CIGARETTES, ADDICTION, KIDS AND TAXES
This is about smoking cigarettes. Most of my readers have given up the habit long ago. But, you might want to pass this down to a few of the grandkids, especially those entering their teens.
I know a guy who smoked four packs a day. He was a hard-core nicotine addict.
He started…much the same way most teens start, because he wanted to be “the same,” included, part of the group, no different. He wanted “acceptance.” Smoking cigarettes was part of the every day culture. It was cool!
Of course, in the 1950’s, smoking was the “in” thing for society in general. We cannot see an old Classic Movie starring Humphrey Bogart or Bette Davis without noticing that every character in the scene is puffing away on the weed. Holding a Chesterfield between the fingers was part of the attire. Until the 1980s, smoking was allowed almost everywhere, including office buildings and movie theaters. No more.
Like most kids who continue the habit into adulthood, he became addicted to nicotine. After all, it’s as much a drug, as is heroin and cocaine, only nicotine is sold legally and taxed by the government. The addiction became so powerful, that the mere thought of quitting gave him pains in the jaw. When he went without a smoke for more than a couple hours, he felt disoriented, achy, needy. He had to have a cigarette, and when he finally did, he felt that rush of light-headedness. Sooo good.
Eventually he entered into a fast-paced job with lots of pressure. Pall Malls burned to the fingers before he’d light another, and another. Two packs a day, then three, then four. He gave up good relationships if smoking offended the opposite sex. By the time he reached his thirties, he woke up hacking in the mornings. His lungs pained him, but he still managed to smoke. He smoked in the shower, leaving a butt burning on the toilet tank for a quick “hit” between the wash and the shampoo.
He became a slave to cigarettes. They were part of his persona. He felt undressed if they weren’t in his pockets. He’d panic if he ran out of matches. Pall Malls were a significant part of his budget. They came first, before food. Cigarettes owned him.
He was 39 when the doctor told him he had early stages of emphysema. “I’d rather treat a cancer patient any day, than an emphysema patient,” he said. “If you don’t quit, you’ll die a very slow and painful death.”
So, he went about trying to quit. It was almost impossible. He tried special filters, but they didn’t work. He tried acupuncture, but it didn’t work. He tried hypnotism, and it didn’t work. When he did quit for a few days, he’d sneak puffs off cigarette butts from abandoned ash trays.
Finally, at the age of 43, he had an epiphany. The filters, acupuncture and hypnotism didn’t help, because he had not really committed himself to quit. He was relying on the devices to do it for him. There was no other way, than to do it on his own. So, he made a hard-fast commitment: “As of today, I am a non-smoker.”
There is no such thing as “trying.” The term “trying” is a pacifier, to shut people up. You either do it, or you do not.
He went to a doctor and asked for a medicine to knock him out over the week-end, as a head start. That was 26 years ago. To this day, he considers himself an addict in recovery. If he risked one puff, he’d be just like a recovering alcoholic having one drink.
Kids think they are too young to worry. They are invulnerable. Becoming 40 or 50 is too far off to be concerned. But, the addiction begins early. And it stays, and it dominates, and it controls, and it makes slaves out of its users.
Since those days, the four pack-a-day smoker has seen many of his friends go by the wayside the hard way, all smokers who started when they were invulnerable. It’s not the deaths that are so troubling, it’s the suffering along the way to the grave. Emphysema victims spend months and years hunched over gasping for a breath, many with oxygen strapped to their backs. One Miami cop who suffered with this horrible disease stuck a gun in his mouth to end it all. Another suffered from painful lung cancer for five years, and misery from cancer treatments, before he finally succumbed. Then, there’s the ones with heart disease, another fallout from the addiction to nicotine.
No sense boring you with statistics, you’ve heard it all. Suffice to say, the chances of suffering with a horrible smoking-related disease later in life is twenty times greater if someone is a smoker of cigarettes. All it takes, is being an addict. Few can escape it. Thus, the mere lighting up is tantamount to the long road toward a painful suicide.
