Re: Bullying Smokers

That is true Apricot! The government makes billions out of smokers - and it isn't all spent on the NHS for their treatment either.

Re: Bullying Smokers

A very well balanced article. I has become blatantly obvious now that it’s not about concern for peoples health, it’s about power and total victory in they’re quest to ban tobacco completely, they have lost the run of themselves altogether. Then they tried to ban the electric cigarette, a really great help to people trying to kick the habit, it was just because it looked like a cigarette and people were enjoying it that they wanted them banned, sheer spite. We all know smoking is bad for you and I have yet to meet a smoker who condones the habit, but you will always get folks who hate to see someone enjoying something that they don’t, I’m all for live and let live.
As a smoker meself I find it sad to see the ‘New’ smokers coming home from the college near me puffing away, thankfully some of them don’t know how to inhale the smoke, but it looks to me more of a gesture of defiance, sadly the outcome of this is that many of them will take up the habit and become addicted.
Banning people smoking outside the pub is the last straw, maybe some enterprising publican will level off his rooftop and make it into a smoking area, but I bet the brigade with find something wrong with that too, like endangering the health of the overhead seagulls.

Re: Bullying Smokers

Too Damn True.

Re: Bullying Smokers

Again. too Damn true, , the busybodies always seem to have get their nose into something.

Re: Bullying Smokers

I don't know if they have nicotine lozenges there but they make a big difference. They have two different dosages, a 2mg and 4mg. They quell the gnawing feeling from not smoking. Ideally you're supposed to wean yourself off of them as well. But I've met a bunch of other ex-smokers who have been munching them for years. Probably less harm than a cigarette.

Re: Bullying Smokers

I smoked for 50 years and never wanted to stop .... altho' thru persecution did try the usual govmint recommended methods, nicobate , zyban, even hypnosis,... nothing worked but I didn't really want to stop, however, when I stopped work to care for my sick hubby, I could no longer afford them ... thank heavens I found a vaping forum ... PV's ( personal vaporises) do work, I haven't had a ciggie for over 2 years and have never missed them, in fact, the smell of cig smoke is now awful to me, altho' folk are welcome to smoke in my home, vaping is cheaper and safer by 99% ... I use nicotine and make my own eliquid but lots of exsmokers find that they no longer need to use nic.
Be that as it may, the govmint wants to ban them for the simple reason that they're losing money, they're not interested in smokers' health or they'd ban ruddy tobacco ... hypocrites but the big Pharma companies can also peddle their expensive , useless nicotine pills, go figure!!
(.. my wheeze has gone, food tastes better and I'm generally fitter)

Re: Bullying Smokers

Kittylion said:---I have never smoked but hate this demonising of the smoker by those with disdainful attitudes. No doubt all of us have habits we would like to kick, and for those who say they don't, I would suggest they start working on their superiority complexes.

Now you are doing exactly the same KL, saying those that don't smoke have a superiority complex. Now that is not true, even though I stopped smoking 40+ years ago and don't like smoking, we are not saying we don't like smokers only the smoke, but even then I would say a lot of non smokers still struggle when they smell one being lit up, I know I do.
Tobacco is a drug and like all drugs has a calming influence, and you can't argue that it is good for you, I have fibrosis of the lungs not caused by all the smoking I did, but by the drugs I have taken for arthritis, any smoking near me sets me off struggling to get air, that is another subject.
Point I am trying to make is smoking harms those around you, as well as yourself, I don't like to see that it is not fair.
I know a lot of folks are trying to give up but because they come into contact with smokers/smoke their struggle is harder, Has I said on an earlier post ,,you will have to be pretty rich to smoke soon, the government are continually rising the cost of tobacco.

Re: Bullying Smokers

Err - no. Only the ones who are nasty about it and show no empathy.

Re: Bullying Smokers

Tobacco is not a banned substance. The government get a lot of tax revenue from tobacco sales. I doubt they'll ever make it illegal to smoke, in your own home or on the street.
I am not bothered about going outside for a ciggy, got used to doing that & I don't smoke in my home or other peoples homes either.
I would not like smoking banned outdoors.
I smoke rollies which is a lot cheaper than made ciggy's.
I enjoy a ciggy still.
I do know it's very bad for me.
Amongst my friends I find the most condemming are the reformed smokers. They do think they are superior, having managed to kick the habit. Most of them taught me to smoke originally too.

Re: Bullying Smokers

At the risk of lots of retaliation I would submit that, for the most part, the reason anyone smokes is because at some point in life, they saw someone else doing it and COPIED them, either to see what it was like or because they felt the need to "belong" and be accepted or because of other peer pressure.

Beyond that initial point, much of the rest is surely due to the addiction that follows.

As other posters have stated, no-one will ever give up smoking unless they have really in their minds resolved to do so, and that I think requires that they shake of all of this defensive baggage and accept that they were initially foolish and need to take back control of their lives.