Let's quit tobacco together!

[luvs]

geebs, i, fer 1, see that your point is simple to understand & not a lecture, political, etc.

i say click 'ignore' in your mind, & continue to be a support to others.

 

[skilletlicker]

And again none of that has anything to do with what I was saying.

Gee whiz you're right GB. It isn't about what you're saying. It's about what Maverick said.

 

[GB]

My apologies then.

 

[DramaQueen]

I was under the impression that insurance companies factored the additional liability potential of smoking into the rate when underwriting a policy.

I can't prove this but strongly suspect that the net fiscal effect of tobacco use on the federal budget is positive. Sure medicare and medicaid expenses increase but, as mentioned earlier, there is an offset by the "sin taxes." Of course if folks don't die of smoking related disease they will eventually die of something else and incur medical and other government subsidized expenses during their additional years. Also cigarette smokers, dying younger as a general rule, forfeit the social security and other benefits that non-smokers receive during their extended life span.

I don't think one single smoker is going to quit because he is nagged at or feels guilty about supposedly being a drain on the wallets of the rest of us. The point is that they (used to be we) not only pay the exhorbitant prices, including taxes, on cigarettes but, in many ways, miss out on their fair share of the benefits.

I only write this in the hope that feeling taken advantage of might be the last straw that helps somebody like Maverick finally become entirely ready to quit.

If you're using the logic (strange though it is) that smokers do us non-smokers a favor by dying young therefore giving us their benefits, then I guess we should thank all smokers. In that case forget what I said about quitting, and keep on puffing.

Unfortunately it is also a known fact that smokers develop many more smoking related health problems even if they don't die young, so therefore they do their share of draining the health care system. When I owned my retail shops we paid for the health insurance of our employees. We could not carry insurance on the employees that smoked because the insurance company said they are sure to rack up costs of health care. I know that many companies will not hire smokers because they seem to take too much time off of work. Interesting fact.

You're are right about one thing, no one is going to quit or even attempt to quit just because someone is nagging or shaming them into it. They should quit only if they truly value their health, their lives or care about what happens to their loved ones seeing them suffer through the horrific symptoms of emphysema, or lung cancer.
Have you ever seen a young woman with a hole in her throat and speaking by holding an appliance up to her throat and "burping" the words??? If that doesn't make you quit, nothing will.

There has been much said about taking cigarettes off the market. I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. Too much money will be lost. However, as much as I am opposed to smoking and wish people would really consider the risks, I will defend anyone's RIGHT to smoke. You can't tell anyone NOT to smoke, but you can and I do tell people they can't smoke around me. I think that those companies that hire people who smoke should give each of them a cigarette break, I really do. When you are craving a smoke, and you can't have one, horrible things happen to your mind and you aren't very effective at your job in that condition. Been there, done that.

 

[Russellkhan]

My statement was not aimed at nagging anyone to get them to quit. My statement was aimed at the person who said it is no ones business what they do with their money because it only affects them. I was only pointing out that is not true.

Sorry GB, but it really is not your business what I do with my money. Yes smoking does affect others, but so does every other decision you make.

So until the day that you're reporting to me and correcting as I see fit about what you do with every dime, what you do with your free time, what you do at work, how you travel and commute, and everything else you do that might affect me in some way, my smoking is my decision.

 

[luvs]

i wouldn't apologize, geebs. what for, ya knowwhat i mean?

 

[GB]

And once again I need to say it. People this is the last time I am going to say it because it is really getting tiring.

I am not telling you that smoking is not your decision. I am not saying that if you have decided to smoke that it is up to anyone else if you do or not. All I am saying is that smoking affects more than just the smoker.

If you want to smoke then fine, smoke, but do not try to tell me that the decisions that you make that affect ME are none of my business. Do I have the right to tell you to stop smoking? Absolutely not. Does your smoking affect me? Yes it does. When you do something that affects me that makes it part of my business. It does not give me any rights to tell you what to do or not do, but it affects me and than makes it my business. It gives me no rights to do anything about it directly, but when something affects me by definition that makes it my business.

 

[lulu]

Side stepping all the above, good luck to all of you giving up. As an ex, albeit light, smoker I know how FANTASTIC the results are and its worth the struggle.

 

[luvs]

isn't not puffing away great, lulu?

 

[Maverick2272]

OK, I made a group for this:
Discuss Cooking Forum - Smokers Annonymous
Just because I made the group doesn't mean I am leading the way!! LOL, four times I have tried, once smoke free for a year, once 8 months, once for three months, and the last time lasted all of three weeks.
I don't have a good track record there, but who knows maybe one more try is in order?

 

[GB]

Don't give up Mav. I bet most people who quit tried many times before they were successful. I know I tried many many times before it worked.

 

[Maverick2272]

OK, I am a wee bit confused. You guys said a stop smoking group was a good idea... but so far only one other person has joined in... so I guess everyone else was... uh... just blowin smoke there?

 

[MexicoKaren]

I'm thinking about it, Buddy....

 

[fortheloveofdumdum]

I'm off to the hypnotherapist tomorrow! Not coughing and having florescent teeth will be nice! It will be my 3rd big attempt... I'm sending out happy fresh air filled energy to all my tobacco enslaved homies!!