After bumping and grinding on a hot, sweaty dance floor all night, you search for the cool respite of the evening air. But to your horror, the suffocating embrace of carbon monoxide has replaced the sweet, oxygenated air of your dreams. The smokers are at it again.

The U.S. government reports that nearly one in five adults smoke, making it exceedingly likely you’ll come into contact with an active user. Whether you accept their cigarette offerings or not is inconsequential: Being around smokers will adversely affect your health.

Why would anyone smoke? Well tobacco companies spend an inordinate amount of money to advertise their products. By creating the impression that smoking is cool and is its own lifestyle, the companies are better able to sell their product. Once a person has started, the addictive chemical nicotine found in all tobacco products compels the user to keep smoking. Smokers also report that cigarettes relieve stress and are pleasurable to use.

For those who choose to smoke, here are the facts. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable cancer, causing approximately 30 percent of all cancer deaths in the U.S., including lung, bladder, mouth and throat cancers.

Additionally, smoking greatly increases a person’s chance to contract heart disease, stroke, cataracts, emphysema and bronchitis.

But that’s not the worst part. According to the British Medical Journal, one cigarette takes away 11 minutes of life expectancy. For a pack-a-day smoker, that adds up to nearly 56 days a year lost to tobacco. With those numbers, it looks like the true cost is higher than the $5 sticker price.

Bystanders aren’t spared either. It’s estimated that secondhand smoke, a combination of the exhaled air and the burning cigarette, causes 3,000 lung cancer deaths a year. Although young children are at the most risk, anyone who is in constant contact with an active smoker should be concerned. Whether it be a roommate, family member, girlfriend or boyfriend, a smoker should know that his or her actions have negative effects on others.

From day one, parents, school and health officials have engrained in your head the dangers of smoking. While smoking may not condemn you to Dante’s ninth circle of hell, it is an expensive and unhealthy habit. To help people quit, San Diego State’s Student Health Services currently offers tobacco cessation services.

8212;This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec.