Let's quit tobacco together!

[GB]

I never said anymore MEANS to throw second hand smoke or anything like that. I never implied anything of the sort.

Again, all I was saying is that smoking affects other in ways that are not always obvious. And I was only saying that in reference to the person who said that it is their money and they will spend it however they want and it is no ones business. That is not completely true and that is all I was trying to point out. When that person is in the hospital for emphysema or lung cancer or any other smoking related disease racking up the hospital bills then that is affecting me and everyone else.

Do what you want, but do not say that it is no one elses business what you do because often times it is not that simple.

 

[MexicoKaren]

If you do decide to try to quit Karen then I am behind you 100% and will support you in any way that would help.

Thanks, GB. You're a good friend.

 

[Maverick2272]

The more crowded the world gets, the fewer the resources left, the more we have to start thinking of our neighbors. I do agree with GB on this one, but I do get peeved when people seem to apply it only to things that they personally don't like instead of the entire mentality.
Nothing ticks me off quicker than some yuppie complaining about my cigarette right before they chuck their recyclable into the wrong container than jump in their 8 mile per gallon Hummer and drive off...
I don't think asking for a little consideration or understanding is necessarily getting into someone else's business.

 

[Russellkhan]

Exactly my thinking, Maverick.

Yes I know that what I do, including smoking, affects those around me, but I do get tired of hearing about it from people who do plenty of things (that I'm not going to list here as I find myself happier not dwelling on these things and besides I don't feel the need to alienate half of DC at this time) themselves that affect my world in ways I would rather not have done.

 

[Jeekinz]

When that person is in the hospital for emphysema or lung cancer or any other smoking related disease racking up the hospital bills then that is affecting me and everyone else.

Because of the healthcare reform in Mass?

I can think of a bazillion ways tax dollars are wasted away that have much more of an impact on your wallet then some poor soul fighting for their life in a hospital bed.

If anyone chooses to quit, I will help them out as much as possible. But I do know some people that actually like to smoke. They like everything about it. Does that make them a bad person? You cant throw "using resources" or anything like that in their face because they smoke.

 

[Corey123]

I quit smoking 22 years ago after smoking for 35 years. Started when I was 11. I tried several times to quit and couldn't get through the first 6 hours without a cigarette. I decided to go to Smoke Enders, threw away my cigarettes at the last meeting and never craved one since. I have no idea why, I just felt wonderful after the first day and no cravings.
I will NEVER go back to smoking not only because of the price of cigarettes, (biggest waste of good money ever!) but because I never realized how bad I must have smelled. People who smoke can't smell their own bodies and that's too bad. Those of us who don't smoke sure can smell you a block away. Your breath, your clothes, your skin and your hair reek. Never, ever again.

It'll be 14 years for me in late September since I stopped smoking.

I had stopped in '86 for two years, went back to it in '88 for 6 years, then in September '94, I had enough!

I wore the patch for two days and just never went back to it at all. Not even once!

Yes, you're right went you said that some people who smoke don't realise how offensive it might be to others! It is bad. And it DOES get into their clothes, skin and hair.

Massachusetts is supposed to be completely non-smoking in public buildings, restaurants, airports, bars and nightclubs - yet out in Springfield's bars and nightclubs, bartenders and patrons there are allowed to smoke indoors - showing absolutely no regards for the law!!

 

[GB]

Because of the healthcare reform in Mass?

I can think of a bazillion ways tax dollars are wasted away that have much more of an impact on your wallet then some poor soul fighting for their life in a hospital bed.

If anyone chooses to quit, I will help them out as much as possible. But I do know some people that actually like to smoke. They like everything about it. Does that make them a bad person? You cant throw "using resources" or anything like that in their face because they smoke.

No what I said had NOTHING to do with healthcare reform in MA and lets not let this get into a discussion about politics as we all know that is against the rules. People smoke, they get smoking related illnesses, they need medical care that insurance pays for. Insurance companies see how much they are paying for the things and raise their prices to cover the costs. This is true with every illness, but illnesses from smoking can be avoided. If you get cancer from inhaling asbestos and my rates go up because of it then that is fine. If you can cancer from smoking and my rates go up because of it then that is not fair to me and everyone else around me who chose not to smoke.

Jeekinz you keep posting as if you think I am telling smokers they can't do something or are somehow bad people because they smoke. I have never said or implied anything of the sort. I have been very clear in what I was saying and the ONLY thing I was saying is that smoking affects more than just the smoker in many ways. You can try to twist my words and make it seem that I am saying smokers should or should not do xyz or that I think smokers are lesser people, but that would be you saying those things, not me. Let me be ultra clear here. I have never said those things and never would say those things as I do not believe any of that.

And for the record, I am on of those people who enjoy smoking. I didn't just like everything about it. I LOVED everything about it. Do you think I think I am a bad person about it??? I honesty do not know where you are coming up with this stuff. ALL I said was that smoking affects others. How do you get that I think they are bad people out of that???

And I really have no idea why you would say something like

I can think of a bazillion ways tax dollars are wasted away that have much more of an impact on your wallet then some poor soul fighting for their life in a hospital bed.

What does that have to do with anything we are discussing here? Who has said anything about taxes being wasted? You are the only one who brought that up and it really has nothing to do with this conversation.

