'God, I Could Use a Cigarette,' Thinks 17-Year-Old With Asthma

Sitting in GEOL 112 earlier this week, Jacob Scott (C '21) looked longingly out the window and felt a deep, painful urge rise within his stomach. Jacob, a freshman who will turn eighteen in April, realized that he was having nicotine cravings.

"God, I could use a cigarette," he thought. "But I shouldn't, because I have asthma."

Scott, who picked up smoking after six months of college in order to appear cool to a girl, now finds himself addicted to the vice which, as an asthmatic, is actually worse for him than the average person.

Scott, who a year ago had not smoked pot, fashioned himself a pack a week habit since coming to Penn.

Scott, whose nicotine addiction will never truly subside, took a quick inhale from his inhaler before returning to the lecture. 

"But maybe I'll just have one," he thought.