Quit smoking leads to alcoholism?

Because so many ex-smokers she knows become heavy drinkers or alcoholics after quitting, Benet fears that if tobacco is banned then she will become dependent on alcohol, too, and that worries her because her body cannot tolerate alcohol.

"I can't help it if I can't tolerate alcohol," says Benet. "If I could, I'd be a lot better off in many, many ways than I am now. For starters, I had to give up the love of my life because he drank and kept on at me to take it up again, not believing how alcohol seriously affected my health.”

“I've spent most of my life being an ex-drinking smoker in a drinker's world, and while the sight and smell of alcohol certainly does trigger old desires I'm sane enough to handle it – as long as I can smoke,” explains Benet. “I remember how ill alcohol made me, and that does it for me."

"It seems that ex-smokers who gave up smoking for health reasons -- and then took up drinking -- are not only getting a better deal than I am but are also calling the shots, as alcoholics,” says Benet, “and this is so unfair because smoking calms my nerves – it’s my legal drug of choice.”

"Smoking never affected my health like alcohol did, so I never had reason to quit and still don't, but my nerves are getting so bad with all the non-smoking nonsense that if I did try to quit I'd need some pretty heavy tranquillizers to get there and stay there," sighs Benet. “It's definitely not something I care to try while I am still employed."

"Unlike smokers, drinkers just can't seem to enjoy their habit alone," sighs Benet. "They always want to force their habit upon you and get offended if you politely refuse. I get along fine with drinkers who also smoke, but if I have to socialize with non-smoking drinkers -- especially ex-smokers -- it doesn't take long for them to start abusing my smoking habit. Funny about that, isn't it?"

"Ex-drinking smokers don't abuse drinkers or preach to them," says Benet, "and I can't understand why ex-smokers can't bear being around us, whether we drink or not.”

"Maybe the abusive ex-smoking drinkers gave up cigarettes for the wrong reasons," muses Benet, "and that's why they go crazy when they see and smell cigarette smoke?"

"If I can't drink for health reasons, and I'm soon going to be prevented from smoking anywhere -- even in my own home -- then where does that leave me when I take early retirement (to avoid smoking hassles at work) and have umpteen years ahead of me to fill?"

"Do I go with the flow and become an alcoholic, or do I experiment with other drugs -- legal or otherwise?" asks Benet. "And don't give me any crap about not needing a drug.”

“I can't undo all those years and pretend I'm an innocent young girl again,” says Benet, “and besides which I don't know anybody who doesn't take something, legal or illegal, to make life less painful or more pleasant."

“Do you?”

Read more by Benet on this issue:

tobacco vs. alcohol
Toxic workplace drinking culture

We’re all gonna die!

When Sapphire, 19, proclaims that all of the current draconian health measures are ridiculous because “we’re all gonna die”, you get to appreciate that young people like her may be right in believing that far too many resources are being wasted on a lost cause at the detriment of our enjoyment of the days we do have.

"There's a real link between our aging population and the new draconian health measures," says Sapphire. "I don't think the government wants all of us to live forever, but the geriatrics in power behind the faces we see on television most definitely want to achieve that goal for themselves."

"Look at the sudden surge of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and surgeries designed specifically to extend the life or the youth of old people," confides Sapphire. "Viagra and all of that stuff coincided with anti-smoking propaganda. They are terrified of anything -- cigarettes, alcohol or even loud music -- that might jeopardize their ability to keep it up forever!"

"They hate us because we smoke, do drugs and live lives that they can only dream about now," says Sapphire. "They want to hang on to power forever. They hog jobs that should be going to young people. Because we have the youth that they don't have, they want to deny us what we enjoy."

"And the health nuts are just sooooo boring that I don't even want to talk about them," laughs Sapphire. "They are likely to be ex-smokers, ex-druggies and born-again Christians on a mission to make everyone as boring as they are."

"These are the people who are driving the government to put out all the anti-drug propaganda," says Sapphire. "Why? Do they want all of our jobs and all the fun of bars and clubs that we once had?"

"There are going to be an awful lot of unemployed people if all the jobs go to non-smokers and clean living people," laughs Sapphire, "and an awful lot more crime, too, if they keep raising the tax on tobacco."

"I can already get cigarettes on the street a lot cheaper than I can buy them legally, and when smokers stop paying tobacco tax who do you think is going to fund healthcare?"

“We’re all gonna die or one thing or another, guys, so why don’t we all just chill out and enjoy ourselves while we can.”

Read more by Sapphire:

health nuts, geriatrics and smokers

unruly teen alienated by stepfamily

street government

overeating and early graves?

Since giving up smoking Emerald, 62, has been drinking and eating more to compensate for her lost pleasure, and now that her weight is being affected she is terrified that overeating will put her into an earlier grave than smoking.

"I don't have any alcohol or food related complaints yet," says Emerald, “but because I'm drinking and eating more to compensate for giving up smoking I think I should re-examine what's worse for me in the long run."

"Apparently, overeating – especially the high-calorie, fat-laden foods that I like – is one of the surest ways to an early grave," says Emerald, "but is it? Now that I've learned about the good aspects of smoking that I never heard about before, I am inclined to believe that anti-food propaganda is similarly based on false facts."

"Basically, it's good common sense that if you like doing something it is doing you some good -- it's making you happy!" says Emerald. "And isn't this what a healthy old age is all about?"

"I hate vegetables, you'll never catch me eating them no matter how good they supposedly are for us," says Emerald. "Knowing this, I wonder why I gave up smoking when they told me to? Why did I believe them about smoking and not about vegetables?"

"Maybe I'm not the wimp I've been thinking I am," laughs Emerald. "Maybe I'm made of the same stuff after all as Jeanne Louise Calment – the lady who died at 122 and was a smoker – and I have what it takes to tell them to get stuffed when they dare to tell me what I should and should not do."

"I base my belief on the following research:

The top 10 reciprocal causal factors relating to obesity death surprisingly do not include obesity. As a matter of interest, obesity only occurs as a reciprocal factor in Heart Disease and Alcoholic Liver Disease deaths.

The top 10 reciprocal causal factors in obesity death, in order of highest incidence, are :
78.22%
Foreign Born,
74.02%
Living alone,
73.58%
Divorce,
72.63%
Pork,
72.20%
Soft drinks,
71.60%
Coffee,
69.69%
Land,
62.54%
Cannabis,
61.56%
Social Security and
61.05%
Working Moms.

In total, statistics of 30 countries were examined for the incidence of death by obesity and 33 causal factors were taken into consideration (personal consumption, family and social issues, environmental issues and population).

The reciprocal causal factors were determined as follows. Firstly, the 15 countries with the highest incidence of death by obesity were examined to establish causes and their values. Secondly, the 15 countries with the highest incidences of these causal factors were examined to establish values in relation to obesity death. Finally, these two values were added together to obtain an average.

If causes alone were taken as established facts then something like Carbon Dioxide rating 60.14% would come into play, but as countries with the highest incidence of Carbon Dioxide did not have a corresponding high incidence of obesity death its reciprocal causal factor was very low and as such Carbon Dioxide did not make the top 10.

In order of highest incidence, the top 15 countries representing 97.99% of the total obesity deaths are :
Austria,
Denmark,
NZ,
US,
Germany,
Spain,
Mexico,
Australia,
Canada,
Luxembourg,
Norway,
Sweden,
Finland,
Netherlands and
Hungary.

So, being obese is not a huge factor in obesity death but it definitely plays a part in the above countries which have a high proportion of Foreign Born, Living Alone and Divorced people who consume a high proportion of Pork, Soft drinks and Coffee.

Less important contributing factors include a high proportion of Land (sq km per 1000 people), Cannabis use, Social Security expenditure (% of GDP) and Working Moms with children under 6."

"Overall, it looks like death was caused by alienation and loneliness exacerbated by obesity," says Emerald, "but you can't put that on a death certificate can you?"

"And, undoubtedly, death was hastened by a whole bunch of diet and exercise obsessed Fat Nazis putting unnecessary stress on these unfortunate obese people who might otherwise have died of Heart Disease or something else."

Read more stories by Emerald related to longevity:

how to live to 122

a smoker lives to 122!

doggy friends

everything in moderation

everything in moderation

In researching the secrets of longevity, Emerald, 62, was amazed to learn that the world's oldest people – Jeanne Louise Calment (pictured) and Marie-Louise Meilleur – were smokers; and now she questions what we’re being told about the terrible health dangers of other pleasures such as food and alcohol.