 

[GB]

The more crowded the world gets, the fewer the resources left, the more we have to start thinking of our neighbors. I do agree with GB on this one, but I do get peeved when people seem to apply it only to things that they personally don't like instead of the entire mentality.
Nothing ticks me off quicker than some yuppie complaining about my cigarette right before they chuck their recyclable into the wrong container than jump in their 8 mile per gallon Hummer and drive off...
I don't think asking for a little consideration or understanding is necessarily getting into someone else's business.

I agree 100%.

 

[GB]

Thanks, GB. You're a good friend.

As are you. And I really mean it. When I quit I did it with two other friends. Two of us were successful and we both credit part of our success to the other. Without their support it would have been much more difficult. When the cravings got to be too much we would call each other or visit each other and help each other through the hard parts. That really helped me a lot.

 

[Jeekinz]

GB, let's say, hypothetically, that everyone quit smoking. Then there wouldn't be people dying from cigarette smoke, right? So insurance costs would be lowered.

Well, what about the missing cigarette tax dollars? The gov't will tap your wallet to recoup that. That's why I don't understand why the gov't endorses non-smoking ads, etc. It's a viscious cycle.

I never meant to bring up the politics side of cigarettes, you did in your comment. The insurance issue has political background. And to discuss it any further would lead to more politic discussion.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[GB]

Sorry jeekinz, but I never brought up politics. I brought up insurance which is not the same thing.

I don't know how many times I can say it. I am ONLY SAYING THAT CIGARETTE SMOKING AFFECTS MORE THAN JUST THE SMOKER. Anything else you are typing about are things that you are saying, not me. You can try to turn it into whatever you want, but the fact remains that people who say that their smoking has nothing to do with anyone else just are not seeing the whole picture.

 

[Jeekinz]

GB, if you haven't already, you're not going to see where I'm coming from.

Let's let these folks continue their quitting smoking thread.

 

[GB]

Likewise and agreed.

 

[suziquzie]

Anyone got a stick of gum? I need a smoke now....

 

[texasgirl]

Whoa, screeching halt, this was started for "'Support" in quitting, not for non smokers to vent reasons you hate it. Come on DC, we have too much love for each other and care about each other to let these people down in helping them kick an addiction that is hard enough to quit without making them feel alone or whipped.

 

[Jeekinz]

I said this in another thread, but what really helped my urge after quitting was spicy foods. I did, and still do, put Tapatillo hot sauce on orange slices for an after dinner snack. Next to zero calories. I didn't like spicy food while I smoked, but after quitting I can't get enough sometimes.

 

[texasgirl]

I said this in another thread, but what really helped my urge after quitting was spicy foods. I did, and still do, put Tapatillo hot sauce on orange slices for an after dinner snack. Next to zero calories. I didn't like spicy food while I smoked, but after quitting I can't get enough sometimes.

hot sauce on orange slices?? The cigarettes REALLY killed your tast buds J/K!! It's weird how stopping does change them though. It's like trying things for the first time all over again.

 

[Jeekinz]

hot sauce on orange slices?? The cigarettes REALLY killed your tast buds J/K!! It's weird how stopping does change them though. It's like trying things for the first time all over again.

LOL - You should try it sometime. It starts of tasting like BBQ, then you get the orange, then the burn from the sauce.

YUM!

 

[skilletlicker]

I was under the impression that insurance companies factored the additional liability potential of smoking into the rate when underwriting a policy.

I can't prove this but strongly suspect that the net fiscal effect of tobacco use on the federal budget is positive. Sure medicare and medicaid expenses increase but, as mentioned earlier, there is an offset by the "sin taxes." Of course if folks don't die of smoking related disease they will eventually die of something else and incur medical and other government subsidized expenses during their additional years. Also cigarette smokers, dying younger as a general rule, forfeit the social security and other benefits that non-smokers receive during their extended life span.

I don't think one single smoker is going to quit because he is nagged at or feels guilty about supposedly being a drain on the wallets of the rest of us. The point is that they (used to be we) not only pay the exhorbitant prices, including taxes, on cigarettes but, in many ways, miss out on their fair share of the benefits.

Maverick2272 said earlier:
That being said, with 2 heart attacks under my belt, a triple by-pass, and my COPD getting worse by the day, oh and now facing the prospect of perhaps more surgery, I really do need to quit, and fast.

I only write this in the hope that feeling taken advantage of might be the last straw that helps somebody like Maverick finally become entirely ready to quit.

 

[GB]

I can't prove this but strongly suspect that the net fiscal effect of tobacco use on the federal budget is positive. Sure medicare and medicaid expenses increase but, as mentioned earlier, there is an offset by the "sin taxes." Of course if folks don't die of smoking related disease they will eventually die of something else and incur medical and other government subsidized expenses during their additional years. Also cigarette smokers, dying younger as a general rule, forfeit the social security and other benefits that non-smokers receive during their extended life span.

I don't think one single smoker is going to quit because he is nagged at or feels guilty about supposedly being a drain on the wallets of the rest of us. The point is that they (used to be we) not only pay the exhorbitant prices, including taxes, on cigarettes but, in many ways, miss out on their fair share of the benefits.

And again none of that has anything to do with what I was saying. Smoking affects more than just the smoker. That is it. Even with everything you say above, what I said still holds true.

My statement was not aimed at nagging anyone to get them to quit. My statement was aimed at the person who said it is no ones business what they do with their money because it only affects them. I was only pointing out that is not true.