Quitting Smoking......???

[TelC@t]

Tried cig - didn't get addicted
Tried pot - didn't get addicted
Tried speed - don't have the supply any more

<----drinks coffee
<----spends $$ on alcohol

BTW Material Girl, I had a dream about getting addicted to smoking last night, and this morning I found this thread, its soooo weird. LOL.

[pv=nrt]

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SUB-CULTURE URBAN MARKETING.

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[Jaffacake]

Hmmm... smoked cigarettes as a naive 16yo. Tried the ol' wacky-backy too. But i'll never do it again - can't say I want to challenge cancer/impotence (respectively) to f**k me up.

I'd never try any recreational drugs (and nicotine) ever again (at least not in the near future, which i'll explain later). After seeing wards full of breathless/coughing/emancipated men and women (of all ages) wishing they were dead has kinda put me off. And all the kids in the toxicology wards dying because they had a bad hit or they took something that wasn't, doesn't help either. Possibly a good way to quit talking anything, by visiting a hospital...

Alcohol, incidentally, does lower cardiovascular risk in moderate doses (around 1-2 units/day). I have no qualms about drinking alcohol (i'll often have a glass of wine or a pint of beer with a meal), as long as you have the will power to control it. I'm sure if alcohol was discovered tomorrow, though, it would be strictly controlled and only used for medicinal purposes (considering all the problems it can cause).

Good to see people wanting to quit smoking though. Believe me, it makes an incredible difference You could almost say its the best thing you could do to yourself - better than any medicine we have in our locker

Infrequent smoker? Best to stop - theres a significant increase of health risks compared to non-smokers. Again, if nicotine was discovered tomorrow, it would be rigerously controlled due to it's addictive properties (even though it's the tar and carbon monoxide that does much of the damage, as said previously). Nicotine itself, though, might be useful to docs - it's been shown that it can improve learning in rats...

Now the wacky-backy. Cannabis is rarely addictive (and usually in heavy users). Computers are not either, but then most of us might not be able to live without one. Very much user-dependent.

Long-term adverse effects are, well, inconclusive. Allegedly there are studies linking cannabis with schitzophrenia in later life, but saying that it was said drug that caused it is difficult. Impotence also has a small and dubious association, if I remember. I think we'll only really find out when epidemiologists in 50 years time realise a rise in disease X with the rise in (mainstream) cannabis use.
And that's why I don't take cannabis. I just don't know what long-term use (whether 1 or 10 joints a week) could do to me down the line. Maybe my future children will have the pleasure of binging on the good stuff, knowing it's not going to kill them. Maybe they'll sell it in liquid form, because they find out inhalation of the drug harms the lungs in some way. Or maybe they'll find out that it causes an increased risk malformed babies or cancers or premature death. Who knows.

In a strange and twisted way, i'm happy some of you use cannabis, because you've efectively become a walking statistic for us docs. You might well be saving the lives of future generations from what we might find from you.

But hey, it's your life. Do what the hell you want with it.

Enough rambling now.

Oh, and just to open a box for my good friend Pandora, we might as well ask ourselves whether we should legalise cannabis...

[Material Girl]

&lt;3

Wow guys thanks for your thoughts!

Zloy you are sooo right about the smelly smoke thing!~ It's just not right for a girl to smell like ciggarettes(I find perfume goes farther without the unwanted competition too!).....

Also I just want to say that I have quit smoking twice before cold turkey like this, and it lasted c.10 weeks both times. I do think I am finally ready to take it seriously though, because it feels nice to be able to breathe comfortably again. The only thing that bugs me is what to do with the time that I would normally be taking for a ciggy. I guess I will just keep busy and start going to a gym maybe then I will feel more comfortable with my new-found lug capacity... It is so very hard though. Until you have smoked heavily you can't understand how difficult it is to cut it out. Hopefully you won't ever have to...

Anyway, I'll keep yaz posted! I'm going to download and play ss now! Thanx again guys! =D <3

[Blast]

Originally posted by Shear
Blast, he said "it not being addictive" right in there.

Eh, I never said pot made you smarter. I didn't see the "not"...

[Fit of Rage]

Laugh. Forgiven.

[Material Girl]

breathe deep while you sleep breathe deep!

Woah today it is hard because I am in a cafe surrounded by wafting smoke..... ooooo dayum.... to be or not to be..... My ciggs are still in my purse, just to make it harder.....

Anyway, what I came here to post is that TelCat, speaking of dreams..... like practically every night since I stopped smoking I dream that I am having a ciggarette!! Is this a common symptom or what?! It is soooo huge a craving(when I sleep!) that I can consciously realise that I am in a dream and that I'm not really smoking because I can *feel* the craving in my body. It's a shockingly powerful physical addiction but when I'm awake it's easier to defer the physical craving to mental willpower......... I am super moody though, so I'm thinking maybe I will actually go to the doctor and get her advice.....

[Dystrophy]

If you made the mental decision to quit why the fuck do you carry them in your purse? While you try to quit.. I make someone more addicted by buying cigs for them... oh well.

[Material Girl]

It's like reverse psychology .... With the ciggs on your person if you get a really bad craving, you know they're within reach so it makes it easier to just choose no.... If, on the other hand, you were to get a bad craving and didn't have ciggs in your pocket, you would be more likely to spontaneously run to the store, buy smokes, and light one. You dig?

[Dystrophy]

No, its retarded logic. By making something harder to access you're less likey to use it.

BTW: nail biting is a harder habbit to kick vs cig smoking.

[Rudy]

I think kids should be encouraged to take down the deatils of people smoking in their vicinity from an early age. That way, when they contract lung cancer later on in life from second hand smoke, not only could you sue the tobacco companies, but those people.
It'd also help people get over them quicksmart when there's fear of lawsuits coming from people you don't even know.

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

YEAH! Let's perpetuate frivolous lawsuits! We don't have enough of 'em!

[Rudy]

Sarcasm noted.

Sure enough there'll be a lot of lawsuits. But who are we to justify someone's death just because it would cost a lot of money to compensate the families loss?
At least in a perfectly just world, this could be the case.

[Material Girl]

It's retarded logic only if you are a lazy fucktard, Ditztrophy.

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

Originally posted by RudyH
But who are we to justify someone's death just because it would cost a lot of money to compensate the families loss?

Who are we to assume that a person died because they sat near a smoking section at Denny's once? Come on, it's not like smokers are walking around with enriched uranium strapped to their forehead. Serious complications from second-hand smoke only occur if you're exposed to it for a long time in a moderately small space. Most of the spaces that this statement applies to are already publicly designated as non-smoking (private areas, such as a personal residence, are the general exception to the rule). So, basically, second-hand smoke should only really affect people who live in the same house with a smoker.

Want to sue your mom/dad/flatmate/etc? Go right ahead. I hope you hit the proverbial BIG MONEY.

Otherwise, move out and/or move away. In most indoor public spaces where smoking is allowed (which is very limited, at least in this area) , there are spaces designated as non-smoking that are usually sealed from the smoking section. In public outdoor spaces, just move away from the smoker.

People have gotten so lawsuit-happy within the past 10 years that it makes me sick. Personal responsibility has been sold out to big payoffs. "But I didn't know eating four Big Macs per day would make me fat! Now I weigh 853 pounds, and it's all McDonalds fault."

To give a serious answer to your question, Rudy, no one's justifying "someone's death just because it would cost a lot of money to compensate the families loss." What I'm saying is that using second-hand smoke (as a cause of death) is a shitty excuse in 99% of all would-be cases. I'm sure that there's a 1% of people suffering from the injustice, but if you set a precedent, thousands will try and cash in as well.