I have never smoked. I did try in the 69s/early 70s, but could not stop choking. About 20 years later when all the health issues were known I was asked if I had smoked and I explained that I had tried 1 cigarette about 5 times and had to abandon. The questioner,IN ALL SERIOUSNESS said I should have persevered!
Annoyingly I have advanced sarcoidosis (lung condition) and bronchiectasis. My lungs are pretty buggered. Not sure what the moral of this story is.
You would have to look back at where you have been in the past.
It is possible you have worked or lived in a place that is dusty.
It is possible you have worked or lived in a place that is dusty.
There is a statistic that says if you don't start smoking by the age of 18, chances are very very good you will never pick up the habit. I never smoked tobacco in high school, as I was in sports (Wrestling and Football)...but sure enough, as soon as I got to college (at age 18), I picked up that habit in a big way...I couldn't stay awake on study nights with Coffee and No-Doze, so I started smoking....and became a nasty habit - at least a pack a day of Marlboro Lights... for 13 years...quit in 2000 when cigarettes eclipsed $5/pack in Hawaii, where I was living at the time.
Nowadays I enjoy a cigar once / twice a week (while Golfing, at Band Practice, etc)... don't think I am "Addicted" to cigars as I was cigarettes... as I can easily go many month without...
By the way - El Rey Del Mundo Robusto Largas are great cheap Cigars! And don't get me started on the legalized recreational Marijuana here in Illinois...
Nowadays I enjoy a cigar once / twice a week (while Golfing, at Band Practice, etc)... don't think I am "Addicted" to cigars as I was cigarettes... as I can easily go many month without...
By the way - El Rey Del Mundo Robusto Largas are great cheap Cigars! And don't get me started on the legalized recreational Marijuana here in Illinois...
My mother had sarcoidosis I think after 9/11, she was staying quite far upper east side nyc.
The doctor gave her a single high dose steroid and she recovered. What is already damaged is still there, but her condition stabilised and she doesn’t have any more problems.
The doctor gave her a single high dose steroid and she recovered. What is already damaged is still there, but her condition stabilised and she doesn’t have any more problems.
I was watching an old movie, there was a lighter given by the leading lady to the male lead, and it had some sort of musical device inside.
A bit similar to clockwork toys, a rotating drum touches reeds, in sound.
How that went inside a lighter (hand held), I cannot say.
Point is, smoking was considered fashionable, and glamorous at one time.
Then the excrement hit the fan.....too late for some.
There is a description of Humphrey Bogart's last days in a book by David Niven, how he would dress up for dinner and come down from the upper floor to the dining area of his residence in a dumb waiter, he was too weak to walk, he would drag himself by sheer will power.
A slow lingering death... how many smokers pay heed to these events?
A bit similar to clockwork toys, a rotating drum touches reeds, in sound.
How that went inside a lighter (hand held), I cannot say.
Point is, smoking was considered fashionable, and glamorous at one time.
Then the excrement hit the fan.....too late for some.
There is a description of Humphrey Bogart's last days in a book by David Niven, how he would dress up for dinner and come down from the upper floor to the dining area of his residence in a dumb waiter, he was too weak to walk, he would drag himself by sheer will power.
A slow lingering death... how many smokers pay heed to these events?
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In case if anybody is interested:
This song is from the 1961 movie 'Hum Dono', the male lead lived longer than most (he was ascetic in real life), and the lady died at 74, not remarkable, or linked to smoking.
https://www.google.com/search?clien...#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:265d4240,vid:CNptkFDgA7E
This song is from the 1961 movie 'Hum Dono', the male lead lived longer than most (he was ascetic in real life), and the lady died at 74, not remarkable, or linked to smoking.
https://www.google.com/search?clien...#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:265d4240,vid:CNptkFDgA7E
Interesting point. I was diagnosed with sarcoid in my early 30s. Nothing in my lifestyle was unusual, Monitoring it showed no increase.
Then I played in a pit orchestra (Royal Opera House) for 30 years, which is a fairly dusty environment, and travelled on the London underground most days which is horrendously dusty and polluted.
However lots of people have this sort of lifestyle or worse, without health complications.
The thing that always scares me is when people end up on an oxygen tank (because of their smoking), and continue to smoke, while on oxygen.
Its also dangerous because the oxygen tank can explode when expose to open flame like a lighter and lit cig.
My father had a colleague/friend who was a heavy smoker. He had to have one leg amputated - he didn't stop smoking. He then had his second leg amputated - he didn't stop smoking - soon after he died. I had the misfortune to be working in the Netherlands 79/80 when the Turkish mafia decided they could make a lot more money by importing Turkish/Afghan smack than Turkish/Afghan hash. Lost of young people from all over Europe came to visit/work in the Netherlands because of the relaxed attitude to drugs of all kinds there - it was good for tourism so the police were told to turn a blind eye by the Dutch politicians. I saw Europe's young turn from smoking hash and ganja to Turkish and Afghan Red smack, it was 90% pure. In one weekend between Rotterdam and Amsterdam over 20 junkies overdosed because they didn't believe what the Turks said about purity.
