This week, I want to share an article about smoking…not about quitting, but about why people smoke and how much they love it... And how it takes over the smoker’s life… And how hard it is to quit.
I was never a smoker. I tried a few cigarettes in my younger days when out to a bar with smoking friends, but I never formed that love/dependency relationship with “smokes”, as the writer of the article fondly refers to them. As a pharmacist, I learned about medications to help people quit, how difficult the process is and things I could do or say to help people overcome the habit (or let’s call it what it is: an addiction). But I often would wonder why so many people, roughly 20% in Canada, still choose an activity that might kill them.
The article, written by a long-term smoker and posted in a blog called “LongReads”, fascinated me as a non-smoker and health professional, and I found it helped me understand why people smoke in spite of all the evidence that it is slowly damaging their health. I’d recommend the article, not only for smokers, but for those who would like to help people quit. Understanding “why” can sometimes be the key…
Spoiler alert: the photos on the cigarette package, especially the photo of a man with throat cancer, are the most negative part of the writer’s smoking experience. The title of the article is: “Mr. Throat and Me”.
You’ll find the article here: LongReads “Mr. Throat and Me”.