"I think the advice that our parents and grandparents received from doctors was a whole lot better for them than the advice we're getting today," sighs Emerald. "Everything in moderation was once the catch-cry, but now it's don't do this, don't do that, and everyone is going around bad-tempered and miserable or drugged up on a whole lot of pharmaceuticals they don't really need."

"I know that genes play an important part in longevity," says Emerald, "but I truly wonder how old Jeanne Louse and Marie-Louise might have lived had they been subjected to the incredible stress of anti-smoking propaganda when they were in their 40s and 50s like I was."

"I think being happy, having a positive outlook on life and taking a genuine pleasure in whatever you do -- whether or not others approve of it -- is very important to longevity," says Emerald. "Oh sure, there are plenty of miserable old baskets rotting in old folks' homes, but it's not just living to a ripe old age that I want.”

“I want to live a long, healthy and happy life," explains Emerald, “with the emphasis on being happy.”

"If doing something that's supposedly 'good' for you makes you feel miserable," says Emerald, "then it's not working for you, right?"

Read more stories by Emerald related to longevity:

how to live to 122

a smoker lives to 122!

doggy friends

overeating and early graves?

two-faced health warnings

Shayne is 21 and makes the alarming observation that public health warnings against smoking have not only had the effect of actually hooking kids into buying a legally purchased substance from which two-faced governments makes a lot of money, but have also diverted attention away from health risks that are far more terrible than smoking.

"Don't believe me?” asks Shayne. “Well, look at the gory graphics on cigarette packs and ask yourself why it's okay to display pictures of the bloody and horrific so-called effects of smoking and not to depict the very real bloody and horrific effects of alcohol, drugs and everything else?"

"Why don't drinkers have to face pictures of cirrhotic livers or babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome when they open their liquor purchases? Why aren't there pictures of anorexic women on diet products? Why not pictures of blocked coronary arteries on fast-food wrappers? How about pictures of decayed teeth on candy wrappers?"

"Why stop there. What about gory pictures of mangled car crash bodies on every car sold? Gunshot wounded people on every gun sold?"

"Or how about gory pictures of aborted fetuses and the ravages of venereal diseases on the bodies of men and women in every doctor's surgery, public convenience and bar and club where young people hang out?"

"I mean, if people must be protected against every conceivable harm that might befall them then why stop with smoking?" asks Shayne. "And why isn't a simple written disclaimer enough?"

"Nobody has heard of nicotine fuelled attacks or accidents of any sort and yet every day innocent people are being attacked or killed by drunks or drug addicts," says Shayne, "so what la-la-land is our government creating for us?"

"Why is our government ignoring the terrible costs to the community of alcohol, illegal drugs, pollution and everything else and pouring more and more money on anti-smoking propaganda?"

“Basically, the government is being two-faced in pushing health warnings for tobacco and ignoring everything else."

Read more from Shayne on this subject:

stop government advertising!

gory tobacco ads

anti-smoking propaganda or hook?

education or propaganda?

asthma on the rise?

Henny, 27, works in marketing and knows all the dirty tricks that are used to sell products and ideas, and she is very concerned about the alarming incidence of asthma in young people she knows and believes the government is failing in its health messages to young people who really need good advice before they start experimenting with drugs (which they all will).

"I think that far too many babies are being born prematurely these days without much thought being given to the development of their lungs," says Henny. "No wonder asthma is on the rise, and that being the case the government should warn asthmatics, specifically, not to try smoking.”

"Can you believe that I know several asthmatics who smoke?" sighs Henny. "They swear that they didn't have asthma before they smoked but I don't believe them."

"They must have shown signs of lung weakness in their childhoods -- lots of coughs and colds, that sort of thing -- and knowing this they shouldn't have started smoking at all, but since tobacco has been targeted by the government as the most forbidden drug, worse than heroin, it’s going to appeal to rebellious teenagers, isn’t it?”

"I appreciate that peer pressure causes a lot of young people to start smoking or drinking or generally taking drugs or indulging in risky behavior," says Henny, ''but surely someone with pre-existing asthma or chest disease --- or a family history of chest or heart disease -- would have more sense than to risk their lives with smoking."

"My sister tried smoking about the same time I did but it just wasn't for her," explains Henny. "She was coughing and spluttering so much with her first cigarette that she never smoked again. She had no medical complaint -- she just didn't take well to her first cigarette -- and that's also a very smart reason to quit trying to smoke."

"Why do people persevere with smoking when it made them sick to start off with?" asks Henny. "What right do they have in later life to blame tobacco for their ills? They have only themselves to blame and should grow up, get smart, and admit it."

"As for me, well, my first cigarette was very pleasant and it's been that way for ten years now and my heath is perfect," says Henny. "I've never had a cold or a cough in my life and I can run faster than I did when I was a teenager so my lungs must be in very good shape."

"I get very angry when I'm with smokers who are forever coughing or wheezing or looking ill," says Henny. "They just give smoking a bad rap and make life difficult for those of us who have no ill effects from smoking."

"Can't they see that they shouldn't be smoking, that it's not for them?"

"Can you believe that I know several asthmatics who smoke?" sighs Henny. "They swear that they didn't have asthma before they smoked but I don't believe them. They must have shown signs of lung weakness in their childhoods -- lots of coughs and colds, that sort of thing -- and knowing this they shouldn't have started smoking at all."

"It's as silly as someone with a known allergy insisting on eating or using the substance they are allergic to, isn't it?" asks Henny. "If something you like doing -- like smoking -- is causing you trouble then you should give it up immediately and take up some other drug. God knows there are hundreds of them and every one of them is now more socially acceptable than smoking thanks to sick smokers who've quit, or refuse to quit, and give smoking a bad rap."

"I believe smoking became unacceptable because far too many people with medical problems, or tendencies for them, took up smoking and worsened a health problem that was already there," explains Henny. "I think, too, that far too many babies are being born prematurely these days without much thought being given to the development of their lungs. No wonder asthma is on the rise."

"I used to be cool and rolled my own cigarettes from pure tobacco," says Henny, "but my life got too busy and I had to start smoking ready-made cigarettes with all the poisons that go into them. I don'tlike these cigarettes as much as my rollies, but at least I minimize the harm they may do me by using a tar-filter."

"If I ever developed a cough or felt unwell I would quit smoking immediately," confides Henny. "I am far too intelligent to carry on doing something that is harming me."

"Until then, I am adamant that smoking does more to enhance my life experience than anything else,"says Henny, "and this is how it is for the majority of smokers I know who are happier and healthier than the general population and genuinely nice people to know, too."

"The minority of smokers who are miserable, unwell or not nice people to know -- because of mental illness or criminal tendencies -- are, unfortunately, the ones that the media puts forward to represent all smokers," sighs Henny. "It is incredibly biased, and don't get me started about those awful anti-smoking advertisements. The one I hate most is the 'rotting teeth' and although it is not funny that our government would abuse smokers in this way, it is absolutely ridiculous that they picked up some alcoholic bum who had never seen a dentist in his life and used his mouth to depict what every smoker's mouth looks like -- or will end up looking like."

"How stupid does the government think its citizens are?" sighs Henny. "Anyone, smoker or not, would end up with a mouth full of rotten teeth if they never cleaned them or saw a dentist."

"I work in marketing myself and I know the dirty tricks that are used to sell products and ideas," confides Henny. "If the government was more concerned about our health and less about vilifying smokers, it might have used positive advertisements to get its message across to the young people who really need good advice before they start experimenting with drugs."

"Such as? Well, informing them that smoking is not for everyone and that if you have any chest complaint or family history of heart or lung disease you should not try it."

"Actually, I don't think the government should be poking its nose into our lifestyles but if it insists on doing so it should be fair and evenhanded," says Henny. "Some governments are so concerned about the spread of disease that they hand out free condoms to prostitutes and gays and even provide shooting galleries with free needles for drug addicts."

"With this sort of thing going on it beats me why governments are so down on smokers," sighs Henny."Isn't democracy supposed to give two sides to every argument? Sure, there are susceptible people who are going to get ill with smoking -- and shouldn't smoke -- but most smokers live pretty long and healthy lives."

