Smokers : What Would It Take For You To Give Up ?

[gobbledonk]

The nanny state here seems to be spending even more taxpayers money imploring smokers to give up, and I expect that it's a similar story in other parts of the developed world. The more alarming the ad, the more convinced I am that hardcore nicotine addicts simply wont respond to advertising or any amount of education campaigns. We can blame Hollywood, we can blame marketing - end of the day, its a powerful physical addiction.

 

As a lifelong non-smoker (despite being a black-out drinker on occasion), I usually claim the moral high ground, but there are no winners here - taxpayers can spend billion trying to get smokers to quit, but I suspect that it's going to take a doctor (or a priest ..) to really get the job done for many of us. When I served in the Army, most of the young guys smoked - it was only the arrival of a new addition to the family that saw them cut down or quit - and its interesting that even when food and ammunition were low in wartime, soldiers always seemed to be able to find a 'durrie'. I guess we are all creatures of habit.

 

Feedback most welcome.

[Flashermac]

John Wayne had a lung removed, but it didn't stop him from smoking.

 

In my Army days, we got cigarettes included in our C-rations, along with a book of matches. Cigarettes were dirt cheap if you managed to get to a PX (post exchange). Nowadays cigarettes are discouraged as much as possible. Doesn't stop some GIs from smoking though.

 

[Specialist]

(Full Disclosure: I'm a trained hypnotist. We have to know at least a little bit about nicotine addiction: for those of us who do therapeutic work, it is one of the Top Two reasons why clients consult hypnotherapists.)

 

There are two sides to nicotine addiction, chemical and mental.

 

First, let's talk chemistry. On the one hand, the chemical cravings are INTENSE. On the other hand, once you put the cigarette down, the body starts clearing the nicotine chemistry, and most people clear it in 24-48 hours. NOBODY takes as much as 96 hours to clear the chemistry.

 

Once the chemistry has cleared, the chemical cravings are gone, and THEY DO NOT COME BACK UNTIL AND UNLESS MORE NICOTINE IS PUT INTO THE SYSTEM. All you have left at that point are mental things, habits that you've built up, beliefs you've developed about smoking. Change those beliefs, and you're a non-smoker.

 

To a first approximation, EVERYBODY starts smoking from "peer pressure": they want to hang out with the cool kids in high school, out at the smoking fence. (I've encountered exactly one exception to this rule. I didn't have time for a deeper interview, but, in her case, I suspect there were some other things going on that she didn't tell me about.)

 

In the workplace, one of the biggest challenges is that "smoke breaks" give a perfectly socially acceptable excuse for taking a much-needed mental health break from work. The patient knows he needs those breaks, but typical management strongly frowns on people just "taking a break."

 

The great Milton Erickson tells a story, about a smoking cessation client. During the intake interview, Milton asked why the client wanted to quit smoking. All the usual reasons came out. Wife nagging, costs, social pressure, you name it. Erickson asked him "If those things were not issues, would you still want to quit smoking?" The guy said "Hell no! I love the bloody things!" This client enjoyed smoking. Erickson told him to come back when he'd changed his mind about loving smoking.

[passingthru69]

Here's the weird thing with me and my smoking..

I drive truck for a living and get bored so I light one up..

Then sitting around I get bored and drink too much coffee and smoke.

But when I get on the plane I know I can't smoke, so I just kinda zone out for 12 hours.

Then grab a smoke or two between planes and zone out again..

When I'm in places I know I can't smoke, I deal with it, but if I can just walk outside for one I will.

I go into job sites where we can not smoke as being gas plants or such, or their rules.

 

To just give it up, I do not know what it wqould take. I told my wife if we have a baby I would quit.

But seems the pratice sessions went down hill from there.555

 

Giving up drinking for 6 years was easy. I just walked away from it.Drink some now, but not on a regular basis.

[TheCorinthian]

(Full Disclosure: I'm a trained hypnotist. We have to know at least a little bit about nicotine addiction: for those of us who do therapeutic work, it is one of the Top Two reasons why clients consult hypnotherapists.)

 

There are two sides to nicotine addiction, chemical and mental.

 

No, there are three.

 

3) you enjoy it.

 

Just like a cheese burger, I enjoy my cigar. I also run a 22 min 3 mile. But my cigar is one a day and sometimes less. So I am not a 3 pack a day guy.

 

And I am also a research chemist and viral weaponry expert. So, yes, I know the risk. But I also know the risk from a hamburger.

[dean]

My dad was a heavy smoker for thirty years, until January 1, 1970, when the S and H green stamp program was discontinued for cigarettes. He quit cold turkey. In the mid 70's he picked up smoking a pipe and occasionally a cigar. He smoked and was still drinking up to his death at age 89 (not from smoking or drinking but falling too many times and damaging his lungs). I really hope that I inherited his constitution. My 18 year old step son has taken up the smoking habit in the last 12 months. He's had a bad cough for as long as I can remember and I can't imagine that smoking will help it. I also have a nephew that had one of his lungs removed just after birth that smokes.

[Mekong]

In the UK it is the smoker who is the taxpayer, over 77% of the cost of a packet of cigarettes goes on tax / duty yet smoking related diseases only cost the NHS less than 50% of obesity related diseases.

 

Why don't they tax "Junk Food" at the same rate as cigarettes? farking hypocritical IMHO

[Flashermac]

I started smoking in the Army because of boredom - "hurry up and wait". When we finally settled down in a base camp in RVN, I switched to pipe smoking. It was much more relaxing and has been described as "maturbating in public". I quit smoking nearly 30 years ago and detest cigarette smoke. But pipe smoke still brings back a slight urge to light one up.

[gobbledonk]

In the UK it is the smoker who is the taxpayer, over 77% of the cost of a packet of cigarettes goes on tax / duty yet smoking related diseases only cost the NHS less than 50% of obesity related diseases.

 

Why don't they tax "Junk Food" at the same rate as cigarettes? farking hypocritical IMHO

 

And there have been calls to exactly that, but thus far it hasnt happened in Oz. I've seen the sort of stats you are throwing around before - some even more extreme - but you seem to be rationalising your habit rather than responding to my question : what would it take for you to quit ? If the answer is 'tax junk food and obese people on aircraft', fine - at least that would have been a response.

[Mekong]

I previously stated excessive tax. For a smoker in the UK on one packet / day that equates to GBP 2,828 / annum of which 622 Quid goes to the tobacco companies and 2,205 Quid into the government coffers, it's a farking scam.