Another Preachy Post about Smoking
The Atlantic Wire comments on the latest statistics regarding smokers:
A few days after a federal judge delayed disgusting new warning labels from being plastered on cigarette boxes (which, by the way, may not work that well), a CDC research report finds that in 2010, 69 percent of smokers want to quit, but 6 percent do. And, even though smokers have indicated they'd like to kick the habit, as The Wall Street Journal reported, it doesn't look like many were being that proactive
As long-time readers know, I was a heavy cigarette smoker for several years until quitting three years ago, so I can claim authority on this subject. First, way more than 69 percent of smokers want to quit. The number is closer to 99 percent, if smokers were being honest. I suppose there are a handful of smokers who truly, sincerely, enjoy it and don't want to quit. But I've never met one. And having lived in China, I've known a lot of smokers. It's difficult for a smoker to say publicly that he wants to quit, since doing so is a tacit acknowledgment of fear, weakness, and submission. Being proud individuals, smokers would rather give off the impression that they're fully in control. Even when everyone can see that they're not.
Also, the line that smokers wanting to quit weren't being "proactive" reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how nicotine addiction works. Most people believe that quitting smoking requires tremendous effort, when in fact it requires none at all. Most smokers try to quit through the sheer force of willpower, and correspondingly most smokers fail. That's because willpower doesn't have anything to do with it. I should know, as I tried unsuccessfully to quit through willpower many, many times.
For smokers reading this who would like help in quitting, I cannot recommend Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking highly enough. Smokers who do quit successfully do so through Carr's methods whether they know it or not. I do not exaggerate when I say that it was the best personal decision I have ever made.
And thus ends a rare preachy post. Stay tuned for additional programming...
November 13th, 2011 - 00:08
Matt,
Actually, I think you’re forgetting that a large percentage of smokers are young people who’ve only recently begun and believe that they are in no way addicted. Many young people love it, think it makes them appear adult and awesome and have no desire to “quit” because there’s nothing to quit if you’re not addicted, right?
Also, having lived in Europe, I’ve known many avid anti-smokers who easily enjoy a social cigarette. I’ve lived with people who would chastise smokers and denounce cigarettes during the day, then enjoy two cigs at a party and not smoke another for months. And I’ve known others who would smoke 1-3 cigs every weekend and never touch them during the week. These people don’t consider themselves smokers, see a cigarette in moderation as harmless but know that they are highly addictive and think the regular smoking of cigarettes is a reprehensible act. Perhaps the above report considers them smokers who don’t want to quit?
The point is, there are more than one type of smoker. I think 69% is an extremely high percentage if accurate.
November 13th, 2011 - 01:04
Johannes,
Good points. I would say that the “casual smokers” you describe are indeed non-smokers, and like you I encountered many of those in Europe and also to an extent elsewhere. So of course the percentage would be far lower than 99% if they were included.
As for the young smokers, you’re probably right- I didn’t think of that. I will say though that the honeymoon phase for beginning smokers is very short (shorter than they think!) and that most realize that they have a problem within a year. I didn’t make my first serious attempt to quit until I had been a smoker for 18 months or so, but I remember feeling concerned that I was addicted far earlier than that.