"Why are governments hiding this obvious fact?"

"I'd like to start a campaign to present a healthier image of smokers and to this end I would like all the sick people to stop smoking right now, and all the young people about to experiment with drugs to keep away from smoking if they have pre-existing chest conditions or family tendencies that are incompatible with smoking."

are vets smarter than doctors?

Minx, 44, quit a social smoking habit 15 years ago when she moved to a country town with her family. She had enjoyed good health all of her life until a routine X-ray following a sudden respiratory problem that she thought was related to local crop-dusting revealed a small lung cancer.


"Since moving to a country town I've often thought that the local vets are a whole lot smarter than any city doctor I once knew," laughs Minx. "I've learned things from vets that make good sense when applied to us, and a lot of people around here just don't need doctors."

"Take cancer, for instance," says Minx. "You'd think from all the stuff on the Internet that it's something only human beings get and is caused by lifestyle factors such as smoking (lung cancer), drinking (pancreatic cancer), eating meat (stomach cancer), etc. Right?"

"Wrong! All types of animals get all types of cancers just like we do, and while the anti-smokers may say that lung cancer in animals such as cats and dogs is caused by passively breathing their owners' cigarette smoke, what do they say about lung cancer in sheep, for example?"

"Yep, sheep get lung cancer just like we do and when was the last time you saw a sheep dragging on a fag or passively sucking up side-stream cigarette smoke?"

"Check out an article called 'Retrovirus-induced ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma, an animal model for lung cancer' and you'll see that a virus is involved which induces lung cancer in sheep that has striking analogies to human lung cancer."

"A virus, it makes sense doesn't it?" sighs Minx. "Cancer has been around since time immemorial, long before tobacco was discovered - it's a natural reaction when our immune system can't cope - but when is anyone out there in the human lung cancer world going to pay attention to cancer research in animals when it's so convenient to blame it all on a smelly habit like smoking that may be current or, in my case, 15 years old?"

"People who've never smoked get lung cancer, too – in fact, 60% of lung cancer patients are non-smokers or ex-smokers like me who quit many years ago," says Minx. "So, if there's a virus around here that caused my lung cancer then I want to know about it – and so should everyone, wherever they are."

"I've got kids to protect, and so does everyone else."

"I'm now wondering whether moving out of the city was a wise thing to do," says Minx. "I love the life, but I guess being close to farm animals and agricultural pollution exposes us to risks that may be worse than those we left behind in the city."


"I was lucky that the cancer was operable, and no chemotherapy was required afterwards," says Minx, "but it was a huge operation, very painful, and the whole thing was made worse by some of the medical professionals attending me who never let up reminding me in so many ways that it was all my fault, that I should never have smoked when I was younger."

"I can accept that I may be more susceptible than a non-smoker to respiratory problems because I once smoked, but I really cannot believe that a short history of social smoking 15 years ago is wholly responsible for my lung cancer," says Minx. "In fact, the more I read about all sorts of cancers the more I believe that something other than lifestyle factors is responsible for them."

"What's more, it kind of defeats the purpose of quitting smoking when people like me still get lung cancer," shrugs Minx. "I wanted to give up smoking and it was no big deal for me to quit - we were starting a healthy new life in the country - but for heavy smokers who really enjoy the habit then my story is only going to give them a good reason to carry on smoking, knowing that they are doomed whether they quit or not."

"In fact, that's exactly what my crazy heavy smoking girlfriend in the city said to me, and reluctantly I had to agree with her because if something else causes lung cancer then why should she quit doing something she enjoys and obviously needs to do in order to keep her sane?"

"I'm certainly not advocating that smoking is a good thing or harmless - I hate the smell of cigarettes now and sure don't want my kids to take up the habit - but a distinction should be drawn between something that smells bad and something that is the sole cause of lung cancer."

"If the anti-smoking medical establishment really wants to protect us from lung cancer - rather than stopping us from smoking smelly cigarettes as they line their pockets with kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies pushing quit smoking products - then it should pay more attention to cancer research in animals."

the sniff test

Rosie is 52, works in a bar that's recently banned patrons and staff like herself who smoke from indulging their habit inside the building, and argues that the resultant increase in pneumonia from smoking outside may far outweigh the incidence of disease from so-called passive smoking.

"We've noticed a lot of our regular smoking patrons are not dropping by any more -- they're angry," says Rosie. "And those who still drop by will drop off one by one when the winter chills come. Either that or they'll catch pneumonia!"

"It's not so bad going out for a smoke in warm weather," says Rosie, "but I may be forced to change my smoking habits when it gets too cold to hang around outside."

"My boss complains about loss of income," says Rosie, "but he's hoping that as the new laws set in a host of non-smoking customers will replace the smokers."

"I hope so, otherwise I won't have a job!"

"Yes, it's pleasant working in a non-smoking atmosphere -- fifty smoking patrons make a hell of a stink even with the best ventilation," laughs Rosie, "but working here is not as jolly as it once was."

"One of our regular patrons is an old woman whose husband once worked here and she swears he died of passive smoking rather than a heart attack," sighs Rosie. "She's really happy about the new anti-smoking laws and believes had they existed fifty years ago her husband would still be alive."

"According to her, the fifty years Joe passively smoked while working in bars was the real cause of his death," says Rosie. "Like us, she had never even heard of passive smoking until the so-called disease was recently created by the anti-smoking lobby so she's grasping at straws!"

"When you're dealing with someone like that you have to make allowances," says Rosie, "but old Joe was 75, drank like a fish and would have died of a heart attack or a cirrhotic liver whether he passively smoked or not."

"Joe never smoked but he never complained of passive smoking," laughs Rosie. "On the contrary, he loved the smokey bar atmosphere and even when he retired he preferred to drink here rather than at home -- and so did his non-smoking wife."

"In fact, none of the bar workers I know complain about passive smoking," says Rosie, "and we laugh about the amazing number of bar workers the government tell us die every year from passive smoking. Who are these bar workers? Why aren't their grieving families taking legal action? Why isn't Joe's wife suing my boss?"

"The fact is that the government figures are pure speculation," laughs Rosie, "The death toll does not refer to real people or real corpses or death certificates that pronounce the cause of death as passive smoking."

"Do people like Joe's wife -- fired by anti-smoking propaganda -- tell the government that their loved one died of passive smoking? asks Rosie. "Is that where the government gets its imaginary death toll from?"

"Either that, or the government derives its toll by guessing the number of drinking smokers in the country and dividing that guess by the number of bar workers in the country," sighs Rosie. "The resultant magic number is then put forward as smoking related deaths."

"The death toll of bar workers might just as well be plucked from thin air -- it's pure speculation or anecdotal," says Rosie, "and in the hands of the anti-smoking crusaders these imaginary figures become indisputable facts which have been used to enact the new laws."

"I'm serious about the pneumonia threat," says Rosie. "It's a risk to go from a warm place to a cold place and then back again, especially when I'll have to breathe in the pollution from passing vehicles when I'm outside having a smoke."

"I can't understand why the government and the anti-smoking crusaders see more harm in passive smoking than in passive pollution inhalation," sighs Rosie. "I'd rather be locked up in an unventilated room with fifty smokers than with one SUV belching out its toxic fumes, wouldn't you?"

"With fifty smokers puffing away I might be crying out for fresh air after five minutes, but with one SUV belching out its toxic fumes I'd be dead in the same time."

"Don't they get it? Or are they using all this passive smoking nonsense to deliberately draw attention away from the real health risks of increased vehicle pollution?"

"Even the greenies don't get it," laughs Rosie. "Forget about global warming, what about our health?"

"Sure, smoking is a dirty drug habit in comparison with drinking and snorting and shooting up," says Rosie, ''but take away cigarette butt litter, ashtrays and the smell of smoke and you've got a pretty benign drug and I'm scared that all this passive smoking nonsense and anti-smoking propaganda is going to drive more kids towards hard drugs."

"I'm all for imposing fines on smoking litterbugs and parents who smoke in confined spaces with little children," says Rosie, "but to impose fines on the owners of private businesses for allowing smoking on their premises is Big Brother gone mad."

"I don't know how many gas guzzling SUVs and vehicles in general are on our roads," says Rosie, "but it's sure going to be a figure vastly greater than the number of smokers in our community."

