No matter what I do or say, I can't get them to quit.

I never could figure out how the rigors of quitting don't outweigh a horrible, agonizingly slow death gasping in vain for a lungful of air.

At least none of my patients has ever hit me with the old cop-out: "I enjoy smoking!" They always sigh and say: "Yeah, I know I should quit." they should do it for themselves, of course. But every once in a while, I try to make a personal appeal and tell them it wouldn't be fair of them to break my heart. It's not at all uncommon for medical providers to be dismissed as soulless finger-waggers. But I love my patients and I don't want them to die of a preventable disease.

To quote Yul Brynner: Don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke.

used chanpix which worked. It blocked nicotine from getting to the pleasure centre of my brain. When I went off chaotic I smoked awful herbal cigarettes when I craved. Maybe 5 a day. After a few weeks of that I was disgusted with smoking. I had fooled my brain into hating smoking. I've never had a real crave since. I smoked for 27 years. I don't like being around people who smoke because I feel so sorry for them. I never want one. Except once. I'm not kidding. If someone told me I could go through 5 months of mild work and I would be totally dine with smoking and craving I would have quit sooner. Tell your patients.

Well, maybe the exact figures on smoking only one cigarette a day is new information, although I wonder just how many people actually smoke only one a day. Looking at the article, they had a "light smokers" group, 1-5 cigarettes a day, and I suspect that group more likely smoked 5 a day. The study does acknowledge that they depended on self-reported numbers, and it's possible that a lot of people understated just how much they smoked.

It's hard for me to have any sympathy for smokers. As long ago as the 1940s people called cigarettes "coffin nails" which shows that the dire effects were actually understood.

In somewhat related news, I see that Luke Perry, the actor, had a stroke. I was looking at pictures of him and thought, "That's the face of a smoker." And yeah, he smokes. I don't wish a stroke or heart disease on anyone, but damn! What is wrong with people?

And spare me the "Oh, it's SO addictive!" thing. I doubt anyone actually enjoyed that first cigarette. The usual story is how awful it was, so why in hell to people persist in deliberately getting addicted?

Another problem is that if you smoke, your addiction controls you, you don't control it. Heck, if I wanted to torture someone I'd find a smoker to torture, and deprive him of cigarettes until he's just desperate, then start doling them out as I get information. Seems to me as though that would work as well as water-boarding.

I enjoyed my earliest cigarettes. I was a teenager. Nicotine is a powerfully addictive substance and especially for those with addictive personalities. If you have anxiety, ADD, I think there is some relief from a cigarette. I started young, when all the TV and movie heroes were hard drinking and heavy smoking. They say nicotine is more addictive than heroine.

I don't think anyone deliberately gets addicted to anything. I think that is an overly simplistic view and not helpful to the discussion. The better question in my mind is why would a government subsidize a deadly crop? Why would Hollywood and Madison Avenue glamorize something so dangerous? What can we do to further reduce smoking (I believe a lot of progress has been made on this)?

I haven't smoked in ten years and obviously wish I never had. But human psychology is more complex than just don't do it.

Congratulations, however, for being ever so better than everyone who ever smoked.

smoked. Even then people understood it was bad for you. We just hadn't yet quantified exactly how bad. As the years roll by and more and more evidence mounts up that even one cigarette a day seriously increases stroke and heart disease risk, I just don't get it.

I realize no one actually wakes up one morning and says, "I think I'll get myself addicted to nicotine" but it's still beyond disheartening how many acquire the addiction. And vaping seems to be alluring more young people these days, as apparently smoking and vaping in teens is on the rise.

And given all the bullshit excuses for smoking I've heard so many times over the years ("It gives me something to do with my hands" is a classic) I guess I had a whole lot more willpower than some.

Hollywood and Madison Avenue glamorize smoking because it makes them money. I'm also under the impression that a lot of people in that Hollywood still smoke and I suspect in numbers far greater than that of the general population. I've noticed a strong tendency in movies to show someone as glamorously non conformist by lighting up a cigarette. I started watching the series Russian Doll on Netflix and couldn't even get halfway through the first episode because the main character smokes nonstop. Yuck. The government subsidizes the crop because of powerful lobbying interests. Same with all farm support.

The price support and similar programs were paid through a fee charged on every pound sold. A minor quibble.

At that time, there were also set allotment amounts for each grower. Farmers would always plant their allotted amount because they knew it was a guaranteed income. I grew up in tobacco country, there was great concern when the program changed.

Now they can grow more but it is a very labor intensive crop to grow and it's getting harder for farmers to find local workers. Many farmers import Mexican labor through a program designed for agricultural workers. ( my brother in law and a cousin team up to bring in the workers they will use.)

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/gov-still-subsidizing-tobacco-growers/GNoPh0FgHhhJ0zJKByiNjI/

https://www.npr.org/2014/10/24/357947259/tobacco-farmers-lose-longtime-safety-net

It was essentially self supported.

Mark Twain: “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.”

Abraham Lincoln: "A cigarette is a pinch of tobacco, wrapped in paper, with fire on one end and a fool on the other."

I know how addictive nicotine can be, and how hard it is to kick once you're hooked. My wife, a retired social worker, had plenty of clients who went hungry for the last three days of the month in order to have money to buy cigarettes. It's a scary addiction!