ems@amdahl.UUCP (ems) (11/09/85)
> I have said this before and perhaps it bears repeating. Smoking is not > a rational behavior. It is a physiological addiction compounded by > psychological factors. If you have never smoked or never been addicted > to nicotine there is simply no way you can understand. > Yes there is. If one has been addicted to another substance, and quit. I used to consume >12 cups of strong coffee per day. Thought this decaf stuff was stupid. No problem for me. I stopped drinking coffee for a few days just to prove it. Couldn't. I had gone cold turkey from about 1.5 GRAMS of cafeine a day to zero. I even cut out colas, chocolate, all cafeine sources. In three days I had shakes, cold sweats, headaches, slept >11 hours per day, couln't think straight. I drank *lots* of coffee in the next few days and felt better. After that experience I decided I was addicted. It took me about two years to taper off to zero. Now one half cup will get me very buzzed. Then a cup of espresso didn't get noticed. I still want coffee when I smell it. Maybe I have an abnormal sensitivity to caffeine. Whatever. I now have great sympathy for smokers trying to stop. I understand. > Telling horror stories doesn't get people to stop any more than death > sentences prevent murder. Murderers don't think they're going to get > caught. Smokers don't believe they're going to get cancer. > The stories are often told so that the teller can feel that they are doing something to assist your stopping. Ditto for death sentences. > I smoked 2 packs a day for 20 years. I've been smoke free for six months > and intend to stay that way. When I quit, however, it was my own decision > and for my own reasons. The people who helped me most were the people who Congratulations!! I will buy you the beverage of your choice at the place of your choice (my standing offer to ex-smokers. You just have to get me there!! :-) > were genuinely concerned about me as a person rather than as the potential > host for some variety of noxious disease. > > Pointing fingers, guilt, stating the obvious, surgeon generals' > reports, warning labels, barring advertising, etc. etc. don't solve > anything. Caring does. It's too bad we've come so far in being able > to deal with alchoholics and alchoholism but are seemingly unable to > deal with nictotine addiction in as reasonable a way. > -- Some of the things you mention, like advertising bans, are done in the hope that it will curb new smokers. It has helped reduce the number of people starting to smoke. There is no longer a constant din of promotion that smoking is socially acceptable. It is no longer OK to smoke just anywhere. > > Byron C. Howes -- E. Michael Smith ...!{hplabs,ihnp4,amd,nsc}!amdahl!ems 'If you can dream it, you can do it' Walt Disney This is the obligatory disclaimer of everything. (Including but not limited to: typos, spelling, diction, logic, and nuclear war)