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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Estella on May 15, 2006, at 3:04:50
*trigger*
these are the new health warnings on cigarette packets. currently we are into these (any guesses on why i ask for one of the last two?????)
gangrenous foot kept me up for a good night or two :-(
and next up we have these to look forward to:
bloody aussies...
:-(
(to be fair i think nz is following suit)
Posted by ClearSkies on May 15, 2006, at 9:08:52
In reply to bloody aussies..., posted by Estella on May 15, 2006, at 3:04:50
Holy moly, those are the worst graphic images! Makes every pack a horror-filled funfest.
I bet there will be a cottage industry of cigarette package holders, to hide those photos. Or slim and sophisticated silver cigarette boxes will become fashionable again. Get to a flea market and scoop up all the ones you see!It's nothing but shock-and-awe tactics for scaring people into quitting smoking. Yuck.
Posted by Larry Hoover on May 15, 2006, at 9:14:51
In reply to bloody aussies..., posted by Estella on May 15, 2006, at 3:04:50
> bloody aussies...
>
> :-(
>
> (to be fair i think nz is following suit)Well, you'd not make the grade in Canada, then. We've had those for a decade, or thereabouts. The limp dick one is my favourite. It's a cigarette at a particular angle, nearly completely consumed to ash, with a curve downwards.
Lar
Posted by 10derHeart on May 16, 2006, at 14:34:00
In reply to Re: bloody aussies... » Estella, posted by ClearSkies on May 15, 2006, at 9:08:52
>>It's nothing but shock-and-awe tactics for scaring people into quitting smoking. Yuck.<<
...and that's bad because....?
I mean, whatever helps to motivate, and fear is often one great motivator, IMO. This type of knowledge, along with my then-10 year-old daughter (who'd already lost her dad to brain cancer - may have been smoking related/impossible to tell) saying, "so, Mom, if you die from smoking those, I'll be an orphan. And who will I live with?" from time to time, that helped *tremendously* in pushing me over the edge into quitting in 1993.
I say this only out of a deep concern for those still smoking, especially those dear to my heart, which definitely includes Estella. We need to keep her around for a *long* time!!
I work in an intensive care unit. Nearly everyone over the age of sixty (sometimes younger, too) who is smoking still has COPD or other lung afflictions...and that's along with whatever other condition may bring them to out unit. So I suppose I get constant reminders....
I have compassion. I still crave the da*n nicotine after 13 years. It was the single hardest thing I ever did, to stop. I am not a nagging, nasty ex-smoker, I promise. But it does kill, and quitting is the only viable defense....
So I say, whatever it takes.
Posted by ClearSkies on May 16, 2006, at 17:50:34
In reply to Re: bloody aussies... » ClearSkies, posted by 10derHeart on May 16, 2006, at 14:34:00
>
> So I say, whatever it takes.And I say, I don't think these scare tactics dissuade people from smoking. That's it's shock and awe, but not effective. People have to decide for themselves.
How about Prohibition for drinking alcohol?
Posted by Estella on May 17, 2006, at 7:26:31
In reply to bloody aussies..., posted by Estella on May 15, 2006, at 3:04:50
i'm not sure how i feel about them...
i don't know that i'm going to stop in virtue of them...
part of me has been seriously thinking about giving up for a while now. mostly because of the health issues. i didn't take those seriously for a long time because i was in self destruct mode, but it is harder to ignore when they start impacting on your daily life (as coughing up nasty stuff does).
the pictures make it harder still to ignore... they make the possibility (or probability) or if the packets are to be believed causation a lot more in your face than it was in the absence of the pictures.
on the other hand...
scare tactics tend to make one go 'f*ck you i'll continue to spite you'. heh heh.
<blush>
on the other hand again...
i started smoking when i was 13. i used to be able to buy single cigarettes for 20c at the dairy (7/11). i used to be able to buy a pack of 10 for around three dollars. 15 grams of tobacco for around three dollars.
now there are restrictions on minimum amounts. you can't buy less then 20 cigarettes or 30 grams of tobacco. prices have been forced up by taxation. penalties for selling cigarettes to people under age make doing so prohibitive. the legal age has gone from 16 to 18 to 20.
if those measures were in place when i was 13...
if the pictures were in place when i was 13...i'm fairly sure i would have never started.
i wish i'd never started.
but now that i'm started... i don't know whether i'll ever give up.
my grandfather (on my fathers side) died of lung cancer.
my father had a quadruple bypass before he was 50.
they said he would be dead within 3 months if he didn't stop.
he didn't stop. but he cut back a lot.
he is still going and he is very close to 65 (retirement) now.
but yeah i guess it will get him in the end.
my step mother said she would leave him...
because she was a widow before meeting my father.
her first husband died of lung cancer.
but she hasn't left him.
and he has made a concentrated effort...
but it is hard.i guess i wanted to smoke to be like my dad.
and now i'm not particularly keen on being like my dad...
but i'm still smoking.
ironic eh.
Posted by cecilia on May 17, 2006, at 7:51:11
In reply to Re: mixed blessing perhaps..., posted by Estella on May 17, 2006, at 7:26:31
Wow, if those green teeth don't make someone quit, nothing will! Cecilia
Posted by Larry Hoover on May 17, 2006, at 9:38:18
In reply to Re: mixed blessing perhaps..., posted by Estella on May 17, 2006, at 7:26:31
> i started smoking when i was 13. i used to be able to buy single cigarettes for 20c at the dairy (7/11). i used to be able to buy a pack of 10 for around three dollars. 15 grams of tobacco for around three dollars.
<tangential post>
Not meaning to overlook the important aspects of this thread, I recall that when I first quit (I haven't used tobacco in a long time, except to assist in the smoking of something else <wink>), a 20-pack of cigs was $0.47.
Lar
Posted by Declan on May 17, 2006, at 14:29:38
In reply to Re: mixed blessing perhaps..., posted by Estella on May 17, 2006, at 7:26:31
Because I never smoked until I was 30 I've never managed to get myself hooked on it. One of the major pleasures of opiate use is that you can really enjoy cigarettes, so I smoked lots then, but could always stop by only smoking if I enjoyed it. I'm trying to think of some caustic witty T shirt thing..."get the thin edge of your wedge out of my cancer. I want to enjoy my medications"....something like that? Whenever they want to ban something they always pick on ordinary people. Too much smoke in the air...restrict fires in people's homes. That sort of thing. OTOH smoking is the silliest thing around. I think it matters how early you start.
Declan
This is the end of the thread.
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