Tobacco use can be traced all the way back to when Europeans first touched ground on the American continent. By then of course, the natives have been making use of the dried leaves for far longer and for very different reasons than we have today. Native Americans would employ tobacco as a part of their traditional ceremonies or their religious conditions by smoking them from ceremonial pipes.

They believed that the tobacco was a gift from the Creator just like , like many things, and that the smoke exhaled carried their thoughts and prayer up to heaven. Back then though, this was done mostly by their shamans as they were the only ones who were qualified to perform these rites. This was a happy coincidence really, as it spared the rest since the smoke from the rough tobacco back then was extremely harmful to the lungs, much more so than the more developed strains of today.

After their contact with the natives, Europeans brought samples of the dried leaves back to their homeland where it became popular to the extreme as a recreational product and so was disseminated all throughout the world from there.

In modern times, this tradition of enjoying the addictive substance continues with all its sacred history forgotten. More often than not, smoking is viewed as a means to relieve stress than anything else. However, studies borne over the years have brought about compelling evidence that smoking has absolutely no health or mental benefits whatsoever and that the supposed advantages that smokers often vehemently propose are without merit in scientific standing

As a case in point, here are some of the arguments for smoking:

1. Stress reliever – whenever a smoker is stressed, they can just smoke a stick or two and they would be just fine.
2. Increase in productivity – when the stress is gone, smokers can then focus more on their work and thus complete it much faster and more efficiently. Sometimes smoking can even sharpen their concentration even more.
3. Weight loss – many smokers associate their loss of weight due to smoking and as smoking does induce loss of appetite this might be credible to some extent.
4. Peer acceptance – once they have started smoking, people often observe non-smokers to have a change of attitude towards them and find acceptance in fellow smokers. This feeling of camaraderie is understandably important to them and they would hate to lose it.

Now here are points that contest these arguments:

1. Stress reliever – this is a complete falsity as studies have shown that smokers actually exhibit higher stress cases than non-smokers. The perceived lessening of the stress is actually the normal state of their condition that non-smokers experience most of the time.
2. Increase in productivity – though this may be the case when tied to the first argument, there are far healthier and more conducive ways to achieve this as opposed to smoking. And when acknowledging the case against the first argument, the performance you get when smoking is actually your actual performance and smoking therefore is slowing you down.
3. Weight loss – though there is credit to this to some extent, as with the second argument, there are healthier ways to achieve this than smoking which does not cause harm to your body.
4. Peer acceptance – well you really can’t blame non-smokers to want to avoid getting sick through second-hand smoking can you? For this one, it really is just a question of which is more important to you, your friends or your cigarette.

Aside from these counter-arguments, there are also the adverse health effects that pile up one after another which really just buries any trivial detail as a supposed Pro for tobacco use.

Various forms of Cancer

Tobacco use causes Lung Cancer, period. There is no argument against this and anyone who tries will do so in vain. It also causes throat cancer and mouth cancer which causes death by the millions every year.

Heart attack

Tobacco use exacerbates heart conditions and increases the risk of a heart attack. So if you have a diagnosed cardio-vascular illness, it really is advised that you don’t smoke.

Infertility

Those who want t have a family should be aware of this as many are still denying this fact. Smoking can cause infertility or sterility, as proven by studies.

There are more on the list that makes tobacco use a hopeless case to defend but these should be enough to prove a point. As the warning on every box, every pack and tin will tell you, “Tobacco smoking is dangerous to your health”.