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The problem with ciggarettes is that it's sooo easy to start (even at an age when you should know better). So many people start with:
'just one won't hurt'
then progress on to:
'I can quit whenever I want to
without ever noticing the transition. It creeps up on you unawares in the same way that a casual drinker becomes an alchoholic.
Whoever is to blame, once you are 'hooked', giving up is not simply a question of 'willpower' - it often requires very HARD changes to your lifestyle up to and even (often) including the severing of ties with friends who smoke.
For those who think that failed-to-give-up smokers are just weak-willed, I have a small experiment for you. I'd like you to try giving up flavoured beverages for a year; not forever, but just for a year. That means no coffee in the morning or after dinner, no beer/wine when your out with friends in the evenings, no cola or fruit-juice on a hot-summer's day - but just plain old mineral water. How long will you last? How long will your marriage last? Will you ever be late for work or have arguments? And when your friends invite you out to a bar and you order water, they won't say anything about it or give you a hard time, huh? Afterall, it's just a question of willpower, right?
Starting to smoke (as I did) is plain dumb - sure it is. But we all make mistakes and do foolish things in our lives and we don't want to hear how dumb we are when we do those things. No, we need help and understanding in dealing with our problems.
Now I managed to give up after COUNTLESS attempts and twenty years of a 30-40 a day habit. It was the hardest thing that I have ever done and I still don't know why the final attempt worked when all of the others failed. But it did work and I'm happy about it.
Personally, I blame the government for my woes. Ciggarettes are a harmful drug that kill or injure (at best) and serve absolutely no postitive medical purpose.
Why isn't the tax revenue from ciggarette duty and sales not directed solely towards assisting people to give up in the form of funding free nicotine patches, drop-in centres and support groups etc. We do it for heroin - why not for nicotine? Why is it legal to buy and sell them anway?
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