Good Job Eilonnwy, the hardest part is past, keep it up and you will be smoke free

I was taught that you should make a list of the pros and cons when deciding on a course of action. It might help you focus if you do this with regard to smoking. I can help get you started!

SMOKING PROS

* It tastes good!
* It calms me down!
* It makes me more alert!
* It makes me look cool!
* (Famous celebrity) does it!
* My friends do it!

SMOKING CONS

* It stains my teeth.
* It makes my breath/hair/clothes/car/home smell bad.
* It's expensive!
* It's difficult to be around non-smoking friends/family.
* IT'S BAD FOR MY HEALTH!

I'm sure you can come up with more! Good luck!

Why bother giving up? Smoking occasionally or in moderation isn't bad for you. As with anything else, it's the dose that makes the poison.

(August 30, 2010 at 1:46 pm)Scarface Wrote: Why bother giving up? Smoking occasionally or in moderation isn't bad for you. As with anything else, it's the dose that makes the poison.

What?! Do you not understand how addiction works?

(August 30, 2010 at 1:46 pm)Scarface Wrote: Why bother giving up? Smoking occasionally or in moderation isn't bad for you. As with anything else, it's the dose that makes the poison.

That's how it started with me. Then it became something I had to do every day. For people who can smoke very little I'm sure it's not a big deal, but I'm not one of those people.

Fair enough, everyone is different. Some people (no offence) perhaps are more prone to becoming addicted to certain things. I've been smoking for years, and I can go for days and days without smoking, and occasionally I might smoke 20-25 in a day and other days I might just have a couple. Usually I have 7-10 a day. If I don't have access or the means to get cigarettes it doesn't bother me. But I know people who get cranky if they as much as misplace their cigarettes or even their lighter. Addiction is mostly psychological, which explains how some people get uncontrollably hooked and others become social or just occasional smokers. The idea that smoking per se is addictive is a complete myth because it depends very much on the individual.

(August 30, 2010 at 4:49 pm)Scarface Wrote: Addiction is mostly psychological, which explains how some people get uncontrollably hooked and others become social or just occasional smokers. The idea that smoking per se is addictive is a complete myth because it depends very much on the individual.

From HERE:

Based on the evidence presented in the case, Judge Kessler ruled that:

* Defendants knew for fifty years or more that cigarette smoking caused disease, but repeatedly denied that smoking caused adverse health effects. Defendants publicly distorted and minimized the hazards of smoking for decades.

* Defendants concealed and suppressed research data and other evidence showing nicotine is addictive, and withheld information about their internal research on addiction, from the American public, the government, and the public health community, including the United States Surgeon General. The Defendants acted this way to maintain profits by keeping people smoking and attracting new consumers, to avoid iability, and prevent regulation of the industry.

* Defendants falsely denied that they can and do control the level of nicotine delivered to smokers to create and sustain addiction.

* Defendants falsely marketed and promoted low tar/"light" cigarettes as less harmful than "full flavor" cigarettes to keep people smoking and sustain corporate revenues.

* From the 1950s to the present, different tobacco companies using different methods have intentionally marketed cigarettes to young people under the age of 21 in order to recruit "replacement smokers" who would ensure the future economic viability of the Tobacco Industry.

* Defendants publicly denied, while internally acknowledging, that secondhand tobacco smoke is hazardous to nonsmokers.

* At various times, Defendants attempted to, and did suppress and conceal scientific research and destroy documents relevant to their public and litigation positions.

Well that's odd. Throughout the years that I've been smoking, and in fact well before that, I've known smokers who smoke maybe 2 or 3 a day, and others who only smoke in certain circumstances. I myself have been awake for 14 hours today and I can't say I've had more than 2. How do you explain that?

Also, HERE is the transcript of the 60 Minutes interview with Jeffrey Wigand on adding chemicals to insure addiction to cigarettes (as if the nicotine wasn't enough).

It's a case of in one ear out the other with you isn't it? There is such a thing as an addictive personality, and some people to one degree or another fall into that category, whereas others do not. That explains how one smoker, Eilonnwy for instance, can become highly addicted to smoking, while others, such as myself and loads of people that I've known, whodon't. But I'm sure you have yet another irrelevant link for me, which I'll spend as much time reading as the last two.