With all that we know in the 21st century about disease and smoking, and the utter gamble kids are making by lighting up that first cigarette, one can only conclude that “acceptance” among peers is a more desired choice than certain suffering. Not only that, it’s plain stupid
Oh yeah…that guy who quit 26 years ago, he had a hard time with his lost habit, nervousness, nothing to do with his hands, and lips, and those missing packs from his pocket made him feel naked.
Someone said, “exercise.” So, he tried jogging. He couldn’t jog the length of a football field to start, without keeling over, but he kept trying. A couple weeks went by, and he jogged around the block before flaking out. A month later, he jogged one mile. Amazingly, three months went by and he ran 5 miles. Three years later, he finished a 26 mile marathon.
What a high!
There’s no such thing as “I can’t.” You just have to want to, bad enough.
I had a recent op-ed published in Florida Today, related to the tax increases on cigarettes. If interested, click on this link:
Give kids the truth | floridatoday.com
I am glad you wrote this heartfelt column. One of our UU members has emphysema and has been dying slowly for years. She is now in a nursing home and still struggling to breathe with oxygen. My husband quit after 17 years of “trying.” He did it by switching to a brand he did not like. Good for you for succeeding, cold turkey. I only wish teens would listen…
Marshall,
I remember those pall malls, when you were leaning over a crime scene. But I thought you were cool; so we all wanted to be like you and cool; we all smoked back then. I am so glad to have quit when my sons were born. That was my reason 24 years ago.
I /we have lost a lot of good friends to diseases related to smoking before their time. I am copying this article to give to my sons, because now they smoke and I never and neither did my ex-wife smoke in front of them. They just picked it up. When I asked one of my sons why he was smoking he says; “I look cool smoking”.
I have considered the old formula of kicking his a&*, but detemined he would probably kick mine. I also do like being a hypocrite. So maybe from someone elses perspective will assist, so thank you for wrting this.
David
I too smoked as everyone did. I have one sone that smokes and one that does not. The one who does has told me many times he likes to smoke although he attempted to quit a few times. The thought that he has to make up his mind to it, just as I did over 15 years ago, is not acceptable to him as he feels he is one of those “addicted” ones without a way of stopping.
I feel better, look better (no deep lines in my face and bodily skin) and am moving to a state where the outside does not represent a sauna as I breath much better.
Only word of advice it “make up your mind to do it and you can, otherwise don’t waste your doctor’s mind or your hard earned cash on pills and patches.
Thanks for this way of sounding off my friend.
How about taxing cornsyrup-loaded soft drinks? Maybe, only two-liter bottles? Obesity is a serious epidemic and the addicts that buy 2L bottles should quit their habit? Medicare could benefit but not Coca Cola and Pepsi.
Wow Marshall, you really outdid yourself with this one. For me, a former-one-pack-a-day smoker, ( I had better taste, I think, Salem 100’s ), who quit cold one day, this brings memories.
On April 25, 1986, while working a fataity, I started feeling the symptoms of the “Short circuit syndrome,” as I call it. Shortness of breath, heavy chest, cold sweats, pain in the chest, etc, etc.
I went home, and tried to comfort myself sayint that, it was just the heat. The symptoms repeated and, in panic, I radioed for a 3-41, Officer having a heart attack.
MDFR responded to my house and took me to Baptist where, after 5 days of tests, I was given a clean bill of health. All I had was stress, lack of excercise, too much of the wrong food and of course, my Salems 100’s.
I realized five days later that, I could quit smoking if I wanted to because, due to my fear of having had a big one, I forgot my routine smoking such as bkfast, reading the paper, etc. I realized that, I did not need to smoke to go on with life.
That day in April 1986, I smoked my last cigarette. I thought that, I was just someone who liked the high of the Salems but in fact, I came to realize that, I was addicted to nicotine. And, for anyone who doesn’t want to admit it, think again. Cigarette smoking is an addiction to a legal drug that the US government won’t declare ilegal due to the interests of the tobacco producing states and the cigarette companies.