"If passively inhaling cigarette smoke is harmful, then what is passively inhaling vehicle pollution -- harmless?" asks Rosie. "We can move away from smokers, but how far do we have to move to get away from vehicle pollution -- the North Pole?"

"As far as I'm concerned the government has a right to ban smoking in government workplaces and public buildings and to warn smokers and all drug takers of the risks of their habit," says Rosie. "If it is going to butt it's big nose into private workplaces and personal habits on the basis of trumped up statistics about passive smoking -- without doing anything about increasing vehicle pollution -- then we should all query its motives."

"I challenge any politician or anti-smoking crusader to take the sniff test," laughs Rosie. "Close your eyes, smell the fumes of a belching SUV, then the fumes of a person smoking, judge for yourself which type of smoke makes you feel sicker, then examine your conscience -- and your Swiss bank balance -- and tell me honestly why you're going after smokers and ignoring Big Oil and the motor trade industry."

beware teeth whitening!

Tahni, 26, has perfect teeth and gums and visited a dentist for the first time for cosmetic purposes -- teeth whitening. She was required to fill out a first patient's form which had a smoking question and, as result of being honest about her smoking habit, she was subjected to bullying, poor treatment and subsequent pain and suffering.

"I have perfect teeth, no fillings and no gum disease," says Tahni. "I just noticed that since starting a new job, working back late and drinking a lot more coffee than I normally do, that my teeth were yellowing a bit and no amount of brushing seemed to restore their whiteness."

"I knew it was coffee, not smoking, because everyone's coffee mug at work is stained black, as are all of the spoons," explains Tahni. "It's a bit of a joke around here about whose coffee mug is the blackest, meaning who's putting in more time on the job."

"I suppose I could have given up coffee, but I love the stuff," laughs Tahni, "so I decided instead to get a teeth whitening."

"I was surprised that I was required to fill out a first patient's form when all I wanted was a cosmetic procedure, like a hair dye, and I didn't like the smoking question, believing it was an invasion of my privacy and as silly as asking whether or not I drink coffee, " says Tahni, "but I did what was required of me like a good little girl."

"As I sat in the waiting room I could hear the dental drill buzzing in the background, it sounded scary, and I just wanted to get my teeth whitened and get out of there as fast as possible."

"The lady dentist who saw me immediately honed in on the smoking question on my first patient's form and started lecturing me on the evils of smoking," says Tahni. "I couldn't believe it!"

"After sitting there for a while, incredulously listening to this mad woman raving on about lung cancer and other stuff I got up to leave," says Tahni. "I told her I had come to see her for a tooth whitening procedure, not a lecture on smoking, and if she wasn't prepared to treat me then I'm outta here."

"She quickly shut up and got on with the job," says Tahni, "but she was so rough with me that I feared she was deliberately causing me pain."

"When I looked at the finished effect I wasn't happy -- my teeth didn't look very much whiter -- and she rudely shut me up by saying if I had a shade whiter I'd look ridiculous."

"Ten days after the whitening procedure my jaw joints and teeth are still sore," sighs Tahni. "I've spoken to others who've had their teeth whitened and they told me it was a painless procedure so I'm certain, now, that the dentist really did do something to hurt me."

"My jaws hurt from having them opened so wide during the procedure, my tongue is raw red, there are sore cracks on either side of my mouth where my lips meet and all of my teeth, strangely, suddenly feel sensitive to hot and cold things. It’s painful to eat or drink anything."

"Now I'm terrified that she put some acid or something on my teeth to deliberately rot them and I'm going to loose all of my beautiful teeth!"

"If I sound paranoid then put yourself in my situation and see how you feel," says Tahni. "I’m telling you, that woman was unhinged and may have lost track of whatever professional ethics she once had, if she ever had ethics to start off with. I don't know what to do -- see a doctor or a lawyer?"

"Looking back, I should have realized that the smoking question was there for an ulterior purpose -- and either lied or gone somewhere else; and, having admitted I smoked, I should have shut up and allowed the woman to lecture me. But had I done so, would she still have treated me badly?"

"I think she would have," concludes Tahni. "That dentist was on a mission to identify and destroy all smokers, and her enticing teeth whitening advertisements were clever traps to suck us all in to her surgery of horrors."

"Who knows, maybe she uses teeth whitening to cause dental problems in all new patients, smokers or not, and that’s how she keeps the money rolling in,” muses Tahni. “It’s a nasty way to do business, but when people put melamine in baby formula to make a quick buck you quickly lose faith in the integrity of others responsible for our health.”

“Dentists are business people just like the other guy, and now I understand why so many people are scared stiff of them -- maybe the profession attracts sadists?”

"Whatever, my advice to any smoker thinking of having their teeth whitened -- don't do it!"

"Why put yourself in a position where some fanatical anti-smoking sadistic dentist can inflict awful pain on you?"

risking health insurance

As New Year's Eve approached, Regine, 29, faced a massive credit debt, along with mortgage interest rate increases and rising oil prices. Stressed, she resolved that the time had come when she had to cut all non-essential spending -- or lose her apartment -- and like millions of other people around the world she put quitting cigarettes on the top of her list of New Year resolutions.

"I couldn't bear to lose my apartment, not after I'd worked so hard to raise a deposit and keep up the monthly repayments," says Regine, "and if push came to shove I would rather starve than find myself back in a rented room."

"I'd tried to quit smoking many times before, what smoker hasn't?" sighs Regine, "and because it was so important for me to get out of debt I really needed to succeed this time -- there was absolutely no way I could justify wasting any more money on cigarettes, especially since my smoking habit yellows the ceiling of my living room so quickly that I have to pay to get a professional cleaner in every year."

"Having tried nicotine patches and gum before without any luck -- and having no willpower whatsoever -- I resolved to see my doctor and get fixed up with the latest quit smoking drug," says Regine, "but before I got that far I came across an article warning smokers about the suicidal side effects of the most popular new drug, Champix, and I freaked out."

"Apparently, there were 5,157 complaints about Champix in just one week in the USA where it is taken by four million people), and seven deaths and more than 1,300 complaints in the UK (where it is taken by a quarter of a million people)."

"I suppose if you divide the number of people taking the drug with the reported deaths and complaints the figure doesn't look too bad," says Regine, "but the thought of the slightest risk of ending up with a psychiatric problem and slashing my wrists was just too much for me to deal with."

"Even if the side effect was headaches, nausea and vomiting I still didn't think it was a good trade-off," says Regine. "If the whole purpose of taking the drug is to prevent withdrawal symptoms then why on earth would I take something that may cause equal if not worse problems?"

"If the drug cannot guarantee to make me feel good while relieving cravings and withdrawal symptoms, then it is utterly useless."

"Also, if the drug cannot guarantee to stop you smoking for at least a year it is also utterly useless," adds Regine, "and that seems to be the case with Champix, too. Only 22.5% of smokers on the drug had successfully quit in the trials. That is not a huge number and it probably consisted of strong will-power people who would have quit successfully with or without the drug."

"Pfizer, the drug company associated with Champix, has now been forced to add a suicidal warning on the product, but why was the drug allowed on the market in the first place if it is so dangerous?" asks Regine. "For God's sake, seven people have already died on this drug. It looks like the drug company, with a nod from the government, is just experimenting on us."

"We're just smokers, aren't we?" sighs Regine. "We're expendable human scum as far as the drug companies, the government and our health care systems are concerned. They don't care. It's as simple as that."

"Well, that put an end to my New Year resolution to quit smoking," says Regine. "If there are no guarantees to stop me smoking safely, then I'm doomed to remain a smoker. And, that being the case, the government is also a thief and a thug for increasing tobacco tax to the point where some people may have to lose their home."

"Crossing cigarettes off my list, that left health insurance, my automobile and my beauty salon expenses."

"Like cigarettes, driving and receiving beauty therapy make me feel good -- health insurance, on the other hand, is merely an insurance policy and is by far the most expensive bill I have to pay (because, ha ha, I disclosed I smoked and then I had to pay more)."

"It's a total care private health insurance -- I took it out over and above normal health care because I wanted first class care should I ever fall ill, here or overseas," explains Regine. "I have never used it in the seven years I've had it, and probably never will. It's an insurance policy, that's all."

"In the current climate of 'bash a smoker' -- and my trust in drug companies, governments and health care now being a big fat zero -- I had a sinking feeling that should I ever end up needing healthcare, the PC health insurance company could very well find a sneaky way to deny me what I needed on the basis of continued smoking."

