A colleague today evinced the desire to quit smoking. I suggested she join a group to which she replied something along the lines of "I don't feel comfortable about sharing with strangers". I proposed the benefits of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) but she further opined that there is no point in quitting smoking and keeping using nicotine as that was the problem. I put it to her that statistics suggested that she was twice as likely to succeed if she used NRT and that if she
joined a group she was twice as likely to sustain her quitting. She retorted that this was government propaganda and that she "didn't believe a word of it!"
Now this is an intelligent and self-actualised person I am talking about here and in spite of - or possibly because of - the ferocity of her response I am now reflecting on her reaction to my suggestions. Undoubtedly smokers see their relationship with their drug as a 'weakness' and their defensiveness to such perceived 'weakness' is both understandable and to a large extent acceptable. Although our societal tolerance to this self-abuse has altered insofar as where it is allowed, we still defend the individuals rights to continue to self-harm in their own time and space. It is unthinkable that anyone should be criminalised in pursuit of its practice, unlike the consumption of other legally proscribed substances such as cannabis which it is widely believed is less harmful than the tobacco it is commonly mixed with.
Imagine, if you will, in a future, some may say more enlightened age, tobacco being outlawed and its use scorned in the same way as a number of class 'C' drugs. Imagine the shame felt when for example a school teacher is caught in possession of tobacco. Someone who through their contact with children could corrupt them simply by their own possession and consumption of a tobacco cigarette! Far-fetched? Ridiculous? Think about it. Which one kills 5 million people a year?
A symptom of our society's ambiguity of this murderous product is the shared psychosis that this product should not only be allowed to be available but that society should continue to collect windfall taxes on its sale and distribution! Why not sell dope and tax it? It's clearly not a case of morality or indeed ethics! It's a case of money. Capitalist gain and the size of the potential market and the way in which illusion remains the way in which we perceive the world, the madness of so-called sanity. Smoking is a mental illness which becomes a physical even fatal illness.
My colleague is clearly struggling with this paradox.
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Which one kills 5 million people a year?
I don’t think you are comparing like with like. The only way to know would be to make cannabis (presumably the ‘one’ you mean) legal and available at shops, supermarkets, petrol stations et al. Since many people mix it with tobacco but also do not use a filter, which would be the worst? I know you give credence to those that also believe in the mental problems that can come with it especially if use starts at a young age. That it can exacerbate depression in those more prone to it. That it can bring on mood swings even if they are not as deep or as high as manics’. Yes, death is the end but when it happens it affects only the living. The mental manifestations can affect both the user and the living. Perhaps the recent case of the young man who was not terminally ill but felt his life was worse than the alternative of death and so went abroad for assisted suicide reminds us that death is not the worst thing that can happen to either us or our friends and relatives.
That said, I of course understand completely where you’re coming from and this woman does not appear to have grasped exactly how it is that cigarettes are shortening her life and why replacement therapy can work. Why does she think the government promote this? It saves money plain and simple. All the taxes paid on cigarettes are not sufficient to cover the cost to the NHS of smoking related illnesses. They’re hardly being altruistic!
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