Who's Blowing Smoke Up Your Ass?

I think that Big Tobacco realizes that the justifiable war on smoking could eventually lead to their demise, so they're pulling out all of the stops in order to create other addictive products and ensure a steady stream of future customers. What kind of nicotine products?

• Flavored cigars - Flavored snuff - Dissolvable (candy-like) tobacco pieces
• Spitless SNUS - Nicotine bottle water - Nicotine hand gel - And more!

Of course, the industry is promoting these products as "safer" alternatives to smoking.

While I'll personally enjoy being rid of secondhand smoke if these products succeed, I have to disagree with the label "safer". They're just trying to blow smoke up our asses. If they really wanted to sell a safer product they could easily remove the addictive nicotine.

But, it's not like those in the tobacco industry haven't tried to devise bogus ways to entice others into using their products in the past.

Image Source: Picture is Unrelated

As a healthcare professional, I could go on about the ethics and dangers associated with these new products, but in reality, once both corporate profits and tax revenue are affected, nothing else matters. History has shown that greed will almost always trump ethics.

The only way to win the war against nicotine addiction is through individual education, and by keeping yourself and your loved ones from ever using these products in the first place.

Smoking Takes The Sheen Off Reality

Still think that smoking (and other substance abuse) doesn't affect your brain?

Duh, be a winner.. quit smoking.

Are You A Slave To Nicotine?

I rode the elevator where I live twice last week, and each time I got on, the empty elevator was filled with cigarette smoke. Although we live in a smoke-free state, and there's a "No Smoking" sign posted in the elevator, some sorry-ass nicotine addict couldn't even wait for the 20-second ride to finish before getting his/her morning fix outside.

Although they know that they shouldn't, these same people not only smoke in the elevator, they also smoke at poolside, smoke in the laundry room, the recreation room, and even in the gym (yes, THE FREAKIN' GYM!). How crazy and inconsiderate is that?

But if you ask them, they will tell always you that they are aware of their surroundings and considerate with their secondhand smoke. Of course, they live in denial and don't recognize, or care about, their assholeledness. Sometimes I think that they do it because they are just sorry excuses for selfish human beings, but I know that it's most likely the nicotine withdrawal controlling their actions. They've let themselves become slaves to nicotine.

Smokers have lost the ability to make rational decisions about their smoking.

This video describes what I mean about the effects of nicotine addiction on a smoker, and shows just how getting their next fix overrides any ability to grasp where they are smoking or how it may affect others in the area around around them. This woman is so desperate for her fix that she needs to light-up a discarded cigarette butt, in an enclosed bus station, while other people are sitting around her.

Do you really want to go through life being this type of person? Be free, quit smoking.

You Can Quit Smoking Anytime, Right?

I went fishing the other week and caught a boatload of sucker carp. It almost seemed that whenever I tossed my line in the water, I reeled one in. I must have been using the right bait because it seemed that "once I hooked them, I owned them". Dumb fish those suckers.


Tobacco - Rethink It

Celebrate No Smoking Day

Choose March 9th as your day to quit smoking.

On that day, also reflect on your decision to start smoking, how smoking has affected your life and the lives of your loved ones, and why it's so difficult to quit. Ask yourself -

• Was it worth rebelling against your caring parents authority as a teenager only to become a nicotine addict and a foolish puppet of the sinister tobacco industry?
• Do you still think that you look cool smoking that cigarette, or continue to care what your past "friends" think about you? Are any of those "friends" that you wanted to impress with your smoking skills still an important part of your life?
• How much money have you spent on your addiction over the past years, and how much do you think it will cost you if you continue to smoke?
• How many people have you inconsiderately affected with your secondhand smoke since you've been smoking? Have you smoked where you know that you aren't supposed to smoke, smoked with your kids locked in the car, or smoked in a crowded or enclosed place, only because you "needed" to have that nicotine fix?
• Do you always think about your next cigarette, and become shaky, nervous, and irritable when you can't smoke that next cigarette? Do you find yourself saying that you really "love" smoking, find that smoking relaxes you or makes you feel better, but don't believe that's part of the addiction process?

Take these questions to heart. If you're a smoker, you've already lost control over a portion of your life. So, why not do something about it and choose March 9th as your date to take back control of your life? It's time to quit!

Smokers Suck Air

Do you want to know what a smoker with COPD feels like? Here's a simple, yet strange and accurate interpretation that illustrates the long-term effects of smoking on your lungs.


Source: CutFilms