I think cigarettes share something in common with the meth epidemic in rural America, and I'm not talking addiction: When you don't have a job or you're seriously underemployed, no money, no hope, no opportunities for upward mobility, you look at things almost as a "why not?" issue. Anything to take the edge off of life, make things a little different. It gets compounded by the addictive nature of cigarettes and meth and other drugs.