"On that basis, I'd be a mug to keep on paying for something I'm never going to get."

"Once I deducted that huge expense from my salary I felt positively rich," laughs Regine. "I figure that I should be able to pay off my credit debt within the year, if I'm careful, and I don't have to stress myself unnecessarily by trying to stop smoking again."

"And stress is what it's all about."

"I know it sounds bad that people have to go without health insurance in order to keep their homes -- or choose cigarettes over health insurance," says Regine, "but when you factor in the incredible stress of daily life and trying to make ends meet you really are way ahead in health and happiness once you cut out a huge expense you really don't need."

"It's going to be happy new year for me after all," says Regine, "but my heart goes out to those four and a quarter million Champix guinea-pigs who are now back where they started, most of them a lot worse off for the experience, too."

Regine's story first appeared as suicidal quit smoking drug

dragons vs. mammoths

At a neighbor's BBQ party one weekend Dione was sitting apart from the crowd, minding her own business and having a smoke when she was approached by a little boy -- whose parents she didn't know -- who asked if she was a dragon.

"I had to laugh because obviously the little boy had never seen anyone smoking before," says Dione, "but when I asked who his parents were and checked them out it was apparent that they had deliberately used him to make me feel uncomfortable. They were looking at us and snickering, their blubberous bodies shaking with mirth."

"The little boy was too young to understand the derogatory meaning of the dragon word and I wasn't going to make a fuss of the incident," says Dione, "yet it's interesting how smoking has become so non-PC around the western world that whole generations of kids are growing up not knowing what a cigarette is (but accepting obesity as normal)."

"For their sake being unfamiliar with cigarettes is probably a good thing," says Dione, "but for this little boy whose parents were not only obese but drunk at 4pm and likely to drive home even more over the legal limit than they were already I wondered how better off he would be in the New World Order providing, of course, he lives long enough at the hands of his parents to experience it."

"When adult anti-smokers argue that if God wanted us to smoke he would have made us with a chimney, it's easy to retaliate," says Dione, "but what do you say to a little boy when he asks: why are you breathing smoke, are you a dragon?"

"I was in a good mood and had time to spare so I asked him if he had ever been in an airplane -- yes -- and then I asked him if it made him feel like he was flying like a bird -- yes -- and then I asked him if he was a bird and he replied -- of course not, I'm a boy."

"Is that because you're not flying now, I asked him, and he replied yes, I'm only a bird when I fly in an airplane."

"Well, I said to him, I'm only a dragon when I smoke."

"He thought that was cool and seemed satisfied and not wanting to be accused of perverting the minds of little children I told him to go back to his mommy."

"That night I thought about all the things we do that God never intended us to do," says Dione, "and came to the conclusion that if smoking is the Devil's work then what on earth isn't?"

"I'm presuming here, of course, that the anti-smoking crusaders are religious fanatics," says Dione. "I have no idea who they are apart from the fact that the ASH organization was started by the lawyer who sued the tobacco companies -- John Banzhaf -- who, incidentally, is now going after the fat food companies so watch out little boy's mom, you're next!"

"I can picture little boy's mom at a BBQ in, say, the year 2020," says Dione. "She's sitting there apart from the crowd, minding her own business and a little boy who's never seen a fat lady asks his slim mom what is that thing over there and mom replies -- it's a mammoth!"

"I hope the mammoth lady has as much aplomb as the dragon lady when the little boy approaches her and asks the inevitable question," laughs Dione. "Chances are she wouldn't even know what a mammoth was but after years of dirty looks and snickers about her weight she would understand clearly what was meant."

"Don't take me wrong, I'm not being mean to overweight people," explains Dione. "Most of them are happy fatties, nice to be around, it's just the PC slobs who think they're better than I am that annoy me."

"And I'm not being mean about people who drink to excess either," explains Dione. "I just don't think they should be getting plastered around children, especially when they have to drive a child home."

"Normally I wouldn't smoke when children are around -- and I didn't expect any at my neighbor's BBQ," says Dione. "I was told later that the couple with the little boy were friends of friends who hadn't really been invited, so I'm NOT going to apologize for smoking in the open air within view of a child."

"Frankly, I can't believe that the time has come when I feel threatened by these situations," sighs Dione. "I suppose I've had years of warnings that the anti-smokers were gaining ground, but somehow I thought sanity would prevail."

"You read books about what happened in Germany when Hitler came to power and you think: why didn't the Jews leave Germany when the insults and vilification started? If they couldn't sell their homes and businesses then why didn't they just save their lives and run? Were they suckers for punishment, or what?"

"I guess they thought that sanity would prevail, too," sighs Dione. "They never thought that their friends, neighbors and work colleagues would be silly enough to swallow all the anti-Jewish propaganda that the Third Reich churned out. Well, they were wrong, weren't they?"

"Just like the Nazi's used insulting and hate-provoking pictures to poison the minds of law-abiding German Christians -- showing Jews with hook noses, greasy hair and ugly faces -- along with lurid propaganda accusing Jews of polluting the German race," sighs Dione, "the anti-smoking crusaders are using similar hate-provoking pictures of diseased smokers along with equally nasty propaganda about passive smoking to poison the minds of non-smokers against smokers."

"And they are doing their most destructive work in schools, teaching kids to rip cigarettes out of their parents' mouths and reporting them for child abuse," says Dione. "Watch out for a new Hitler Youth emerging -- and they're definitely out to get the fatties next!"

"The modus operandi of the anti-smoking crusaders is so similar to that of the Nazis that I'm amazed the Holocaust Survivors haven't come out in vocal protest -- whether they smoke or not."

"If law-abiding German Christians could stand by like sheep while Jews -- and then homosexuals, the disabled, gypsies and political dissenters -- were victimized and then exterminated in gas chambers, then I have no doubt that our people will similarly stand by like sheep while smokers -- and then fatties, SUV owners, gun owners, political dissenters and you name it, probably the old and disabled as well -- are similarly victimized and possibly exterminated, too."

"So far, most of my friends, neighbors and work colleagues remain tolerant of smokers," says Dione, "but some have definitely turned nasty and I'm wondering what the rest will do when the inevitable smoking ban and its punishments come into force."

"Will they report me to the smoking police and get me locked up?"

"Will my smoking friends and I have to find an Anne Frank-like attic to hide in until the madness is over?"

"Will a Schindler emerge with a list of smokers to save?"

"Should I start making plans to emigrate to cigar-loving Cuba now -- before the borders close and I'm trapped?"

"Think about it, folks, is promoting hate and fear the right way to go about changing behavior in others that you don't like?" asks Dione. "If the anti-smoking crusaders genuinely wanted to help smokers live a healthy, happy and long life wouldn't they be going about it in a more Christian-like manner?"

"Oh, oh, if they're not Christians then what are they? Buddhists? Hindus? Muslims? Atheists? White Supremacist? Communists?" asks Dione. "They can't possibly be Jews, can they?"

"I smoke because I like it and because in a free society I believe I have the right to do as I please as long as it's within the law and not infringing on the rights of others," says Dione. "When the sale of cigarettes is banned, my country will no longer be free and fit to live in and I pity the little boys and girls growing up without knowing what freedom is -- and what dragons and mammoths are."

"Dragons may be mythical creatures," adds Dione, "but even so it's nice to speculate that maybe dragons and mammoths became extinct because the animal world turned against fire-breathers and fatties."

Dione's story first appeared as fire-breathing dragon ladies and is reprinted with permission.

a smoker lives to 122!

In researching the secrets of longevity, Emerald, 62, was amazed to learn that the world's oldest people – Jeanne Louise Calment (pictured) and Marie-Louise Meilleur – were smokers.

"I gave up smoking seven years, two months and five days ago," laughs Emerald, "and it's been such a terrible time for me that, yes, I have been taking each day as it comes, reciting the non-smoking mantra and believing that I'm doing myself good when, in fact, I'm probably doing myself more harm by drinking and eating more and stressing myself being a reformed smoker."

"No, I'm not going to rush out and buy a pack of cigarettes," says Emerald, "but I am going to stop all the other nonsense I've been doing for the past seven years, two months and five days and if I ever feel like having a smoke then I will deal with it in a mature and informed manner."

