Community Chat

[NoelSeven]

On 1/13/2014 beammeupscottie said:

I am totally mystified. Besides the fact that everybody knows it can kill you (my nieces smoke after they watched my mother die a horrible cancer death from cigarettes);

it is also VERY expensive. I understand those who are already addicted and just cannot (or won't) quit but why do young people still take it up? It costs as much as a car payment!!

I'm so sorry to read about your mother, Scottie. I agree with you in wondering why young people start.

[focksie]

On 1/13/2014 MomOf4 said:

Drinking can kill you too, yet more people drink to excess than smoke. Why isn't there ever a stronger effort to put a stop to that? I have never understood that.

I think there's a bigger public outcry over smoking because it immediately and directly affects not only the smoker, but everyone around them in the immediate area. True that drinking can affect those around them, but it is assumed that drinkers won't get behind the wheel of a car every time they drink. ii

[Clover29]

No one in my high school class smoked (1979). One started, briefly, and we all nagged her so much, plus she wanted to be an athlete so common sense won out in the end.

I left one job because smoking was allowed in the office and I can't breathe in that kind of atmosphere.

Nowadays, I almost never see anyone smoking. There is a "smoking shed" at work for pariahs, but it's hardly used.

I don't know why people smoke a second cigarette, when the first is usually just a cough-fest. I guess that's peer pressure, and my schoolmates were lucky that ours went the other way.

[NoelSeven]

On 1/13/2014 MomOf4 said:

Drinking can kill you too, yet more people drink to excess than smoke. Why isn't there ever a stronger effort to put a stop to that? I have never understood that.

Smoking is more of a direct cause of illness and death. A lot of people can drink socially without any ill effects. I suppose it could be said that it's not a one to one relationship.

[scotttie]

On 1/13/2014 NoelSeven said:

On 1/13/2014 beammeupscottie said:

I am totally mystified. Besides the fact that everybody knows it can kill you (my nieces smoke after they watched my mother die a horrible cancer death from cigarettes);

it is also VERY expensive. I understand those who are already addicted and just cannot (or won't) quit but why do young people still take it up? It costs as much as a car payment!!

I'm so sorry to read about your mother, Scottie. I agree with you in wondering why young people start.

Thanks Noel. Yes, she was one who was both physically and mentally addicted to it.

Interesting: my brother smoked for years and I NEVER did. Can't understand it.

[foundinlv]

The real question should be why is the tobacco industry not banned.

[bikerbabe]

I remember eons ago when I was in high school, half the kids who particiapted in the semester abroad/exchange program came back as smokers and the kids from Europe who came here were already smokers.

[Marienkaefer2]

I think it's human nature to be in denial or think.it won't happen to you. Plus, as already posted, nicotine is addictive.

[Puzzle Piece]

I remember as a teen the gals I knew that smoked, did it because they were insecure and felt more sophisticated if they smoked. They believed that holding a cigarette in your hand was something to 'do with your hands' instead of just standing and not holding anything. If they couldn't smoke, they drank to hold a drink in their hand. They didn't realize the cigarette was very addictive and later that was the reason to smoke.

[sidsmom]

I see those eCigarettes being advertised on TV with some regularity. Will that make quitting easier? Do you think they will ever be sold in a public forum like QVC?