In the autumn/winter of 79/80, many young people returned to their own countries and took their addiction with them. It only takes one week of nicotine use to become a tobacco junkie but it takes about 3 months before smack has GOT YOU.
The 'war on drugs' was promoted initially by the alcohol industry in the USA. The biggest drug killer across the planet is alcohol, followed by nicotine. both legalised drugs. Way back when the European invaders in North America realised how addictive tobacco was and the huge profits to be made, the importation of Bantu slaves from West Africa was to work the plantations. If governments anywhere actually had the best interests of their citizens at heart then all tobacco products would have been banned decades ago. Big pharma loves smack/tobacco and alcohol - they make lots of money from addiction to all three. Many young people who go to university didn't smoke beforehand but then they introduced to hash and ganja via joints. They leave uni and stopped smoking maryjane but don't stop smoking tobacco because they are addicted. Only those with mental health problems become addicted to marijuana, I have known only one Dutchman with this addiction.
Have you noticed that on newsfeeds they talk about 'alcohol and drugs' it's been going on for decades, guess who demanded this distinction?
In the autumn/winter of 79/80, many young people returned to their own countries and took their addiction with them. It only takes one week of nicotine use to become a tobacco junkie but it takes about 3 months before smack has GOT YOU.
The 'war on drugs' was promoted initially by the alcohol industry in the USA. The biggest drug killer across the planet is alcohol, followed by nicotine. both legalised drugs. Way back when the European invaders in North America realised how addictive tobacco was and the huge profits to be made, the importation of Bantu slaves from West Africa was to work the plantations. If governments anywhere actually had the best interests of their citizens at heart then all tobacco products would have been banned decades ago. Big pharma loves smack/tobacco and alcohol - they make lots of money from addiction to all three. Many young people who go to university didn't smoke beforehand but then they introduced to hash and ganja via joints. They leave uni and stopped smoking maryjane but don't stop smoking tobacco because they are addicted. Only those with mental health problems become addicted to marijuana, I have known only one Dutchman with this addiction.
Have you noticed that on newsfeeds they talk about 'alcohol and drugs' it's been going on for decades, guess who demanded this distinction?
Heroin addiction is covered here.
https://www.camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-illness-and-addiction-index/heroin
They suggest addiction typically takes a few weeks.
I have met folks who have used it “casually” and not become addicted. Of course there are also folks still around who played “Russian Roulette!”
https://www.camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-illness-and-addiction-index/heroin
They suggest addiction typically takes a few weeks.
I have met folks who have used it “casually” and not become addicted. Of course there are also folks still around who played “Russian Roulette!”
It's definitely not an evolutionary tool. For that to be, it must make a difference in reproduction success, which it doesn't.
Cancer deaths happen, with very rare exceptions, way after reproduction age.
Jan
My statement comes from actually seeing the time frame of addiction, not from theory. I remember going home for Christmas at the end of 79 and going to visit a friend who was a highly paid computer consultant/saleman. A lot of my friends happened to be there and I told them in no uncertain terms about the danger of smack. My friend Mick laughed and said he only used it at the weekend. I walked up to him, nose to nose and said "pretty soon your weekend is going to start bright and early on a Monday morning and I do mean bright and early". No one took me seriously. Within 3 years, 2 of them were dead. Another an accountant was in prison for fraud, his marriage gone and Mick had become a fully fledged smack dealer. He destroyed a lot of lives. Put a smack dealer in prison,which western countries do and dozens of junkies come out, lawyers love them, they are repeat business. I know the definitive answer to the problem and it's not a pretty one.
I stopped smoking aged 50 and when I did I was really angry with myself because it was actually very easy simply because there are basically two types of people those with addictive personalities and those who have habits. One day I decided to change the habit of smoking for the habit of not smoking. I took up running and only stopped because I had moved somewhere where with crappy building standards, Andalucia I only got 2 hours of sleep a night from late April - end of September which might have been alright for someone young but in my late 50s' it was a no-no. I still was into long distance walking but it's not the same as running. Smokers never seem to understand that they and their clothes stink of nicotine, how my then partner, now wife put up with me I don't know.
It's refreshing to see this perspective being presented. I'll take it a step further and just say both kinds are a matter of self control.
The Center for Addiction and Mental Health had seen quite simply thousands of addicts. No theory, way too much practice.
I could tell the tale of the dead addict, who I killed!
I could tell the tale of the dead addict, who I killed!
No different than being able to reach something on a shelf is a matter of height.
I quit alcohol cold turkey in 1997 when I became responsible for my first batch of kids, I quit tobacco cold turkey in 2018 when the first of my [second wind] was born.
I don't begrudge folks who might need a stool to reach their goals, whether they stumble upon one by barking their shins, or deliberately seeking one out.
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