"Jeanne Louise Calment began smoking as a young woman -- like I did," says Emerald, "and she quit smoking at 117 because by then she was was blind, too proud to ask someone else to light her cigarettes for her and was encouraged by her doctor to do so."

"At 117 she had reduced her smoking to just two or three cigarettes per day -- like I did -- and she should have been able to quit completely," says Emerald, "but I guess she was too smart to go through the daily non-smoking mantra and strict regime that the rest of us ex-smokers have to go through."

"She actually resumed smoking a year later at 118 because she felt miserable -- oh boy, do I know about that -- and told her doctor to get stuffed, or words to that effect," laughs Emerald. "She believed, quite rightly I suppose, that only someone who had lived as long as she had was qualified to tell her what she should and should not do."

"When Mme. Calment died in France in l997, at the incredible age of 122, her place on the longevity list was taken by a 116-year old chain smoker from Canada -- Marie-Louise Meilleur -- who had quit smoking just 16 years before."

"I certainly don't believe that smoking prolongs life," says Emerald, "but facts like these really make you wonder about doing what people tell you to do, and doing what your gut instinct tells you to do."

Read more stories by Emerald related to longevity:

how to live to 122

everything in moderation

doggy friends

overeating and early graves?

elbows, x-rays and terrorist doctors

It is no surprise to Erina that medical doctors have been roped into the Islamic terrorist cause because they are already at the forefront in the fanatic anti-smoking crusade and fully experienced in terrorizing hapless patients.

"One of the most surprising anti-smoking tirades I have ever encountered came from a GP I visited for a swollen elbow," says Erina. "In the course of the consultation he asked about my medical history and then -- as if required by a Mullah to do so -- asked whether I smoked."

"When I said, yes, he wanted to know how many, how often and what type of cigarette and abused me savagely when I refused to co-operate on the grounds that it was totally unrelated to my complaint and,frankly, none of his business."

"He then insisted that I get an X-ray on my elbow and sent me to a radiologist," relates Erina. "I should have suspected his motives, but I trusted that he would do me no harm."

"The radiologist turned out to be a sour-faced woman who told me get undressed," sighs Erina. "I protested, asking why I needed to get undressed for an elbow X-ray, and she told me to do as she said or get a referral to another radiologist."

"Terrorized into doing what she said," says Erin, "I was then told to stand on a metal contraption and she went behind a screen."

"I felt terribly uncomfortable and asked where was the lead vest to protect my body -- and what exactly she was X-raying," says Erin, "and she raved on about sunlight and air flight exposing us to more radiation than her machine -- in which case why was she hiding behind a screen? -- and told me that the referring doctor had recommended a chest X-ray and a shoulder X-ray as well."

"At that, I jumped off the contraption and told her that I didn't want any X-rays," says Erin, "and her face turned to thunder and she stormed out."

"I have no idea whether or not she had X-rayed my body without my permission -- and at what strength," says Erin, "but it was pretty obvious that she was in collusion with the GP and intended to intimidate me -- if not do me terrible harm."

"I would imagine he told her that I was a smoker and was to be given 'the works'," sighs Erin. "I decided against reporting them to the medical authority because I had no evidence of their improper behavior and besides which the medical authority is the body behind the anti-smoking crusade and might do me more harm."

"It would be like going to a mosque to complain about terrorist bombings, wouldn't it?"

"After the latest terrorist activities by Islamic doctors in London and Glasgow, everyone threw up their arms in horror that people trained to heal could really set out to kill," sighs Erin, "but how short our memories are. What about Dr Harold Shipman, the granny murderer, and Dr Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death at Auschwitz, and the 15 German physicians and scientists who were convicted at the Nuremberg Medical Trial? And what about the thousands of hapless patients who die or are maimed each week by the negligent or murderous actions of ordinary doctors?"

"Doctors, like lawyers and accountants and everyone else in privileged positions are fallible human beings first and foremost and you never know what's going on in their heads and what diabolical agenda they may have."

"The doctor I visited was not a well-looking man and I assuaged my fury at being mistreated by him by presuming he's riddled with some incurable venereal disease that a smoking prostitute had given him -- and was on a mission to debase all female smokers he came across in his work," sighs Erin. "Either that, or he was a total control freak -- an epithet that fits all fanatics and crusaders, whatever their cause - and smoking was his pet hate."

"My swollen elbow healed within days -- without any medication," adds Erin, "but my general health was poor for at least six months after that incident, and I was terrified when my hair started falling out. It may have been coincidence, but I fear that I was, indeed, deliberately exposed to harmful radiation."

"Forget about Islamic terrorists," says Erin. "We're all at risk from terrorist doctors pushing some ideological barrow -- be it smoking, obesity, drinking or whatever."

tobacco vs. alcohol

Benet is approaching retirement age and, facing bans on smoking all over the place, she regrets how smoking is affecting her social life but makes the point that the tobacco war is not about health but the profits of the alcohol industry and that lawyers are behind it.

"What really angers me is that my smoking friends and I can no longer enjoy meals at our favorite restaurants -- they've all gone smoke free!" sobs Benet. "Sure, we can go there and sit among all the drinkers having a good time while eating their meals, but we can no longer light up before, during and after courses like we once could -- we have to go outside, and baby it's cold outside!"

"The restaurant owners refuse to open up a smoking area -- saying that they're operating an eating establishment not a smoking establishment," says Benet, "but what if alcohol were banned in eating establishments -- would they fob off the drinkers with a similar response?"

"I don't think so, they'd sooner make moonshine out the back than lose the patronage of drinkers," laughs Benet, "and this is the point I am trying to make. Restaurant owners make more money out of the liquor they sell than the food they serve and because of this they are perfectly willing to turn a blind eye to the occasional drunken behavior and vomit all over the place."

"They quite happily support the ban on smoking because smokers are not as lucrative as drinkers," explains Benet. "Why would they go to the expense of providing us with a properly ventilated smoking area when we just pay for food and buy our cigarettes elsewhere?"

"Sure, they can spout the health hazards of passive smoking on staff and patrons," says Benet, "but never once in my many years of smoking has any restaurant owner, waiter or fellow restaurant patron complained.”

“Most drinking patrons were too drunk to notice, and most waiters were too eager for a big fat tip -- which they always got -- to care."

"Bearing in mind that the sale and use of alcohol was prohibited for quite a number of years prior to WWII, it's amazing that it's such a mainstream drug today, having pushed out cigarettes, cannabis, cocaine and everything else that people once freely enjoyed."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that tobacco is going to be prohibited," says Benet, "and having had personal experience of their enormous capacity to drink as well as their utter distain for the guys who smoked, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the non-smoking lawyers I once worked with, now in their late 50s to early 70s, are behind these changes."

"Perhaps a check of the liquor industry register would turn up some interesting names," laughs Benet, "and in the meantime my smoking friends and I are showing our contempt for liquor loving restaurants by boycotting them."

Read more by Benet on this issue:

Toxic workplace drinking culture
Quit smoking leads to alcoholism?

bad health consequences of quitting?

Persia works as a medical records assistant in a public hospital which has a vigorous non-smoking policy. She feels a bit guilty about pretending to be a non-smoker, but from what she sees of the drug habits and attitudes of everyone else she works with she believes she's better off than they are and less hypocritical, too.

"I could tell you things about doctors and nurses that would put you off seeing a doctor or coming to hospital," says Persia. "To start with, some of the immigrant medical staff have dodgy qualifications and most have a bad attitude towards us."

"The non-immigrant medical staff are overworked, consider themselves underpaid and can be very arrogant," says Persia. "But their real problem is drugs -- mainly alcohol -- but a lot of other stuff that the average person hasn't even heard of."

"The only thing all the medical staff have in common, really, is a hatred of smokers," sighs Persia. "Not a dislike of smokers and their habit, but a genuine hatred of them."

"It's really very scary to hear them go on about patients who smoke because one day my mom or dad -- or even I -- may have to come here for an operation and the first thing they ask you is not what's wrong with you but whether or not you smoke."

"Word has got around among smokers that if you want to be treated normally by medical staff you must lie about smoking," says Persia, "and it's become so bad now that a lot of patients who don't smoke -- especially those with respiratory troubles -- are accused of lying."

"If you're on death's door they're not going to argue with you," says Persia, "but if you're not then you're put on the bottom of the waiting list and told not to smoke (even if you never have)."

