"Why People Smoke Cigarettes" was a statement on cigarette smoking developed from testimony delivered before the U.S. Congress by William Pollin, M.D., Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse on March 16, 1982 (DHHS, 1983). The statement was based on scientific knowledge but the information was conveyed with an exemplary level of understanding, from the viewpoint of smoking as a drug dependency. This article summarises the key points (with regard to the reasons people smoke) as the document is no longer freely available.