I went on to loose wt, got back in my high school shape where I ran 10 miles daily and definitely smell much better than before. A comibination of formol, alcohol, blood and nicotine is not the most pleasing for your family to smell when you come home!
I won’t deny that, to this date, 23 years later+ , I still get the urge sometimes to grab one. That metal-type taste that you get in your mouth when you want one. That I still get but, I am glad I quit for several reasons.
First of all, my health. Anyone who quits, it has been demonstrated, will feel and be better physically.
Second, because, each time I lit up one, I showed some kid, ( mine included ), that it was ok to quit, that if the role model did it, why not me? Well, thank G-d, my kids quit also before they went along too long.
And, finally, because, I am no sucker and will not pay the money that a smoker pays now for a pack. They are going sometimes for about $ 5 a pack. Imagine that, paying that amount to have the privilege or ruining your health, your clothes and making some people reacher by the moment.
On July 200, shortly before I retired, I watched my Father-in-Law die of lung cancer. I remember his last night on Mother Earth, gasping for breath, fighting for a miniscule drop of oxygen for his lungs. I saw it and had chills on my spine, thinking that, had I continued smoking, that could be me. I only wish that, any young person who smoked that night, could have seeing him there.
It would not have anyone quit, however, maybe, it would have given them the reason to try.
I did!
Correction: My Father-in-Law, died of emphysema and I agree with you, for years he carried his oxygen tank, gasping for air, leaving a miserable life.
As a hypnotist, I received a lot of information about cigarettes. Did you know our government permitted the cigarette manufacturers to add a syrup of 2% cocaine, heroin and sugar to the tobacco to make it “more flavorful” (and of course much more addictive)? So they are co-conspirators in keeping our citizens hooked on a very insidious drug.
Congratulations for having the fortitude and intelligence to quit.
I like this one Marshall!
My mother is 88 years old, smoked all her life and now suffers from emphysema and related asthma. Her living room has a place for her oxygen tanks, empty on the left and full on the right. She is still physically and mentally strong but can hardly venture outside with the summer heat and humidity. Taking her to dinner or lunch means I pick up take-out and we eat in her condo. My grandmother who never smoked was 100 years old when she died and lived alone until she was 95 when she fell and injured herself, becoming bedridden. I still believe that she would have easily surpassed the 100 mark had she not been confined to bed and finally just got tired of laying there. My mother should be the poster child of a person in excellent health (takes a mild blood pressure pill only) but who has minimal lung capacity and knows that by smoking she has shaved many healthy years off her life. She got a few dollars from the tobacco lawsuit but she can’t travel and has nothing to spend it on so it’s kept in a bank account to pay burial expenses when the emphysema wins the battle.
I’ve learned that it’s kind of like the Muslim issue. We tell our kids about the great damage and suffering they will experience unless they change course but alas, my daughter still lights up and ‘blows’ it off. I can’t imagine how she will smoke wearing a niqab or burqa.
I also am an ex smoker. In my teenages, a puff now and then was all I smoked. In the military, cigarettes were nearly free and time off to smoke was the norm.
I quit “cold turkey” years ago. It wasn’t so hard to do once I made up my mind that quiting was bestand the cost was getting to the point where other purchases were more important.
I can’t say I don’t miss having a smoke but the desire is quickely dismissed.
Well done blog M.F., but you left out snuff
and chaw, ha, ha. After 15 years as a Pall
Mall (Red) man, I tossed the smokes for 1st
leaf & plug chew then quickly graduated to
Skoal, then Copenhagen. A 29 year run on smokless tobacco relieved me of my teeth but
not my life. I made it to pre cancerous white skin patches in my mouth but not to red sores or oral cancer.
I now have almost 8 years free of all tobacco, a good set of dentures and great taste and smell. A short brief on the
dangers of smokeless tobacco is @ >
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/smokelesstobacco.html
I have mixed feelings about this one Marshall. I supported the tax increase, as it did push a couple I know to quit. Was it fair? Probably not, as the doogooders have their way. With that said, most will most likely just B&M, and go right on smoking.
