l have never smoked. Never understood why anyone would want to put a lighted stick in their mouths and breathe in the fumes. And the smell of people who smoke - yuck. l trained as a hairdresser. Smoking was banned at work - and l never earnt enough to buy them anyway. There was always something l was saving up for - new clothes - my first Lambretta! - then my driving lessons - then my VW Beetle. l would rather have new clothes - exciting holidays- and my car then ‘burn’ my hard earned money. Then l started saving to buy my first home - and on and on it goes. lts ‘Choices’. l have never had money to burn!
lts only in recent years - since the ban on smoking in public places - that l have actually been able to go to the theatre/cinema/restaurants etc happily - knowing that l will not be feeling sick from other peoples smoke - eyes watering - chest tightening - and the smell of smoke in your hair and clothes. Getting home after a night out and having to shower and wash my hair to rid myself of the dreadful smell and put my clothes straight in the washing machine.
OK - the tax received on tobacco and alcohol. lt does not come anyway near the cost of health treatment - the benefits given to those who cannot work- because of the damage they have done to their bodies from smoking and drinking. The cost of research into these self inflicted illnesses. Just think if that funding was put into research for other dreadful diseases - many of the awful childhood illnesses. And of course MS.
l might sound harsh - but l think smokers have been pampered to enough. Now its the cost of all the schemes to help them stop smoking.
A family of four - chain smokers- l know - There lovely dog died of lung cancer. lt did shock them enough that two of them have stopped. One died!
I think you will find that smokers are good value overall as far as state expenditure goes - they don’t enjoy for long the expensive chronic illnesses and associated care needs of a lingering decline into extreme old age.
For sure there are costs, as some of the replies on this thread have shown eloquently, but those costs are personal and family ones, mainly.
Thanks for sharing that you don’t like smoking, though.
isnt nicotine one of the most addictive substances around.?
im currently using an e cig…n can highly recommend this method…good luck to me and to all others.
my wife has been using the ecig for around 6 months and so proud of her…ive had a few relapses but determined to not allow myself a slip this time.
i know also im highly addicted to nicotine…i wont try n wean myself off the ecig for a looooong time…so much better…healthier and financially better off with it.
I bought my husband an e-cig, it is still sitting on his bookcase.
I bought him the male version of ‘why men smoke’ by Allen carr but like I said in a earlier comment, we have to want to stop. I just want him to feel the same freedom that I felt after giving up.
I’m stubborn though, I won’t give up trying. I Just retreat for short periods
The trouble is though with the ban on smoking it has sadly backfired i think anyway.
More people are now smoking back in the house with the children. Where it used to be the men would go out to the pub for a beer and a fag now they stay in and do the same.
I know more YOUNG PEOPLE smoking now then i ever did before the ban. Sadly my own family it makes me cross.
grandson 16 all his friends smoke
grandaughter 16 all her friends smoke
daughter 41
SIL
My care worker smokes (not around me never seen her smoke lol), her partner smokes his freinds too it goes on and on. Loads of people i know smoke…
I HATE IT. My daughter she drives me nuts her dad died of lung cancer.
The ban is nice as like you said it means you can go out and enjoy things, but all it did was push it back in the house. Now people sit in their houses with cheap alcohol and download movies off places like Amazon prime and sit there and smoke and drink with their family around them…
The two things which are the worse for our health and kill the most people and swamp our NHS is smoking and alcohol, the two things that are heavily taxed and it does not deter people from smoking or drinking…it just gives the governments more coughers in their big fat money pot… and it keeps funeral parlour owners in luxury lol…
Nah hun your fine lol, its how i feel too. It is a drug so is alcohol. The two things heavily taxed which kill the most people…now its drugs too. The ban has stopped nothing. As i said on another post i know more young people smoking now…and pot too. In just my small area if you want to buy cheap tobacco and drugs there are probably one pusher in about every 20 houses even growing the stuff jeez and i come from a good area. Only two doors away they were raided OMG he just got a slapped wrist and i know he was selling tobacco and drugs to kids in the park opposite.
Its out of control.
