Posted on 11/05/2003 8:54:45 PM PST by Between the Lines
I have to agree with that statement as long as it also includes alcohol. -I had my first beer with my first cigarette and for at least a couple years after, everytime I smoked a cigarette while consuming the beer I felt like Shiite the next day!
And if anyone here has the guts to say that beer is non-addictive, I am here to tell you that I went from a beer and cigarette recreational user to a Tanqueray and cigarette addict in a mere 32 years.........
Alcohol and Cigarettes are evil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (/sarcasm)
Thank God I never tried twinkies.......
Re-starting and initial starting are two different things. I've experienced the same on quitting/restarting, but I can't say that the inital pack of cigarettes got me hooked. It was a cumulative thing over a period of months that gradually built into a habit/addiction/whatever.
After trying several times to quit, and some temporary help from Welbutrin I've been off cigarettes for almost 5 years now.
Excellent - 5 years is great. I'm 21 months smoke-free. Don't ever feel bad about using wellbutrin - cigarettes have a psychological effect that non-smokers don't understand. I quit cold turkey and its a wonder that I didn't kill anybody.
I quit several drugs including speed, heroin, cocaine etc. and found cigarettes the most difficult.
I haven't been in that position, but I will agree as to the difficulty of quitting and the ease with which one can start. I've had quits of 4 years, 1 year (twice), and several months under my belt. This time, I ain't starting again. It just won't happen.
I've heard it referred to as the "poor man's prozac". Well, maybe not so poor any more, as the price has risen considerably.
The one, Sgt Friday, I love is where Webb did a Clinton, how to smoke a J with out inhaling, as if Friday could ever do vice.
Asthma incidence has risen as houses have been built more energy efficient and more air-tight. I get asthma as an allergic reaction to cats, but it is particularly bad at my sister's house where they keep the house sealed up in the winter with no forced-air filtration (they heat primarily with a wood-burner). I have some serious problems there.
On the other hand, I had a cat myself and with good filtration, I only had minimal breathing problems around him. My smoking actually helped (temporarily anyway) my breathing at the time. Still, I'm glad to have quit.
There is a pleasurable sensation in the long, slow draw of a cigarette, the swirling of the smoke about your face and the uptake of the upper lung area.
Smoking is a solitary vice when practiced best.
I wasn't addicted to all of them at the same time...but tended to replace one addiction with another.
My crack/cocaine addiction was by far the most expensive.
I was making a decent salary but still was borrowing money to pay rent,had my credit ruined, nearly had my car repossessed, and was going to the homeless shelters for food.
My employers even knew I was addicted to coke, and put up with my behavior problems because I happened to have difficult to replace experience and job skills.
I could tell you some stories that you wouldn't believe.
And I can only thank God I am still alive at 50. Most of my freinds didn't make it.
I've found the mere PRICE of cigarettes these days has been the best incentive not to start again.
I am so angry that the greedy politicians have tacked such huge taxes on them..that I am determined they won't get a single red cent from me.
Besides, I look at what I could buy for the approx $180/month I would spend on cigarettes and I reward myself with the benefits. It works for me.
The majority of the cost of smokes is taxes, the government is addicted to tobacco tax. Now that the general public has given the government the power to confiscate the property of citizens because they are engaging in a lawful activity, the floodgates have been opened. Every group the government decides to attack after smokers, groups that applauded the attacks on smokers, will say, "But...but...they weren't supposed to do this to meeeeee!"
You reap what you sow.
I understand the freedom, don't want non-smoking laws, but man, that was the toughest monkey I ever got off my back.
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