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To keep this thread from going off the rails, "smoking" would refer to cigarette smoking and not include vaping, weed, hookah bars, whatever.
Is there a pattern with many nicotine addicted cigarette smokers (not all, but a number of them), to desperately try to defend their habit in a militant way that borders on belligerent? It's not like they can't read the side of the pack.
I don't consider myself a heavy smoker, but I smoke on certain occasions. When I go camping several times a year, I smoke a pipe. When I take my dogs for a monthly 5 mile hike, I smoke a cigar. If an out of town friend stays at my house and it is not the dead of winter, we typically enjoy a cigar on the outdoor deck.
I get irritated when people I don't know give me unsolicited moral advice, and it happens quite a bit as a very occasional smoker. I can imagine it would be just about nonstop for a daily smoker. I understand the risks of smoking. I have a PhD in bioanalytical chemistry and I have authored scientific literature analyzing heavy metals in tobacco leaves. Every Monday night I have dinner with my trivia team that has two MD members, one of whom is an oncologist. My father-in-law died due to a type of cancer that has some links to smoking, and my wife and I extensively researched the genetic and environmental aspects related to its risk factors. One of my two undergraduate majors was mathematics with a concentration on statistics. I definitely don't need a math or science lesson from Joe Random concerning tobacco.
In the last three months, I had two separate annoying encounters with anti-smoking evangelists. One was when I was camping with some friends while on a bass fishing trip/ bachelor outing for a good friend. My friend and I were sitting on a little boat dock fishing while enjoying a cigar and some stranger who was jogging walked all the way out to the end of the dock to tell us that we should stop smoking because his wife died of lung cancer. Um... thanks dude. The second was when I was buying a box of cigars from a tobaccoist shop connected to an international grocery market and a stranger who must have been following me confronted me at the grocery checkout and said "If you're going to spend $300 to kill yourself you might as well buy a gun and a bullet it is just as fast." I told him I would keep that option in mind next time.
Smoking is a giant public health problem, and there is probably even some public benefit to exaggerating the risks in order to scare kids. It is definitely important to set a good example for children, as any addictive behavior shown by a role model certainly influences their life choices. Still, there are levels of moderation where lots of things can be enjoyed while keeping the risks in an acceptable range (see sunlight, driving, sushi, grilled meat, household chemicals, marijuana, etc.) . A scientifically literate person can discern the difference between the conclusions of medical literature and the copy-pasting of anti smoking propaganda.
While it's great that you do those things, you do realize the you will stink pretty badly when you come back inside, right? And 3rd hand smoke is a real thing.
What you smell on me isn't 3rd hand smoke. It's odor, yes, but it's not going to make you sick. AND the concept of 3rd hand smoke is still out to the jury.
So, back to the actual topic the thread was intended to be about. If die-hard smokers are in denial, should they be getting psychological help the way a drug addict or alcoholic would get?
Step one in the 12 steps of recovery from alcoholism (depending on which version you see) is more or less: After many years of denial, recovery can begin when with one simple admission of being powerless over alcohol—for alcoholics and their friends and family. Would it not be helpful for smokers to make an initial breakthrough of admitting they have an addiction problem to a substance that is very harmful?
Sure, some smokers need counseling or support of one kind or another. But while the health implications are dire, the other implications aren't. Put another way, if their hand was forced by their job, as an example, they would likely manage to keep their job. It isn't as if their lives are in disarray because of their nicotine habit. They don't have to relearn the concepts of accountability, what a toxic relationship is, destructive behaviors, etc...They probably do have to learn what situations really make them want a cigarette, and how to cope in the moment.
I can't resist. I have to add a few more examples of denial or deflection that I have heard from smokers.
1. No one who drives a car and pollutes the air has any business telling me that I cannot smoke.
2. Smoking isn't the problem. The problem is our government making up lies to try to stop people from smoking!
3. You can get lung cancer regardless of whether you smoke or not. (True, but the likelihood of getting it you are a smoker is 50X more than if you don't smoke)
4. If I didn't smoke I would be fat. That would be more dangerous than my continuing to smoke.
5. I saw a story in the newspaper about a 94 year old guy who has smoked all his life and is doing fine.
6. There are dangers all around us. Smoking does make my risk of death any greater.
You left out the obvious denial BS from earlier in the thread of "smoking = patriotism"
What you smell on me isn't 3rd hand smoke. It's odor, yes, but it's not going to make you sick. AND the concept of 3rd hand smoke is still out to the jury.
Well the National Institute of Health disagrees with you (see link). And if you know anyone with asthma, you know thirdhand smoke can absolutely trigger an attack.
As a former smoker, I can assure you that smokers have no idea how bad they smell. Aside from the fact that smoking actually diminishes the sense of smell (and taste), you just kind of go nose blind. But I can smell a smoker a mile away, and it's awful.
I can't resist. I have to add a few more examples of denial or deflection that I have heard from smokers.
1. No one who drives a car and pollutes the air has any business telling me that I cannot smoke.
2. Smoking isn't the problem. The problem is our government making up lies to try to stop people from smoking!
3. You can get lung cancer regardless of whether you smoke or not. (True, but the likelihood of getting it you are a smoker is 50X more than if you don't smoke)
4. If I didn't smoke I would be fat. That would be more dangerous than my continuing to smoke.
5. I saw a story in the newspaper about a 94 year old guy who has smoked all his life and is doing fine.
6. There are dangers all around us. Smoking does make my risk of death any greater.
Wow, these are some doozies! I haven't heard most of these.
How many people every year are poisoned by toxic cell phone fumes? Like NONE.
No one dies from fumes from liquor either, it kills you by drinking it. People don't die from fumes from a deep fat frier; you have to eat the french fries to get heart disease.
But there are 390,000 are injured in distracted-driving (RE: Cell Phone) related vehicle accidents every year.
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