Due to the problem of overcrowding I have decided to start a new post on this subject.

Point blank, cigarrettes and cigarrette companies are evil. EVIL EVIL EVIL.

Believe me, I know. I am 24 years old and just started smoking LAST YEAR. I knew the risk, I knew it was dangerous, but I started smoking socially and before I knew it I was up to half a pack a day.

Let me be clear to all of you who don't smoke...I WANT to quit, I have made sersious attepts to quit. I have gone as much as a week without smoking and then cracked. THe reality is, that once you've smoked for awhile your body is really never free of wanting a cigarette.

I despise cigarettes, I despise cigarette companies, yet I cannot quit smoking. The product is evil, and the companies executives should all be lined up and shot for making such a product. Was I weak? Yes. Did I know better? Yes. Did I think that smoking at parties would lead to mae craving cigarettes? No.

They are evil. They are a drug more addictive than heroine. And before anybody tells me the cigarette companies aren't to blame, start smoking, try and quit and then tell me otherwise. I went 23 years without smoking. I got weak ONE TIME in my life...one MOMENT of weakness and now I'm hooked. Do you realize how scary that is?

<font color=skyblue>Just like all druge, you cannot do it alone. You need:
1. A good reason that convinces you
2. A support group
3. A substitution for the cravings

I have helped people quit before, and can try with you, over the internet if you care to let me.

My dad always wanted to quit, but never had the strength to until the day he lost his mother to lung cancer. He, and others I have helped needed not only that strong reason to...but also needed at least one person there with them to stop them in times of weakness. You need to find a trusted friend or family member that will monitor you for two months. You also need stuff like cinnamon chewing gum or strong mints that will take the place of the feeling of the pleasure of smoke inhalation in your mouth, and you need to do something like carry a pencil in your fingers like you would a cigarette. That helps that motor response of wanting something there.

You have not been smoking for 40 years or anything close to that, so you will find it alot easier to quit than my dad did.

Your body will go through withdrawls, so you gotta have something in place to help you ignore them or something to cover them up with. It is a stimulant that is needed, so drink alot of Mountain Dew or something. [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

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I don't intend to argue with you over "who is the guilty party", but if you know it is bad for you, you shouldn't have started in the first place.

I am a smoker and I know smoking is bad and highly addictive. I don't have the willpower to quit nor do I feel like quitting for the moment. At the same time, I have never blamed the tobacco companies for something that I started when I was in my teen.

Back then, I knew the risks. When I was in control to stop and quit, I didn't want to and I never did. If anyone is to blame in my case, that would be me alone.

Thank god that I am not a drinker (except coffee and soft drinks) or it would have been even worst.

<font color=lime>This is exactly the way I logically see it. I have smoked for 15 years, with a year off a while back. It is very addictive, more so than meth, trust me I know. Well, let me rephrase, for ME it is worse. I kicked meth after 3 years, with basically no majors problems. I go without a smoke for a few hours, and well, I would leave me alone if I we're you ;) . In any case, no offence Pikachu_PM, but especially in your late start with smoking after all the hubla in the media about the dangers of smoking, (including, dare I say, from the tobacco companies themselves) why in the world would you start, then blaim them? Did you decide to gamble?, not believe the warnings?,...? . You made the decision, not them. When a race car driver gets into a race, he knows the dangers, right? When he wrecks, should he blaim Chevy? When you buy a gun...well you get my point.
I am just tired of the blaim games that is played. It is your fault, you started. I am sorry Pikachu_PM, I just dont feel the way you do. I hope you do get the help to quit. And please dont take this as a flame... [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

I smoked for about 20 years than decided that I really wanted to quit,at that time I was up to close to 3 packs a day!! But when you really want to quit its easy,At least for me it was,I stopped cold turkey and havn't had or desired a smoke since,and that was over 25 years ago!!!

<font color=lime>Now thats what I am talkin about. Cold turkey is the best way to go for most people. You have to really want to quit, and bingo, you will. ;) Good for you john! </font>

<font color=lime>This is exactly the way I logically see it. I have smoked for 15 years, with a year off a while back. It is very addictive, more so than meth, trust me I know. Well, let me rephrase, for ME it is worse. I kicked meth after 3 years, with basically no majors problems. I go without a smoke for a few hours, and well, I would leave me alone if I we're you ;) . In any case, no offence Pikachu_PM, but especially in your late start with smoking after all the hubla in the media about the dangers of smoking, (including, dare I say, from the tobacco companies themselves) why in the world would you start, then blaim them? Did you decide to gamble?, not believe the warnings?,...? . You made the decision, not them. When a race car driver gets into a race, he knows the dangers, right? When he wrecks, should he blaim Chevy? When you buy a gun...well you get my point.
I am just tired of the blaim games that is played. It is your fault, you started. I am sorry Pikachu_PM, I just dont feel the way you do. I hope you do get the help to quit. And please dont take this as a flame... [img]smile.gif[/img] </font> </font>[/QUOTE]To both of you---

I am not saying the blame isn't partly my own. But it certainly falls on the cigarette companies who have made such a horrendous product so readily availabe. Do you understand ONE moments weakness over a LIFETIME of good decisions. I went through a small perious of depressions where I undertook an 'I don't give a ****' attidue due to some issues in my life. The depression is gone, but my craving for cigarettes is not. Seriously, it's not like I just keep choosing to smoke, its that when I don't smoke my head doesn't work right. Seriously, I feel retarded and disconncected from the world...which effects my job performance.

'you should have known better..." Yes, thats why I don't yell at Jenny Craig when I don't excercise like I should. I CHOSE not to excersise....what I am telling you is, that at least for me, it is not CHOICE anymore. And anything that addictive is simply EVIL, and any company that manufatures such a product...be it cigarettes or crack...is EVIL

I appreciate the support...my biggest problem is my head. I don't even enjoy the physical act of smoking any more...it almost makes me sick. The problem is that when I go more than 6 hours without a cigarette my brain seems to just detach itself from reality...and on top of that I can't think of ANYTHING buy smoking a cigarette. I thought it would get better after a day or so, but it doesnt... do you have any advice. Most ppl talk to me about missing the feel of the smok in their lungs or the 'act' of smoking...I just want my head to not feel all ****'ed up if I go more than a few hours without smoking.

Statistically, cold turkey is the WORST way to quit. Know your facts before you express opinions.

Why don't you try one of those patch thingies, or simply try to gradually cut down on the cigarettes?

And what's the deal with cold turkies?