My husband has made his choice to keep on smoking, and it is now up to me to decide if i am strong enough to watch him killing himself slowly or move on. thats my choice at the moment. I do love him very much but i am not sure i am well enough to watch him or support him whilst he is doing this to himself.
Do you know what makes me really angry Blossom…he is doing this to himself, he can ring the doctor and get seen urgently and yet i have to wait TWO WEEKS for an appointment…they think more of him then me…being synical they are always trying to stop him smoking and ii wonder if they get funds for doing so lol…
I have to say though in his defence he is 69 and was still working until he got really sick this time round…he has always worked.
I dont know what the governments can do about this disease smoking and drinking, as the more you ban it the more people do it…
Should have said the only thing that’s destroyed my husband’s health and caused him to put great strain on the NHS, is some consultant who nearly killed him in a botched operation. Leaving him with repeated operations and illnesses…nothing to do with smoking.
Yes, it’s the law of unintended consequences at work, isn’t it?
A related unintended consequence is, I suspect, that tax revenues are lost to the Treasury every time the duty on fags goes up, because it just drives more people to the black market, so the criminal gangs thrive and prosper and the public purse doesn’t get a penny of it.
i am so grateful for you taking the time to respond… very kind of you.
i have managed all of today without any fags, which is great. however i would exhume my grandmother for one right now… apologies for the lack of taste in that comment but i hope you know what i mean.
hi fluffy, well done! keep going. i stopped a weird way. i had a major, almost died, out of the blue operation. i was in a medically induces coma for several weeks, when i was finally coherent(ish) i asked for some cigarettes. my lovely brother in law told me he’d watched my daughter go through so much worry and pain and that he hoped that i’d try my best to stick around for as long as i could, i have smoked since, it’ll be 3 years in april. i almost never give them a second thought, it’s lovely to dodder into a shopping centre, past freezing smokers not being affected by the smoke, other than to be glad to be away from the smell.
in short, guilt did it for me, find your ‘thing’ and take it one not smoked cig at a time. i really recommend trying a trick that helped me, when you suddenly crave a cig, take very deep breaths 3+, focussing on your breathing, it helps to get you over the worst pang.
they are both very interesting points of view- not to sound sanctimonious, but i’ve never smoked in the house with the kids as its my own (albeit stupid) choice to poison myself. no need to take others with me.
back to the attempt at not being pious in fags absence, i certainly watch telly and drink cheap booze though hehe. my wife accidentally subscribed to prime, and she nearly choked on her tea when she read her bank statement to the amount they’d charged her.
to alison’s point, back in the day when i was younger, hipper and more agile (and in pubs) the bloke with knockoff fags was a great find and saved a fortune. you are right of course that the public purse should get instead.
Actually Alison a very good point, and all the people i know smoke tobacco from sellers…for about 8-10 pound a pouch…which lasts ages i have been told…
I have finally gotten hubby on pouch tobacco he is only now buy 1 packet of cigs every two days…and is hardly smoking the roll ups, so he is slowly cutting down…he has to as he is officially retired now he is too sick to go back to work. I told him bluntly he has to cut down or else well i am off lol…i cant live on a pension with him smoking they cost about 8.00 a DAY. On a pension it aint happening.
And believe me i always keep to what I say lol and he knows that…after finding a spot on his lung too which has to be investigated you would think he would want to stop smoking…
I hope you got through without having to reach for the shovel.
When wracked with early-days cravings, I used to try to focus on how good it was going to be when the evil weed no longer had the power to yank my chain with such force. I’ll admit that those positive thoughts didn’t quite drown out the ‘furious toddler’ voice in my head demanding that I wanted a cigarette, and I wanted it now! But the furious toddler voice does fade over time - honestly!
Well done fluffy it’s hard but what did it for Me was my daughter and I wanted to save money I have quit 8 years when November comes, I can’t stand the smell nephew smokes but the smell knocks me sick.
nice to hear from you. i admit had a few falls from grace, but my worst critic has been me. my wife has been great and tells me not to give myself a hard time. i really want to stop but with recent steroids, the MS itself, coming off rebif, the desire to smoke is even more than usual.