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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think people that smoke are totally crazy? i cannot understand it at all how do people afford it too?

159 replies

carriedababi · 16/09/2011 22:22

i find it totally baffling

  1. it's damages your health, and that of other around you, ie your children
  2. its an outrageous waste of money
  3. doesn't do your looks much good

how much is a pack of 20 these days anyway?

OP posts:
YouWinOrYouDie · 16/09/2011 23:41

I am socially responsible. I pay a lot of tax with every packet I buy, which helps the NHS, and I am unlikely to stick around for decades claiming state pension and draining resources for minor ailments. When I do exit, it will likely be quite serious but cost-effective and very speedy.

My local hospital recently had a lot of ineffective road-building / car-park work done. Lorries, trucks, you name it. Fumes fecking horrendous. For months it went on. My aunt had pneumonia, sister had a newborn, uncle a stroke and they all had to enter and exit into the smog with a "PING! This hospital is a non-smoking area!" Even the AIR was designated as such.

I'm part of a group which apparently costs the NHS millions, as do wilfully fat people, drug addicts and alcoholics. But smokers contribute billions in comparison. I've yet to see a sign or automated robot telling people not to consume grease-laden shit, inject or have a can or Carling on hospital premises. And I have seen all these things many times.

Salmotrutta · 16/09/2011 23:41

Sanctimonious folks should be wary of throwing stones in case their houses are made of glass ...

bibbitybobbityhat · 16/09/2011 23:43

Sanctimonious?

Ha!

sillybillies · 16/09/2011 23:45

Addition is totally baffling - so glad I gave up (not easy at all) and wish my mum would.

Original poster
carriedababi · 16/09/2011 23:47

bibbity sorry for your lossSad
you are right it was too young.

OP posts:
Salmotrutta · 16/09/2011 23:50

And your point is bibbitty?

Sanctimonious = making a show of being morally superior

That is my opinion - that non-smokers/ex-smokers feel morally superior to smokers.

But everyone has a vice/bad habit/little secret ... unless of course they are perfect and have never done anything bad.

YouWinOrYouDie · 16/09/2011 23:53

But I do know that you are NBU, OP.

I've read the Allen Carr book many times and it is reported to make people want to stop smoking. He says that it's WORSE than burning seven quid a day on the fire, which is bloody stupid, because it is actively detrimental.

I can see his point and all the other ones made in the book AND I don't particularly want my tax money going to Gideon so he can prop-up the rich but I still smoke.

Quite a strong addiction then, if you have an addictive personality as I do. Why is there not an actual cure, I wonder?

bibbitybobbityhat · 16/09/2011 23:53

It has nothing to do with morals fgs. I just can't stand the denial. At least when I was smoking for most of my adult life so far I was prepared to admit I was addicted and it would be better if I didn't smoke. I find the dishonesty hard to stomach.

shakey1500 · 16/09/2011 23:58

I'm not in denial, I know I'm addicted. But I'm addicted because I like it AND vice versa. Plenty of people enjoy a drink but are not addicted.

It really hacks me off at times this does. Of course my health would probably be better if I didn't smoke. But it simply is a case of not being baffled by my choice, just accept that I have made it for MY life.

adamschic · 17/09/2011 00:00

Yes its an addiction, there isn't much point in only smoking when you have a drink as the nature of the addiction means you are constantly depriving yourself of something your body craves.

I smoked since I was about 13, so about 36 years, smoked 20 a day for a long time, then 15 then down to 10. Gave up numerous times and I've just passed my longest quit at 8 months. Guess what, I am not addicted now but still miss it but not enough to smoke again. It must have something going for it, the doing something or the reward factor, not sure what, but something. I've heard the first year is the worst so hoping I won't miss it in a few months at all.

Oh and btw if it was as bad for your health as they say, I wouldn't be around now to type this, neither would any of my siblings (mum smoked) neither would my DD (passive smoking). It's mostly bollocks. I also will admit to looking a hell of a lot younger than some of my non smoking school mates. Sorry to dispell this myth too. I won't smoke again because of the cost and being kicked out into the street, which I found degrading.

I also want to see them kept out of sight and under the counter rather than shops being able to display shiney packets, or reverse the ban. Angry

FabbyChic · 17/09/2011 00:02

Im never physically ill, I never get colds, and I can't get a sore throat cos I've no tonsils. Im no drain on the national health other than the fact I've a mental illness. But even then I only ever need repeat prescriptions. If I have to have care later on I've paid more than enough for it, and it be well due.

