Dick Dasterdly

Just a pity we can't all be perfect.

gill556

not perfect, I smoked 20 a day for 53 years but when I took my friend to see a specialist and she was told that if she didn't give up smoking then she would be dead in a year then I gave it up to encourage her, it took her 2 days to realise I was serious and had really given up then she did too, she now tells everyone that I saved her life. However it just shows that I was not so addicted and could give it up if I wanted. People who do not smoke always insist that smokers are addicts however when it comes to them drinking then it is for pleasure.

bil

I don't smoke, and I drink for pleasure, ie, for me more than half a bottle of red wine is overdoing it, as I don't like to get intoxicated.

God help the poor bastards who get addicted to alcohol. They might give up on tobacco, but if you are addicted to alcohol, what hope is there?

Dick Dasterdly

Many Spanish call in a bar and have a nip of alcohol morning, afternoon and night, however few of them show signs of addiction and would possibly be just as happy with a cup of coffee if needs must.
Tobacco junkies are something else and three fixes a day would be of little use to them.
Therefore they need to stop work to have a drag, several times day, or even puff away like chimneys while they are trying to work.
If as many drinkers were as addicted as smokers, then it would be a desperate World to live in.

bil

Well, I'd agree with the numbers thing, and the alcoholics I have known have been like smokers, continuously topping up their addiction.

The trouble is that while you are hooked on tobacco promptly and quickly (I think that 20 fags is enough for the average person) alcohol is smoother and more insidious, so I don't know how the hell you would ever go about estimating how many people are dependant on alcohol. I bet it's a lot more than you would think, or want.

scampicat

I do not smoke now ( until I was 40 I was a heavy smoker), although I do like a glass of red wine.

My friend here in the village is hopelessly addicted to nicotine. I understand that because I was at one time. However, she wheezes, has a hoarse voice, can't walk up the hills without stopping and her house stinks (although it is clean) and it is like visiting an opium den to go in there.

She worries me to death tbh. I don't even like going out with her on our own in case she keels over from a heart attack while we are together. I am sympathetic towards her addiction and I thank God I was able to overcome my own addiction twenty years ago as I would have been exactly the same as her, or dead, by now.

Will she stop smoking, or smoke less, after this ban (assuming any of the bar owners in our village take any notice of it)? Not a chance, she will just stop going to bars or sit outside even if it is cold.

However I still think it is a good move as those of us who don't want to inhale other peoples' smoke will have that choice.

gill556

I suppose one of the reasons I am against alcohol apart from having an alcoholic brother, who of course like most alcoholics would never admit it, also 3 seperate female alcoholic neighbours whose husbands have all gone back to the UK to work leaving them on their own, not long ago I had a young teenage lad come to me for help, he sobbed his heart out as he is so worried about his little sister. He insists his mother is not an alcoholic but is alcohol dependant (anything to hide the truth) but he loves her dearly but is scared as to what is going to happen when he returns to the UK to live with his dad. Over the years I have watched this mother roll cigarettes and buy alcohol for her son which made him look big in front of his mates but fortunately he has now realised the harm it can do.

HBG

You can’t compare alcoholism and drug addiction with smoking, it’s like comparing self-harmers with people who bite their nails.

Smoking was an acceptable social pleasure for hundreds of years, encouraged by Kings, politicians and film stars, until modern medicine became advanced enough to discover the harm caused by nicotine addiction, not only to the sufferer but also to those round him. Though to a far lesser degree than the people around alcoholics, junkies or self-harmers.

I’m not arguing in favour of smoking, but advanced medicine is sure to find other substances that cause equal harm to us. I love carrots and eat them almost every day, eggs too, and red meat; the day is bound to come when one or more of those is banned, in public places at least.

I would put red meat on top of the next list of things that are bad for us, nobody seems to care about chickens.

bil

Why not? Alcohol, drugs and smoking are all addictive, and alcohol, tobacco and some drugs all do actual harm.

Also, In James the First's time it was known that tobacco was harmful.

Dick Dasterdly

I just briefly heard mention on a TV news prog. today, that smoking is still by far the biggest contributory factor to early death.

bil

I truly am not surprised in the slightest.

Loco

It kills over half of its users according to WHO.

That said WHO also say taxation is the most effective of reducing the deaths.

LOL!

Best

Loco

A 60 a day smoker for over 30 years

HBG

I read that the biggest cause of cancer was stress.

Dick Dasterdly

Would be a very difficult one to prove, especially as there are probably very few in the world who haven't suffered from at least some stress at some time in their lives.
That's almost on par with saying that breathing, living and eating must cause cancer.
I thought ppl. smoked to help reduce stress,...so I suppose the more they smoke, the less stressed they are, and therefore the less risk of an early death from cancer.

Makes a lot of sense, I don't think.