[TKDietz]

Well, my mother is now in advanced stages of emphysema and she still can't quit smoking the damnd things. My grandmother, also a heavy smoker, died a miserable death from emphysema. My mother-in-law, who still can't bring herself to quit, was diagnosed nearly a year ago with emphysema. I quit my twenty plus year habit the day she was diagnosed, and it was probably the hardest thing I ever did. I still crave the damned things.

I can tell you from personal experience that nicotine is way more addictive than caffiene, alcohol, or chocolate. I've never done heroin or been addicted to cocaine, but I am in a line of work where I frequently deal with drug addicts. My guess is that nicotine addictions are at least very close to being as strong as hard drug addictions. The process of swearing of cigarettes, then backsliding again and again is so like what I see with the meth addicts I deal with on a daily basis. It's hard as hell to quit smoking.

I am not at all surprised to hear that the cigarette/mortality connection is exaggerated. That seems to be the modus operandi of our government when it comes to anti-drug propaganda.

[Gabz]

I am terribly sorry to hear of the ill health of your family members and will include them in my prayers.

I am not trying to belittle in anyway the ill health of your family members, but recent studies have shown that nearly everyone is practically born with a type of emphysema (I will look for the link to that information) and it is also a genetic condition. In some cases smoking is going to exaccerbate it, in others it won't. My dad was diagnosed with it some 30 years ago, but it has never made any difference in his life and even back then the doctor told him that while his smoking didn't help and he should quit, it wasn't the cause and probably didn't make any difference.

I can tell you from personal experience that nicotine is way more addictive than caffiene, alcohol, or chocolate.

And I can tell you from personal experience that caffeine is way more addictive than nicotine, alcohol or chocolate (the addictive nature of which is caffeine). My personal anecdotal experiences are just as valid as yours.

When Pepsi came out with it's caffeine-free SLICE back in the mid 1980's I worked at a radio station that got a big ad campaign from the local bottler. We were giving away cases of the stuff every 15 minutes for weeks. The Pepsi truck showed up every Monday morning and delivered I don't know how many cases and of course there was much left for the staff. Broadcasting is a coffee drinking profession, but within about a week nearly all of the daytime staff (on and off air staff) were suffering from near migraine proportion headaches by mid-afternoon every day.

We were suffering from caffeine withdrawl. I have never gone back to the level of caffeine I consumed back then because of it.

I have had no similar problem with nicotine. I would venture to say most people probably think I'm smoking like a fiend because I am agitated and talking about smoking - it's actually the total opposite. My husband and I use 4 ashtrays in the house, one on each of our desks and one next to each of our chairs in the family room. They get emptied into the "burn barrel" outside everynight. There are 2 butts in the tray next to my chair and one in the tray on my desk, and I have been up since before 6 this morning.

Your observation about exaggeration is quite correct, but dont forget those wonderful NGO's such as Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which have a financial stake in all of this nonsense.