Why you should start smoking...

[johnnyboy]

I'm currently trying to quit by cutting my cigarette consumption right down (just 2 in the 6 hours I have been awake so far - normally be 10+).

I was doing some surfing and found a website called "World Smoker's Day". Very interesting site claiming to "debunk" the myths of the "anti-smoking" lobby.

Additional Reasons to keep on smoking, or to start smoking

Personal health
• Smoking protects against Parkinson disease.
• Smoking improves human information processing.
• Higher nicotine cigarettes produce greater improvements [in information processing] than low-nicotine cigarettes.
• Nicotine can reverse the detrimental effects of scopolamine on performance.
• Smoking effects are accompanied by increases in EEG arousal and decreases in the latency of the late positive component of the evoked potential.
• Smokers in general are thinner than nonsmokers, even when they ingest more calories.
"...All smokers had less plaque, gingival inflammation and tooth mobility than nonsmokers and similar periodontal pocket depth."
• Smokers have lower incidence of postoperative deep vein thrombosis than nonsmokers.
• Hypertension prevalence rate among smokers is lower than in nonsmokers.
• "Hypertension and postpartum hemorrhage were lower in smokers."
• "RBCs [red blood cells] from cigarette smokers contain more glutathione and catalase and protect lung endothelial cells against O2 [dioxide] metabolites better than RBCs from nonsmokers."
• There is a low prevalence of smoking in ulcerative colitis. The disease often starts or relapses after stopping smoking.
• Smokers have more reduced risks of Alzheimer's disease than non smokers.
• Urinary cotinine concentration has confirmed the reduced risk of preeclampsia with tobacco exposure.
• Smoking may protect against neural tube defects.
• Maternal smoking may hinder mother-child transmission of Helicobacter pylori infection.
• Research indicates that nicotine holds potential for non-surgical heart by-pass procedures.
• Nicotine has positive effects on cognitive performance in Down's syndrome.
• Smoking has a positive effect on inflammatory bowel disease.
• Not ONE of the over 100 diseases attributed to smoking can be PROVEN by sound scientific methodology to be "caused" by smoking.

Social, quality of life, economics, and political
• Smokers tend to be cleaner than non smokers, as they must wash themselves and their clothes more often.
• Smokers tend to be more tolerant and sociable than non smokers.
• Smokers tend to be more creative than non smokers.
• Smoking is a gratification of life.
• Smoking is cool.
• Smokers contribute billions of dollars more than non smokers to the world economy through tobacco taxation alone.
• Smoking has a relaxing effect on the individual and curbs the appetite, thus preventing overeating.
• Smokers are greater spenders than non smokers, thus further contributing to the wealth of society.
• The oldest people in the world are all smokers.
• Most great geniuses of the last 500 years were smokers.
• Smoking men and women are sexier and more interesting than non smoking ones.
• Compared to most other forms of pleasure, smoking is still the most economical.
• Quitting smoking does not save any money to the smoker, as money is most often spent in disfunctional over-compensation through other (sometimes more dangerous) forms of pleasure.
• Quitting smoking with smoking cessation drugs may expose the smoker to life-threatening dangers.
• Quitting smoking with smoking cessation drugs increases the economic power of pharmaceutical multinational giants.
• Surrendering to anti-tobacco propaganda ploughs the way to other forms of intolerance, persecution, and economic exploitation of other target groups.
• Higher rates of smoking force anti-tobacco to increase its tapping of public money, thus it makes anti-tobacco more "uncomfortable" for politicians, and less tolerated by non smokers.
• Higher rates of smoking force anti-tobacco to use ever-increasing draconian and fascist tactics, thus showing its true colours to an ever-increasing amount of the population.
• Smoking in the face of an antismoker is a no-cost, yet incredibly gratifying experience!

Click here to see the page - World Smokers Day

I'm not swayed at all by any of this, I have to say.

What experiences of quitting smoking or any other 'vice' have you got?[/url]

[rts]

Now that's what I call a Fox News approach.

[johnnyboy]

Now that's what I call a Fox News approach.

Hehe, that's what I thought to some degree!

Cutting down from my 25-30 a day to 5-10 a day has been easier than I thought. When it comes to cutting it out altogether, that might be a totally different story.

[rts]

This weeks marks my first year without a cigarette. I used to smoke 10 on a quiet day, 30-40 on a manic one.

In January last year I went to the hospital with a problem with my hearing. Dodgy synasis etc etc. While examing me he said I had abnormally large and discoloured tonsils. Being the tender age of 19 at the time, this scared the shite out of me to hear that at such a young age, I had already caused an incredible amount of damage to myself. The doctor hadn't even got onto the condition of lungs...

