Dear President,

The United States is a great place but many changes have to be done to make it better.One of my main concerns is the smoking/selling of tobacco products .Cigarettes have been known for killing more people than other forms of death put together.

It is something really important to me because my family has suffered many losses due to these cigarette companies. My grandfather was a really healthy man. Every morning I would watch him run back and fourth playing with his dogs or even training his horses to dance. Unfortunately just as he was about to quit for good, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died about a month after the news.

I know it is a choice people are making when picking up a cigarette but a lot of people are affected without even touching any tobacco related items. My cousin brought happiness to the family when she announced that she was pregnant. One of the main problems in her pregnancy was that her husband would not quit smoking. While she was pregnant they had agreed that he was only to smoke outside but I guess that wasn't enough. Baby Isabella died in her sleep a short time after she was born due to an illness called SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). The baby had nothing to do with any tobacco related items yet it caused her her life.

The choices people are making shouldn't even be an option. All around town I see signs, posters, and commercials about quitting, but does anyone ever really do anything about it? The negligence with this topic shows that it is treated as if smoking were no problem at all. People would rather not acknowledge the anti-tobacco signs on the freeway, obscuring the issue.

I did some research on this topic in my Health class. What stood out to me the most was that Sabrina Tarernise, a writer for The New York Times said, ”About one-fifth of the worlds population smokes.” It surprised me because there are billions of people around the world.

Cigarettes do no good . They are targeting new generations with their new colorful and nice smelling packaging. The tobacco brand only needs to take hold of the right person to make their product “cool” and suddenly the whole school is raging about how good the product is, and this is not acceptable. Now that my cousin sees that smoking cigarettes are the “thing” to do in her school, she is beginning to try it. I am really concerned about what is going on and I would like there to be a change. Please take this letter into consideration and help this be a new and smoke-safe place.

Thank you,

Jocelyn Ibarra