Big Tobacco to smokers: Bend over

The day before he died, my gradfather sat in his kitchen across from me. The oxygen tubes were leading up to his nose. He had a cigarette in his hand.

"Don't ever, ever start this habit," he told me. Then, we went to pick up my brother. He had to stop the car at one point, pulling over so he could throw up.

My grandfather was an alcoholic, but what killed him that next day was the prolonged effects of smoking cigarettes. We didn't have that great a relationship, but I've never forgotten those words. Not in 25 years.

Of course, I live in the tobacco capital of the world. We may not have the companies here, but we certainly have the smokers. More per capita than anywhere else in the country. Many of them are poor and uninsured, but they make certain they scrounge up enough money to pay for the Marlboros, Salems or whatever other death stick they want to inhale.

And these people have the unmitigated gall to complain they're being treated unfairly -- whether it's their "right" to smoke in public places or the "right" to afford cigarettes. Someone I know casually said he knew what Rosa Parks felt like because he now can't smoke in a bar or restaurant. Seriously.

Personally, I could care less what people want to do with their lives, so long that it doesn't interfere with the quality of my family's life. When an uninsured smoker has to get treated for emphysema and the hospital or Medicaid have to eat that cost, that affects my family's quality of life.

It should be a law, everywhere, if you want to smoke, you have to carry private health insurance. Either through your job or on your own. That means no Medicaid. I can see an argument for Medicare if you're elderly or disabled because you did pay into it, but I wouldn't insist on that exemption.

 

I do carry my own insurance. I always have.

My point to begin with is that raising prices is not helping the majority of smokers quit. Neither is belittling us or calling us names or embarrassing us.

Doc is the exception. And I am glad there are exceptions such as him. It gives me more hope than pretty much anything else that has been said on this thread.

I'm heading back over to the stop smoking thread now. Thank you for listening.

(And to those with sad stories of loved ones still smoking well into the oxygen stage, believe me, I know what you are talking about. It's a scenario I have lived through more than once.)

 

My grandpa quit alcohol and cigarettes cold turkey on the same day. He was a strong dude.

 

And all I'm saying is that anything that helps any smokers quit or even cut down is a good thing.

 

I'm alcohol free! I'm drug free! I'm smoke free! And I'm better than you!

 

That's bush league, man. That's not what this thread is about. No one has said a bad word about Liesl, despite her posts saying that people will continue to smoke no matter what is put in front of them.

Just because I don't smoke doesn't make me better than Lies, or OOP or even you, CM.

 

So Liesl, smoking has apparently gone down significantly in the U.S. Why do you think that is, since none of the aversion campaigns work for you? Is it just that fewer people are starting? Do you think the social stigma is working for young people?

 

Whoa! Wait! Stop!

Talk about burying the lede ... or burying something a few months ago, anyway.

Doc's going to be a dad? Congrats to you and spup. I missed that memo.

 

Exactly. It does read as if Lies is offended by some of the remarks on this thread, particularly mine, and I can understand that. I'm lucky. My family is full of smokers, but I never even tried a cigarette. My brother was 12 when he started, just like our father. I wasn't any smarter than they were. It just never appealed to me.

If anything, I tend to blame the tobacco companies more than I blame individual smokers. Smoking is not a habit. It is a chemical addiction, one that most people are exposed to when they are far too young to know any better. You aren't supposed to be able to buy cigarettes in this country if you are under 18, yet I don't now a single smoker who was that old when they started. I'm sure there are some, but I don't know them.

This thread isn't about attacking smokers, though I can understand some people reading it that way. It is about wanting tobacco gone and rooting for any little thing that nudges us even a little bit in that direction.

 

Raising prices never led me to quitting. I'm currently an ex-smoker and hope to stay that way, but I have to admit, this is not the first time I've quit. I've quit several times. In 14 years of smoking, I quit about four or five times. Usually it was for around six to eight months, but once it was for two whole years. So far (this time) it's been about eight months. I've cheated a couple of times when I was drinking and had one or two, but totally regretted it the next day when I could tell a difference in my breathing.

Anyway, my point is, some people can quit, some can't. Sometimes it takes quitting several times to totally quit. Price has little to do with whether or not a person can quit.

When I was smoking and didn't feel like I could quit, I'd try to cut back as much as I could possibly handle. I figured for every cigarette I didn't smoke, it was a step in the right direction. If you try that approach, try not to guilt yourself for the ones you do smoke, because the guilt will only make you smoke more.

Good luck with any attempts you make.

 

KG, congratulations on making it this far. Best of luck sticking to it. It sounds like you have all the motivation you need.

I understand your point about the pricing, but according to the story at the top of this thread, people do smoke less when the prices go up. Maybe very few actually quit for that reason, but at the very least some smokers cut back because of price. As your own post suggests, even cutting back is a good thing.

 

Nice job KG... keep working at it.