Salmotrutta · 17/09/2011 00:10

But you posted in response to my sanctimonious comment which wasn't actualy directed at you - it was directed at the OP. And the OP sounded pretty sanctimonious to me.
Your likelihood of developing lung cancer rests in your genetic profile - it's down to the CYP450s
I never indicated that I wasn't addicted to nicotine either.
And I'm not dishonest - I'm a scientist. I know the risks.
But I also know my genetic predisposition to succumbing to other nasties.
I dislike being lectured to.
I have family history of lung complaints that have absolutely bugger all to do with smoking. (the sufferers didn't smoke)
I also have family history of colon/stomach cancer which have bugger all to do with smoking (the sufferers didn't smoke)
I also have family history of skin cancer (the sufferers had the cheek to be fair-skinned)
I actually know a fair bit about my genetic profile - more than a lot of folks do.
I take my chances.

moonferret · 17/09/2011 00:12

No shakey1500, you are not "addicted because you like it". You are addicted because it's an addictive substance in your body and you think you like it because you relieve that addiction when you smoke.

If cigarettes didn't contain nicotine, hardly anyone would smoke as they taste disgusting. Just about all smokers think that when they start smoking, they just persist for various reasons.

BluddyMoFo · 17/09/2011 00:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

shakey1500 · 17/09/2011 00:17

moonferret

OR it is distinctly possible that I DO like the taste and my taste buds vary from yours. YOUR opinion may be that peanuts taste nice, to me, in my opinion, they taste disgusting. But hey, who am I to tell you what you should and shouldn't like the taste of?

And I also don't appreciate being told what I think

BreeVanDerTramp · 17/09/2011 00:17

Salmotrutta a real live scientist Grin

Can you answer my earlier question please, why do I still want to smoke even after stopping if the nicotine (the addictive substance I thought) has left my system?

I don't know why I am asking as have no plans to give up but just curious?

adamschic · 17/09/2011 00:21

Bree, as an ex smoker, I think we still want to smoke sometimes because we associate drawing on a cigarette as being pleasurable because that is how it felt when we were addicted. After we are free from addiction we remember this but don't need to so it's only fleeting.

Hope that makes sense.

Salmotrutta · 17/09/2011 00:29

Beer - I think it's less to do with the physical addiction and more about the psychological addiction.

Nicotine addiction is more powerful than heroin (physiologically) so it's harder to break the psychological addiction.

... if that makes sense?!

moonferret · 17/09/2011 00:29

lol..some smokers really are living in denial. No-one would argue that tastes nice, but they argue that cigarettes do...weird!

BreeVanDerTramp · 17/09/2011 00:30

I suppose that makes sense adam I would have to stop drinking to enable me to stop smoking as thats always when I start again

moonferret · 17/09/2011 00:30

should read "no-one would argue that s*i@ tastes nice...

bibbitybobbityhat · 17/09/2011 00:33

Nicotine addiction is not more addictive than heroin. Come on! Its what smokers like to say to excuse their habit.

Smoking is an addictive past time, everyone knows this.

But you can quit nicotine cold turkey with only the mildest of side effects (irritation, cravings). Same cannot be said of heroin.

bibbitybobbityhat · 17/09/2011 00:34

If its so hard to give up smoking, how come so many millions and millions of people have managed it?

BreeVanDerTramp · 17/09/2011 00:35

Moonferret I may be living in denial, but have never tasted shit - do tell. Its the texture that puts me off if I'm honest.

Spuddybean · 17/09/2011 00:41

Personally i like smoking and i'm not addicted. i have always been able to not smoke for however long i like and then have however many i want. i have never craved a cigarette, i just occasionally like the taste/feel of a fag.

My parents buy me 200 duty free a year and they often last that long. I also share them so i don't smoke them all myself.

I do binge smoke too tho. I will smoke 40 in one night then not smoke again for months - with no conscious decision other that it's what i fancy at the time. I don't do moderation or denial, i just have what i want whenever i want and i don't feel bad about it. Food, fags, drugs etc always been the same - Never had a problem with any of them.

Although i know it is addictive for a lot of people i think it is a generalisation to say everyone who smokes is addicted - i know others like me who aren't.