cause of cancer of the lung, larynx, oral cavity, bladder, pancreas, uterus, cervix, kidney and stomach. Smoking is a known cause of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Smoking can lead to impotence and infertility in men.

More than 2,000 kids become regular smokers each day. One third of them will die prematurely from a tobacco-related disease.
–U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

...And You Can Get Busted! prisoner smoking
It is against the law for anyone under 18 to use or possess cigarettes in Maryland, no matter whether received as a gift or bought from a store or over the Internet. It is also illegal to use a fake ID to obtain tobacco.

If police cite a minor under for violating these laws, the minor may be:

Referred to a smoking cessation clinic;
Hit with a civil fine of up to $25 for the first violation and a civil fine of up to $100 for a second or subsequent violation;

Assigned to a supervised work program for not more than 20 hours for the first violation and not more than 40 hours for a second or subsequent violation.

Trying to buy cigarettes over the Internet can get you into trouble: Under Maryland law it is a crime to sell cigarettes over the Internet, by phone or by mail directly to consumers of any age. If you obtain cigarettes in this manner, the cigarettes can be seized as contraband, you could be liable for unpaid state cigarettes taxes of $20 per carton and you could be subject to criminal prosecution for possessing unstamped cigarettes. Also, federal law requires out-of-state cigarette sellers to notify state taxing authorities of the names and addresses of all purchasers of cigarettes.

For more info on the risks of smoking, see www.tobaccofreekids.org

Try the University of Maryland Medicine's "Cost of Smoking Calculator"
http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/cigarette.asp