"What happens is that six months down the track -- or longer -- however long it takes to get to the top of the list, a lot of patients never even make it."

"Sure, this may be a reflection of an over-burdened health system," says Persia, "but it could also be a deliberate way to kill off smokers."

"If you're a patient with heart trouble and you're told you must stop smoking, drinking or doing other risky things for a certain length of time in order to be eligible for an operation," says Persia, "then imagine the stress on that person."

"Far more pressure is put on smokers than drinkers," says Persia. "I can't see how smoking is worse than drinking for any type of disease or operation, but that's the official guidelines the staff must follow and they really enjoy putting the boot into smokers."

"I honestly believe that most of the smokers who come back for their operation have totally disregarded what they were told," laughs Persia, "and good for them, I say, because had they put themselves through the stress of quitting, their chances of lasting out the waiting period are not good."

"The really old smokers, those in their 80s up, are very outspoken about enjoying a smoke and are given a bit of grudging respect -- after all, they've outlived the non-smokers," laughs Persia, "but if you're not old enough to have been a fighting man or woman in WWII you're literally forced to give up smoking if you want a simple operation."

"As I see it, there is a lot of information about the health hazards of smoking and absolutely no information at all about the health hazards of giving it up," says Persia. "Similarly, there's a lot of information about the benefits of giving it up, and absolutely no information about the benefits of smoking. Isn't this negligence?"

"Imagine a man in his 50s who's been smoking for about 40 years," says Persia. "His body is perfectly in tune with his habit and the shock of a sudden change can literally kill him."

"This is not just relevant for people needing an operation," says Persia. "It's for all smokers who try to quit for one reason or another."

"Withdrawal symptoms for any type of drug addiction can have dangerous consequences," says Persia. "Advising smokers to buy nicotine replacement and sending them home without adequate supervision is not particularly smart if you want to keep them alive."

"Detox is routinely offered to other drug addicts," says Persia, "but the health budget, amazingly, is not big enough to cover the cost of offering this life-saving luxury to smokers (even though their smoking tax dollars practically pay for the health costs of everyone else)."

"According to the medical staff where I work, smokers are extraneous rubbish -- not worth saving," sighs Persia, "and certainly not worth a follow up study to see how many ex-smokers are healthy and happy five years after quitting."

"From the records I've seen, I'd hazard a guess that a significant number of smokers who give up their habit are either seriously ill -- not necessarily with cancer or heart disease -- or dead within five years."

"For what other legal human activity is there a total ban in medical and scientific journals -- and the media -- on saying anything good about it?" asks Persia. "Even with the obvious terrible effects of alcohol there is hardly a day goes by without some research being done to show how good it is for us. Come on guys, smoking must have some therapeutic benefit. Why are you gagged from telling us about it?"

"When they say that smokers are a dying breed, they're not kidding," says Persia, "and as far as I can see they are doing as much as they can to speed us on our way by forcing us to quit."

if smoking kills, why is it legal?

Tyla is 23, works in hospitality and she's thoroughly confused about all the anti-smoking hype. She enjoys a smoke socially -- so she's not yet a daily addict -- and it's at this stage in her life that she feels the government should stop flip-flopping on the issue and either ban the sale of cigarettes or get off smokers' backs.

"In my work I get to see plenty of off-duty health officials and they're off their face with one drug or another," laughs Tyla, "and while it's true that very few of them would be sneaking out back for a smoke the fact is that they don't practise what they preach."

"If smoking kills then the government would ban the sale of cigarettes outright, wouldn't it?" asks Tyla. "Either the government is deliberately killing us by not banning tobacco or it is deliberately lying to us in order to keep the money coming in. Which is it?"

"Maybe I'm naive, but when my government bans a substance I believe it's harmful and when it doesn't, I believe it's okay."

"Because the government is flip-flopping on the issue of smoking -- on one hand telling us how harmful it is and how we can't smoke in certain places any more and on the other hand it allows tobacco products to be sold in supermarkets and at the local store -- I don't know what to believe any more."

"If alcohol isn't allowed to be sold in supermarkets and local stores like cigarettes are," says Tyla, "then that means that cigarettes must be safer than alcohol, right? So why aren't there any warnings on liquor bottles and cans?"

"Can you see how confusing all this is to young people?"

"Like most of my friends I am left wondering about what the hell the government is really doing."

"Either it is deliberately lying about the harmful effects of smoking or it isn't -- which is it? -- and what part does money play in its flip-flopping behavior?"

"It seems to me that the government stands to gain both ways from its present position -- being supported by both the tobacco industry and the anti-smoking lobby --and a total ban on the sale of tobacco products would be detrimental to all three parties."

"If tobacco products are harmless and the government is just going along with the anti-smoking lobby in order to appease it and gain votes and money -- then that's understandable," says Tyla, "but if tobacco products are really as harmful as the anti-smoking lobby says they are, then by not banning the products the government is deliberately killing us -- and that's criminal behavior."

"I guess the government could squirm out of the inconsistency by saying that it cannot ban smoking because it doesn't want to infringe on our rights to choose our own poison," muses Tyla, "but that's a load of bull because we only have two legal choices -- alcohol and cigarettes -- everything else is banned!"

"It's only by making harmful substances illegal -- like heroin and cocaine -- that people understand the risk they're taking when they use it," sighs Tyla. "Just putting a warning label on a pack of cigarettes is not going to have the same effect because warning labels are everywhere these days -- even on plastic bags."

"Sure, cigarettes might kill you if you eat the damn things just like a plastic bag might kill you if you tied it around your head -- and idiots need to be warned about these dangers," laughs Tyla, "but if used for the purpose they are sold freely and legally on the market no product should be harmful."

"So, is our government sanctioning the sale of a harmful product or isn't it?"

"While I'm still young and not yet addicted to cigarettes I want to know if my government refuses to ban cigarettes -- and is deliberately killing me -- because it's in the pocket of the tobacco industry and wants to squeeze more taxes out of me for as long as it can," says Tyla, "or if it refuses to ban cigarettes because it does not consider tobacco products to be as harmful as other drugs and all the warning labels are just an appeasement for the anti-smoking lobby."

"Right now, I tend to believe the appeasement argument because if I died prematurely from lung cancer both the government and the tobacco industry would suffer financially -- they're not going to deliberately kill off a potential golden goose," admits Tyla, "but all the same I don't want to die prematurely from lung cancer and I certainly don't want to be a golden goose for the government, the tobacco industry or -- if it comes to that -- the anti-smoking lobby."

"I'm mindful that the anti-smoking lobby is making a lucrative living off smokers, too," says Tyla."If smoking was truly as harmful as they make it out to be then they would demand -- with everyone's approval, especially mine -- to have the sale of tobacco products banned outright."

"I don't see the anti-smoking lobby calling for an outright ban on tobacco and I can understand why -- if tobacco products were banned, their income and purpose in life would come to an abrupt end, right?"

"To be totally cynical, if smoking were truly as harmful as they make it out to be and the anti-smoking lobby does not call for a ban on the sale of tobacco products then they are deliberately killing me, too."

"To put a stop to all of this confusion I challenge the anti-smoking lobby to put its money where its mouth is -- cut the mealy mouth warnings, call for a total ban on the sale of tobacco products, and mean it -- or butt out of my life."

mental health self-medicators?

Doctors once recommended smoking to alleviate anxiety and Didi’s mom swore by it as a sanity saver before she died at 85 leaving Didi as sole carer for her dad – both of whom cope with grief and underlying depression by being self-medicating cigarette smokers.

"I had quit smoking hundreds of times before I moved back home to become my mom's caregiver," says Didi, "and it was only then that I finally faced the fact that some people really need to smoke for their mental health."

"The quitting process and maintaining a smoke-free life forever -- without becoming obese or crazy -- is extremely stressful and probably more a health hazard than continuing to smoke," says Didi, "and this is particularly true for a smoker who has underlying depression like I had."

"I believe smoking is a personal choice and smokers should be made aware of all the facts -- for and against," says Didi. "Right now, the media is totally lopsided in favor of the anti-smoking lobby and this is not just unfair it's negligent because its use in helping with mental health issues has been deliberately suppressed."

"Who is taking responsibility for fragile ex-smokers who take up harder drugs, become obese and diabetic or develop a full-blown mental disease?" asks Didi. "Nobody, that's who.”