I quit after being called to the morgue to view an autopsy of a man who smoked for some 60 years. It left a lasting impression of what smoking does to the lungs.
If the additional revenue is used to further educate smokers regarding quality of life, prolonged life, and additional funds to spend on healthy enjoyments, perhaps it will payoff in the long run.
Marshall–Cigarettes make me think of the high prices people pay today for them. Maybe that is a help in deterring our teenagers. They can’t grab at a pack so easily anymore because they are too expensive for their budgets. True, if there is a will, there is a way. But, inability to pay may keep them out of their hands. To me, cigarette smoking is awkward, always has been. I don’t like grasping one. So, I’m lucky in regard to the health drawbacks. I don’t mind cigarettes around me. All things in moderation. People should limit themselves to one pack a day, if they really crave a cigarette. The harm won’t catch up with them as fast.
I remember the chain smoking you did and was absolutely flabbergasted when you quit. Good job my friend. I quit when they were 35 cents a pack and never looked back. I can’t even be around them now as they actually nauseate me. That was my coping mechanism for quitting cold turkey and it worked. Now I am a Nazi anti-smoker and am trying to get my brother and daughter to quit, to no avail. Oh well, I can just keep trying and hope for the best.
My father died a horrible death from emphyzema and I watched my father in law dying from lung cancer laying in bed with someone holding a cigarette for him to puff on all they while coughing and hacking and not breathing between puffs. He couldn’t even focus his eyes but he wanted that last puff. Also lost a brother-in-law to lung cancer and watched him suffer for several weeks before he finally passed. Wat a horrible way to suffer and die. Nicotine addiction is a terrible thing and has been perpetrated by the tobacco companies on unsuspecting folks that are trying to fit in. Anyone that quits is doing the best thing he can for himself. Food tastes better, your lungs work better and you are much better off physically and mentally.
“He” brought back lots of memories of B&H menthol lights and the sickly yellow stains they left in the corner of the toilet tank top where they rested between shampoo and rinse. What was worse quitting – nicotine or caffeine? Just came back from North Carolina, ground zero for the smoking trade, and it seemed there were fewer people puffing away. Has anyone observed smoking is often a class thing – those who are least educated – and the ones who can least afford cigarettes – seem to be smoking the most?
An excellent piece, Marshall. I am so pleased to see so few people smoking around me now I can hardly believe it. It is very encourageing after all the years when it seemed that everybody smoked. I did for several years, and when I tried to quit it looked like I would have to die first. But I didn’t. Today, at 84 years of age, I am virtually sure I would not be here if I had not quit while I was still a young man. But young folks should remember: It is much easier not to start today than it is to quit later on. Much, much easier! Believe me.
I quit “cold turkey” after my 2nd attempt at smoking, because it tasted like crap. I was still in high school. Everyone else in my family was a big time smoker. My parents quit when they were in their 50s, but my mom still died of emphysema when she was in her 70s. I don’t know what the point of this reply is, but I’m glad you quit when you did. I wish I could get my wife to quit.
I am one of the lucky ones, Marshall–I never started smoking–unless you count the first cigarette I decided to light up when I was 19–I coughed and hacked and my eyes burned so much I put the cigarette out and that was it! There was no smoking in my house when I grew up. My two older brothers smoked from when they went to college, but did not become chain smokers. However, one died at 50 from a back injury that developed into bone cancer, and the other died at 70 from a heart attack. My sister was an occational smoker, but stopped when her husband, who smoked from age 14, was found to have emphysema, about 10 years before he died, the last years in increasing misery.
A friend in the 1970’s was found to have emphysema, and she stopped smoking cold turkey. However, she continued to light her husband’s pipe for him–he was bed- and- wheel chair limited because of a severe auto accident! The last time I saw her, in 1980, she had 20% lung capacity, and I think she died shortly after–she was wheel-chaired by then. Another friend smoked, she told me, since about 20, and quit at about 70. She had smoked the “light” varieties since they began, and perhaps that is why she had good results from her yearly check-ups. Nevertheless, she died of cancer at 79. So–I thank my lucky stars I did not start!