Are there any smokers out there?

[Pats]

I hear you @Pats and you are absolutely right about the stigma and the lecturing smokers sometimes get. It's often said that ex-smokers are the most sanctimonious and I try hard not to be that person myself. I'm extremely glad to have given up and I want to be encouraging to anyone else that wants to, but I don't want to make anyone else feel wretched because they can't or don't want to quit yet.
I knew how much smoking could damage one's health even back in the 70's and I spent years trying to get my father to give up. He couldn't but I didn't understand - I thought he didn't want to, didn't care how much it frustrated me, and I started myself in young teenage in an effort to leverage him into giving up. I naively thought that he would be so shocked to see me smoking he would want to give up himself and it would draw us closer together as we quit as father & son. Needless to say it didn't work - I just ended up with a habit that took me decades to break. He ended up with heart disease and bypass operations.
I think a lot of people feel justified in their condemnation because passive smoking is unpleasant and carries some health risk. If a smoker is keeping themselves to themselves when they smoke, nobody has the right to condemn. They may call you all kinds of stupid if they wish, but that is their opinion and usually doesn't bear any relation to the reasons or the social conditions under which you started smoking, nor why you may be unwilling or unable to stop.

thank you friend.

 

[Progster]

If they found that Chantix could fix some of the autism, would you take it and change who you are? I wouldn't.

I have some in the house from when my partner quit smoking, and no, I'm not tempted to try.

I might take it if I thought it would help with anxiety, but I don't want and don't need a cure for autism.

 

[Judge]

Chantix was the only thing that worked for my brother. In fact that Ray Liotta commercial reflects a similar experience of my brother who had smoked for some 45 years.

As a former investor I once gave much thought to investing in Altria some years back. Just couldn't do it though. Too predatory. They'd turn the entire world into nicotine addicts just for the shareholders' equity. I just couldn't be a part of that.

 

[Autistamatic]

Wow! I've just watched that Chantix ad on YouTube out of curiosity. Every time I see one of those ads for prescription meds it sends chills down my spine. It's a wonder anyone ever takes a drug with so many warnings of dire side effects even in the advertising! Direct to consumer ads for prescription meds have always been illegal in the UK AFAIK (I don't ever remember seeing one) and they were banned across Europe in the 90s. On the other hand, too many people here take prescribed drugs on faith without checking out potential problems. "Always read the leaflet" is advice often ignored.
I'm glad Chantix helped your brother @Judge but I'm also glad I found another way.

 

[Judge]

Wow! I've just watched that Chantix ad on YouTube out of curiosity. Every time I see one of those ads for prescription meds it sends chills down my spine. It's a wonder anyone ever takes a drug with so many warnings of dire side effects even in the advertising! Direct to consumer ads for prescription meds have always been illegal in the UK AFAIK (I don't ever remember seeing one) and they were banned across Europe in the 90s. On the other hand, too many people here take prescribed drugs on faith without checking out potential problems. "Always read the leaflet" is advice often ignored.
I'm glad Chantix helped your brother @Judge but I'm also glad I found another way.

Our laws require the admission of any and all side effects encountered in clinical drug trials. Statistically speaking virtually all pharmaceuticals can generate side effects. Though in many cases it may amount to one in every five thousand people. Where they still must report it. Which at times makes just about any prescription medication appear hazardous.

Some people like my mother were always spooked by such statistics, even though she never really bothered to crunch the numbers. To focus on probabilities rather than the possibilities.

 

[Progster]

I actually heard a non-smoker say to a smoker once that they hoped they die. A little extreme (and they were just in a debate).

I agree that this is very extreme. And rude! I don't like tobacco smoke and don't hide the fact, but it's the tobacco/cigarettes and the act of smoking that I don't like, not the smoker. I certainly would never wish that a person would die just because they are smoking!! I don't have anything personal against smokers, I just ask that they keep it to themselves and don't smoke in public or other shared spaces like restaurants, I think this is a reasonable and fair thing to ask.

 

[Pats]

I agree that this is very extreme. And rude! I don't like tobacco smoke and don't hide the fact, but it's the tobacco/cigarettes and the act of smoking that I don't like, not the smoker. I certainly would never wish that a person would die just because they are smoking!! I don't have anything personal against smokers, I just ask that they keep it to themselves and don't smoke in public or other shared spaces like restaurants, I think this is a reasonable and fair thing to ask.

don't remember where you live, but everywhere is non-smoking here. People that don't know me don't even know I smoke - I know the odor is offensive to people and when I go out I don't even smell like smoke. But on the other hand my son in law smokes and when he steps outside to smoke I join him and it has helped us become closer with all the long heart felt talks we have had without others around.
I also don't want a CURE.

 

[Pats]

Our laws require the admission of any and all side effects encountered in clinical drug trials. Statistically speaking virtually all pharmaceuticals can generate side effects. Though in many cases it may amount to one in every five thousand people. Where they still must report it. Which at times makes just about any prescription medication appear hazardous.

Some people like my mother were always spooked by such statistics, even though she never really bothered to crunch the numbers. To focus on probabilities rather than the possibilities.

And I've noticed commercials about medications will say the side effects so softly you can't hear them or write them in very small lettering. Every medication has some kind of effect, especially long term. But sometimes you have to weigh the long term effects against the need.Working with geriatrics, most people are taking medicines to control side effects from other medications, then others to control side effects from those.

 

[tducey]

Tried it a couple times, wasn't fond of it.

 

[Mary Lyn]

The thing that got me to stop smoking 36 years ago, and made it easy, was the thought of refusing to be a slave to anything that governed every thing l did from waking up to going to sleep regarding how long the present pack would last and when l needed to shop for more ( and the money that went up in smoke).