“Doctors are far too busy to personally supervise every smoker who quits, and all the anti-smoking fanatics care about is themselves."

"Like my dad says, the anti-smokers have spawned a multi-million dollar industry around us," sighs Didi. "First they created the fear of lung cancer, then they lobbied governments to enact laws against smokers and exact levies from them -- not to be used, as promised, to pay for the so-called medical costs of smoking but to pay for the salaries of the lobbyists -- and then the psycho-medico professionals and the pharmaceutical industry jumped on the band-wagon with their mumbo jumbo cessation therapies and snake oil patches and potions."

“Why can’t they see that people with mental health issues need to smoke?”

Read more by Didi on this issue:

dealing with elderly parents and doctors

Anti-smoking vaccine?

War vet victimized for smoking

smoking and lack-of-heart disease

Kirsten is 47, a smoker and a nurse who should be setting a good example for the community in regard to healthy living but she fumes at scare-mongering, heartless, anti-smoking propaganda and maintains that smokers are no more or less healthy than non-smokers.
"Smokers are being blamed unfairly for the rise of lung cancers, heart diseases and spiralling national health costs," sighs Kirsten, "but I'm seeing far less smokers on my wards than I did thirty years ago."

"What I am seeing more of in my wards is patients who are far more obese and a far lot older than before," says Kirsten, "and that's a fact that airlines, funeral parlors and all health-related industries are noticing."

"When airlines and funeral parlors have been forced to widen their seats and coffins to cater for rising obesity -- and the average age of air travellers and dearly departed has also risen -- you get to understand that all the hype about smoking is a smokescreen to hide the true facts about community health."

"Sure, lung cancer is on the rise but so is every other type of cancer and heart disease," laughs Kirsten, "and it's all because people are living longer these days."

"If disease incidence and death statistics were published by age rather than per capita, everyone would see that the vast majority fall into the older age groups where you'd expect people to be developing degeneration of their vital organs. And, where they don't, obesity is the prime causative factor, not smoking."

"When you're 88 years old does it really matter if you die of lung cancer, heart disease or a bee sting?" laughs Kirsten. "Of course not, so why should it bother anybody else?"

"Antibiotics and modern medicine have eradicated diseases that once wiped out millions of people are these diseases are being replaced on the death statistics with conditions like lung cancer and heart disease that most people once never lived long enough to develop."

"The number one cause of heart disease is aging," says Kirsten. "If you stop smoking or change your diet in middle age -- by which time the aging process has set in -- you're not going to improve your chances of avoiding heart disease. The clock is ticking away and will stop exactly when it is programmed to stop unless something intervenes to make it stop earlier."

"Get it?"

"What's more, medical opinion is divided as to how much cigarette smoking is directly responsible for the rise in lung cancer and heart disease," adds Kirsten. "Very few people die of one thing or another. There are always a myriad of factors involved in disease and death. If an old lady with osteoporosis dies from a fall while she's smoking is the cause of death an accidental fall, osteoporosis-related or smoking-related?"

"Doctors have carte blanche, almost, to record causes of death as they see fit," says Kirsten, "and believe me, I've seen some records that are plainly wrong. In relation to AIDS, I can accept that pneumonia might be a kinder cause of death for the sake of the relatives than the true cause -- but in relation to lung cancer and heart disease I object to smoking because listed as a primary cause just because the deceased was a smoker."

"Fanatical anti-smoking health workers are naturally prone to inflate the figures of smoking-related disease incidence and causes of death, but thankfully there are still many in the professions who are open to consider factors other than smoking."

"Apart from the obvious reason -- that we're living longer -- factors such as increasing air pollution (from carcinogens not known thirty years ago), the stresses of modern living (more people on the planet, and increasing daily), personal stressful circumstances and all manner of bugs need to be taken into consideration when assessing lung cancer and heart disease in smokers."

"Whenever I see a list of risk factors I feel like adding ridiculous things like 'wearing pink shirts'," laughs Kirsten, "because that's just about as true as everything else."

"If just one non-smoker -- such as Dana Reeve -- dies of lung cancer," says Kirsten, "then it's pretty obvious that cigarettes are not the primary cause of the disease and other factors have to betaken into consideration. Bearing in mind that it's only recently that a bacteria was found to cause stomach ulcers and a virus was found to cause cervical cancer, it's imperative to keep an open mind."

"I'm pretty sure, too, that anti-smoking propaganda has had a lot to do with the spiralling increase in obesity," says Kirsten. "I'm seeing less smokers on my wards than I did thirty years ago because so many people have quit and started stuffing their faces with food instead."

"Everyone I know who has quit smoking has put on a lot of weight," says Kirsten, "and because obesity is more a health risk than smoking I believe the medical profession has a duty to make this fact more well known."

"I am most certainly not going to come out as an advocate for the tobacco industry -- I hate their sly tactics to increase addiction as much as I hate the anti-smoking lobby for creating fear," says Kirsten."What I am saying is that people who are happy smokers should not be bombarded with lies, damn lies and statistics to scare them into quitting."

"There are plenty of doctors who smoke but they are too cowed by the system to publicly counteract the anti-smoking propaganda," says Kirsten. "Like me, they are supposed to set a good example for the community in relation to healthy living but unlike me they have more to lose from the exercise."

"They believe it's better to keep quiet, keep a low profile and in time -- like alcohol prohibition -- the focus will go off smoking onto something else," sighs Kirsten. "They are probably right -- it's just a fad -- but I still believe it's unfair to jerk smokers around and rip them off."

"Here in the public health system I don't see any of the extra taxes being ripped off smokers being spent to pay for the so-called costs of 'smoking-related diseases'," says Kirsten. "So, if you expect your smoking dollars to ensure good treatment in hospital should you develop lung cancer or copd in old age, forget it."

"I've known many smokers who lie about being smokers when they need to come to hospital for some minor treatment," says Kirsten. "It's medically unwise, but understandable within a punitive system fed by anti-smoking hysteria where you're treated badly if you admit to being a smoker. Would you freely admit to being a Jew in a Nazi German hospital with someone like Dr Mengeles likely to treat you?"

"Forget about heart disease in smokers, it's lack-of-heart disease that's the real problem with our society."

legal v illegal drugs

Noni wants to know what is so special about alcohol that makes it a more socially acceptable drug than tobacco products when it causes far more harm.

"Why do people go out of their way to lecture us when we light up in an outdoor area designated for smoking?" asks Noni. “The same people wouldn't bat an eyelid if they saw us drinking alcohol in the most inappropriate places, such as a children’s play area – which is something I’ve seen plenty of young women do – so why?"

"I like alcohol as much as most people do – it's a convivial drug, loosening tongues and everything else!" laughs Noni. "But I'd never make it my drug of choice to take on a daily basis because I need my wits about me when driving, going up and down steps and dealing with people who might take advantage of me."

"Smoking focuses my wits – and so do certain other drugs," explains Noni, "and that's why I'm very concerned about the current anti-smoking climate because if the government banned tobacco products people like me would need to become criminals in order to enjoy our drug of choice."

"I know enough about drug behavior to be able to spot someone who's not exactly as high on life as they make themselves out to be," confides Noni. "I'm not fooled by the exceptional energy and passion of some people in high positions, and I wish I could be on what they're on but I lack the money and influence that allows their duplicity to be maintained with impunity."

"It makes you wonder whether some drugs are illegal and hard to get because the big boys running the world don't want us to know the secrets of their success."

"I know that the more zealous of the anti-smoking crusaders want to add tobacco products to the list of illegal drugs," sighs Noni, "but that's only going to make tobacco attractive to people who may never have been attracted to it in the first place. A choice between two drugs – alcohol and tobacco – is bad enough; a choice of just one – alcohol – would be ridiculous."

"I'd give up smoking cigarettes immediately if cannabis were decriminalized," says Noni. "Cigarette smoke stinks and I can understand why the anti-smokers hate it, but what else can I take that's legal and smells good and doesn't make me witless like alcohol does?"

"At my age I need a drug that's mellow," explains Noni. "I don't want something to heighten my sexual experience, take me on psychedelic trips or keep me jumping all night. Ecstasy, LSD, GHB, ice, heroin and cocaine are totally unattractive to me."

Read more by Noni on this subject:

classifying drugs and criminalizing users

stop crime, decriminalize drugs