I smoked 26 years and was only able to break the grip of nicotine addiction with the help of some non-tobacco smoking products. (I smoked 4 packs a day at the time) Everyone is different but for me it was a drug addiction nothing more or less. I wanted to quit but could not overcome the withdrawal effects. I need a crutch to let my body adjusto to no dope. 90 Dyas after I quit I developed Hives and spasms that were controlled medically for a couple of weeks while the old bod decided it wasn't going to get mor nicotine no matter how much it protested. Then I was "clean" and have never even wanted to try another cig. (used to follow smokers around just to get a whif though, smelled so good and familiar)
I understand why people smoke and you are right. You have every right to risk whatever awaits for the enjoyment of smoking. When it is your time you have no one to blame but yourself. Just be aware of the pain you may inflict on your loved ones...I still miss the years I could have spent with my father and so do his grandchildren. Also be aware of and sensitive to the really obnoxious effects you may have on non-smokers that inhabit the same space. Smokers really stink but they can't tell it..pew. and they make many other non-smokers (not your enemies because they chose not to smoke)eyes and breathing passages burn badly.
I have no regard what ever for Phillip Morris. They purposefully increased the nicotine content of their products to increased the addictive effect. They purposefully targeted their advertising to teenagers expressly to addict the most influenceable population that could provide an expanding longer lived market for their poison as their original market died off from related smoking diseases. They are scum.
However, I think you are right. You have the right to smoke as long as you can. Just don't expect sympathy when you begin coughing up parts of your lungs or for anyone else to shoulder the burden of financial support of your health care expense as you decompose. I'm not sure of my statistics but I think you have a few good years left before you reach the point where most lung cancers begin to show symptoms. Get regular checkups and let's hear back in say 10 years.
Really I bear you no malice. Enjoy. Take a deep drag and chill. After smoking for 26 years (have been clean for 20 years now) I can still remember the satisfaction of a deep draw after the meal.
Listen, I can tell my lungs are already damaged and I am dying. When I sleep at night and I cough, my right lung makes popping noises if you can believe it. Don`t know if I have lung cancer, maybe I do, but I can tell you right now I won`t live very long. Nicotine is the most addictive drug on this planet. Malcolm X said when he was young he was addicted to every drug he could lay his hands on, heroin, cocaine, marijuana. He was able to quit all of them except nicotine.
The government bans drugs that are far less damaging and addicting, marijuana being number one, yet alcohol and nicotine, two of THE most harmful addictive drugs on this planet are kept legal solely to support this country. The melody of the National Anthem of this country is from an old beer drinking song, you watch TV, alcohol is promoted relentlessly, sports and alcohol are promoted relentlessly, yet alcohol destroys more lives than every other drug combined.
I use to work in a hospital and I can`t tell you how many people I met who were hospitalized because of alcohol. On the other hand I barely remember anyone hospitalized for any other drug. It was always cancer from smoking and failed liver from drinking.
The fact is everyone is responsible for their own behaviour. We live in a free society, and being that I am a nicotine junkie is nobodys fault but my own. This country may support itself by blood money. RINO Bloomberg of New York may tax the hell out of cigarettes to support New york liberal socialist programs and to cover leech lawsuits and pay phony union workman comp claims, but in the end everyone is responsible for their own health, and when I die from smoking and put my familiy in agony it is my own fault and I will never ask the government to ban cigarettes or alcohol or guns or anything else. In a free society, each man is a country unto his own. That is the price of freedom. I`m sorry your father died, but he is responsible for his death, not Phillip Morris or anyone else. You on the other hand quit and you are responsible for your continued good health.