non-smokers - do you have compassion for cigarette smokers?

Yet again, I don't see the addiction itself as a disease, but only as a consequence of other psychological factors which led to the addiction.

It is very much logical for the NIDA to label drug addiction as a "disease", it gives them lots of additional funding.

 

I'm not sure "compassion" is the appropriate term especially since the disease of addiction had its genesis in a choice someone made.

I used to smoke.... I quit around 20 years ago and while it wasn't easy it WAS possible. There were no patches or nicotine gum around to help me, either. I lack sympathy for those smokers who complain incessantly about how they should quit and never actually try- or only make halfhearted attempts. In most cases, if one has a genuine desire to quit, he or she will summon the willpower to do just that. Otherwise the best course is to just be a smoker and offer no apologies for doing it because I won't judge you for it.

 

I understand the idea, but this logic is the cause of most of the stigma associated with seeing a psychiatrist (sp?).

 

Not considering mental issues a "disease" (just a word!) I don't feel is involved truly with the stigma of needing mental health help but I see your point.

 

i don't consider addiction to cigarrettes or any other drug a disease, although you may be able to convince me that substance abuse disorder in general is much closer to one.


that said, i do feel some compassion for smokers, not because of the addiction, but because smoking has been so stigmatized lately. i felt bad for gay people a few years back, but the world's self righteous wrath has turned from them to people who choose to smoke tobacco, so now i feel bad for that group instead

 

the simple fact is, people who smoke cigarettes are going to die and people who don't smoke cigarettes will live forever and ever

 

That's right!!!!

 

ya think? lol

 

haha...hilarious.

 

Hold on...let me step up on this soapbox...

I am a smoker. I have no compassion for smokers because it starts as a choice. It becomes an addiction later. You can quit if you REALLY want to.

What I would like to say to people that get all preachy about people who smoke...

Did you drive a car today? You did? You hypocrite!!
Do you produce waste that goes to a landfill? Yeah? Well, fuck you!
Have you ever used chemicals to clean something and washed them down the drain? You have? What an asshole!

Smoking bans are ridiculous...it should really be up to the owner of each establishment. It's their pocketbook that takes the hit.

You don't like to smell smoke in a bar? Are you kidding me? You came here to drink poison and you're complaining about smoke? It's not a gym...idiot!

Okay, I'm done. Life goes on...

 

I'm pro smoker. I've never smoked, but it looks cool.

Seriously, some people get way to uptight about it. I certainly wouldn't want someone smoking right next to me in a closed room, but i'm not going out of my way to make anyone elses life harder.

 

The world would be a much nicer place if more folks believed the way you do... seriously.

 

i dunno...until things started changing in the last 10 years, i was regularly forced to 'smoke' secondhand at home, at work, in many public places. now it's alot easier to avoid. it was not only very unpleasant, but now i am told i actually have a pretty good chance of contracting lung cancer as a result of my exposure to secondhand smoke. even if that doesn't happen, i'm living with asthma, and that was likely caused by it. to me this is primarily a health issue. after that it's an aesthetic issue (to me cigarette smoke stinks and i hate it). but in spite of this i don't HATE smokers. having studied the biological process by which people get addicted to nicotine, i can understand how hard it is to quit. i've been very close to several smokers and seen how hard they try to quit and how difficult it is. and even if they do smoke voluntarily in the beginning, they often do so without understanding the decision they are making...and they're hooked long before they do.

 

I hate smoking.
theres more reasons to give it up then there are to start.
its pointless and harming people who dont even have a choice.
ive tried and i think it tastes like shit.
yuk.
smoke pot instead.
peace

 

Wait... you DON'T want to get lung cancer?

You're weird.

 

I personally want to aquire as many forms of cancer as I can at the same time. I thought that was the standard.

 

I wish cancer was an STD.

 

Ironically enough a form of it isn't that far away from that.

 

wow, I am so glad that then you shall live on and inherit the earth.

 

I'm a non-smoker, and I have compassion for smokers, but NOT around my children. It's one thing if I have to be around smoke, I can handle it, but I don't want it polluting my childrens' lungs. That being said, I simply avoid taking them places where people are smoking, or if someone is smoking where we are, I take my kids to another room/area/place where it's smoke-free. I wouldn't make a scene or ask someone to put their cigarette out, that's not my style.