Although I must admit to two roll ups during the summer, I haven't smoked a cigarette since that fateful day a year ago.

[Lorns]

None of that has convinced me to continue smoking.

I've tried the cutting down technique, and one i'm on again like you Johnnyboy. I am now on silk cut and smoke between 5 and 10 cigies a day.I have a cigarette case which holds 9 and that is all i take out with me. I have been doing this since my attempt to quit lasted about 3weeks ( it was a choice between having a cig to keep calm and think rationally or wring someones neck). So i've been on 10 aday for about 8-9wks.
I have tried to quit so many times, and i will do again. I was really impressed with the minty nicorette gum. After a couple of days i was beggining to feel healthier. I didn't feel the urge to eat loads of sweets or peanuts as a cigarette substitute with the gum.

I'm going to try to quit again in acouple of weeks as i'm getting two new cats, one of them being a kitten and the other being a Jaguar. I don't want to expose the kitten, who i've named Mouse to passive smoking and i'm definately not going to smoke in my new car, i say that everytime but, this time i mean it.

[noelfirl]

I really cant belive that page using Parkinson's and Alzheimers as scare words to encourage smoking. While there has been a link shown (especially in Parkinson's) that smoking can reduce incidence by a certain percent, it is not a cure nor will it deifinitely prevent oncoming of the diseases, and it's certainly wrong to encourage something that definately will do you some damage over time under the guise that it may prevent something that you may never have

[all new Phil]

I keep telling myself I'm going to quit (despite just bringing 200 cigs back off holiday) and I really don't know why it's not happening. I can quite easily go a few days without, and then I'll just buy some more and carry on smoking. I can do an entire night out without smoking (as I did last night) which is possibly the hardest thing to do with everyone else smoking around you. I think I just smoke out of habit and sometimes boredom.

The best incentive is seeing someone who doesn't like smoking. I've just started seeing someone who doesn't like it, and that's why I didn't smoke last night - in fact I didn't even think about smoking all night either.

[Chris]

Hahaha, some funny stuff there.

• Quitting smoking with smoking cessation drugs increases the economic power of pharmaceutical multinational giants.

Carrying on smoking increases the economic power of the tobacco giants. You can have it either way - would you rather feed the pockets of the tobacco giants who will help you to an early grave and consume your money by getting you hooked, or would you feed the pharmaceutical giants who'll try their best to get you off the addictive cigarattes (hopefully for good) ?

• Smoking men and women are sexier and more interesting than non smoking ones.

Ugh! I've never heard so much crap in my entire life. One of the biggest turn offs for me in a woman is smoking of any sort. I don't care if it's cigars, cigarettes or weed, it makes your hair, breath, skin, clothes and person reek. OK, so I speak as a non smoker, of which I am sure there are more than smokers.

• Smoking is cool.

In the eyes of whom, exactly? 14 year old kid perhaps, but I don't think I've ever heard an adult say it's "cool" to smoke. In fact, quite a big percentage of those I've spoken to who do smoke have said they wish they hadn't taken it up in the first place.

• Smoking in the face of an antismoker is a no-cost, yet incredibly gratifying experience!

And it's utterly fucking insiderate to blow your vile smoke in my direction and to cover my trouser leg with bits of flicked ash. Would you like it if I farted in your face instead?

• Compared to most other forms of pleasure, smoking is still the most economical.

Oh really?! Well, sex with your partner costs nothing. Hmm ... have they started to dish out fags for free on street corners?

I can't be arsed to do the rest, but I am sure you can see many of these 'reasons' were quite literally drawn up on the back of an empty fag packet.

More to the point ... how did you lot start smoking in the first place?

[Jamez]

More to the point ... how did you lot start smoking in the first place?

Because the world is full of annoying, self-righteous cretins like yourself and they piss us off.

[Lorns]

I was 13 when i started smoking and my grandad had just had the all clear from a cancer of his throat.
My mates were all smoking and encouraged me to try it. I did and from the first drag i loved it. I didn't even cough my guts up. Must have been due to the smoky enviroments i was exposed to regularly from an early age.
Also i thought it was cool and because i have a little bit of a rebellious side to my character the fact it was forbidden was very attractive.
Then the addiction to cigarettes got a grip of me which didn't take long.

I've got to say that i enjoy a cigarette , which is probably why i find it so hard to quit. 1 when you need it is better than 10 when you don't is my motto at the moment.

[Dr Lobster*]

None of that has convinced me to continue smoking.

I've tried the cutting down technique, and one i'm on again like you Johnnyboy. I am now on silk cut and smoke between 5 and 10 cigies a day

you need to get some nicotine gum or something to help. it does work if you want it to, i don't think i've touched a cigarette since september (although i did have a cigar at xmas, but it was a one off and doesn't really count)