World No Tobacco Day

[Who's Wee Dug]

Think of the thread veins girls.

[raptornx01]

hmmm (thinks of friend who died of lung cancer that only developed after she quit)

(thinks of grandparents who both smoked for many years and died so young in their 90's of non-smoking related illnesses)

and my mother must have lied to me, she doesn't look half the age of the woman in that pic and she SAYS shes 65.

[janet]

hmmm (thinks of friend who died of lung cancer that only developed after she quit)

People have died of lung cancer who never smoked in their lives. Roy Castle, British musician/TV presenter, worked for many years in smoky nightclubs and developed the disease. I don't think his death was quick, painless or pretty to watch either

[Dotsie]

Nothing is 100%. Cancer is what's known as a multifactorial disease, and genetics plays a big part. So if you want to take the chance, then do it.

I do think it's pretty odd when people try to justify their smoking habit though And sorry, but I'll have to say it again, but the "I'm a considerate smoker" line is the lamest ever - there's no such thing!

[Catch-up]

Congratulations to all of you that have quit! That's a huge achievement, and not an easy one. I, very stupidly, smoked for a short time when I was 19/20. Came down with a horrible case of bronchitis and have had to manage asthma ever since. I have no doubt at all that this was caused by the smoking and by being in smoky environments. My parents didn't smoke, hated it and wouldn't let people do it in our home. Wish I'd followed their good sense!

My mother in law was an extremely heavy smoker for most of her life. Even though she quit years ago (less than a decade?), the damage was done. She's now on oxygen and will never get off of it. She can't walk across a room without having portable oxygen. We had plans to vacation together again, after having a wonderful time with her when she joined us on a Disney World trip. She's now unable to manage those vacations. We won't get time like that with her again.

I agree with Dotsie. There is no way to justify smoking. It's poisoning your body and the bodies of everyone who's exposed to it. It IS a physical addiction and very hard to beat. That can be hard for people who have never had a physical addiction to understand. No one is saying it's a picnic to quit, but there's so much help out there now, so many things to try. But pretending there's no harm done by it is ludicrous.

[raptornx01]

I respect your opinions. Agree to disagree

[janet]

I was a smoker wearing blinkers for 45 years and thinking I was being responsible enough to avoid harm to myself and everyone else....what a load of self-deluded bloody rubbish. It's the most addictive drug on the planet, probably ends more lives than any other drug but I do not have data to back this up. Since I quit with NHS help ( a specialist nurse who did not preach, told me she'd be there to help for as long as it took and I quit first time when other attempts had failed miserably) I realise how stupid I was to keep sending my money up in smoke, harming everyone close enough to breathe my smoke, smelling like an old ashtray, looking pathetic standing outside pubs, theatres, hotels etc just to quickly puff as much smoke as possible, feeling like shit before and after smoking, and, worst of all probably doing harm to my pets cats and dogs by subjecting them to my smoke without their consent. No, not worst of all, that was this, I was actually aware of all of this for several years before taking the decision to do something sensible about it and call a halt.
Sorry folks but if you disagree I appreciate your right to do so but hope you'll change your mind soon.

[raptornx01]

http://youtu.be/AJ2RqmdfgGE?t=1m55s

[poohcarrot]

http://youtu.be/AJ2RqmdfgGE?t=1m55s

[janet]

[The Mad Collector]

http://youtu.be/AJ2RqmdfgGE?t=1m55s

Never heard of Bill Maher befoe but really funny, thanks for that link.

[Mycroft Vimes]

@Raptornx01
You seem to have started with one thing and ended with something completely different.

To start with the last one,i fully agree with your right to do what you please with your own body,including the ingestion of various kinds of drugs,be they more or less harmfull,barring of course doing any direct harm to others as a result.
That governments are the biggest drugdealers of all is no news to me and i have known and loved Bill Maher for some years already.

This is however a whole different thing from your previous post,where you seem to cast doubts on the harmfull effects of smoking tobacco...

There i have to disagree strongly.
All evidence points to smoking's negative effects far,far outweighing any potential positive effects and saying otherwise is at the very least naive and at worst falsifying the 'record',so i'm afraid i have no choice but joining Janet with wagging the finger...

[raptornx01]

@Raptornx01
You seem to have started with one thind and ended with something completely different.

The two points of view are not mutually exclusive.

but as i said before.

I respect your opinions. Agree to disagree

[Dotsie]

So you really don't believe that smoking is harmful, even though it killed a friend of yours? If you ever do want to quit, you should try homeopathy.