Who Be Smokers Among Ye?

[BTgirl]

I have to spend a lot of time looking up health statistics, and one that sticks in my mind is that about 1/5 of US adults are smokers. Based on what people have said on the forum, it seems to me that the percentage of smokers at SM is much higher than that. I LOVE to play with percentages of things to do with health, and I would adore finding out how many smokers/nonsmokers post at SM. I could then see if I could draw any conclusions about tendencies of people who spend a time on the internet being smokers. Okay, so I need to get a life.  

Would those who see this thread please let me know whether you're a smoker or a nonsmoker? Since I don't seem to have a life, it will give me something to do while I'm sitting in front of my computer.    

Thanks.

[2NJSons_Mom]

BT...get a life will ya?!

I smoke, but it doesn't have anything to do with the forum and the internet...it started long before I knew what to do with a computer & keyboard.

When you publish the results do I get an residuals?    (Hope that's a cig...with my eyes it could be something other )

[Marlee]

Hi BT!  I'm a new but proud Monkey.

I am a smoker.  Although I have been able to cut down to about 5 a day since I have had to move.  No smoking in the house anymore.

But I guess I am still a smoker.

Glad to be a part of your study.  

[Cat]

my mother was a smoker.my father was a smoker,etc.cat

[Angiex911dsptchr]

 You already know I smoke..
Like a chimney at times ot be honest.
Started when I was 15.. didnt smoke alot back then.
More so now..
 AND .. seeing how I am an asst manager of a smoke store.. and we can smoke IN there?  

[cp405]

Unfortunately, I have to say that I am a smoker also.

[Sam]

Yes Bt,

 I am also a smoker.
I have quit at least a million times.LOL
I started long before home computer, internet etc,...
I do think it helps me concentrate.Plus calms me down. I do not believe all of the studies that say differently.
I would never encourage a child or teen or anyone to start smoking because it is getting so hard to find places where it is allowed, plus the cost. I do think there are some who are destined to be smokers. Like Heroin it is so good do not even try it once.

[Tibrogargan]

Here you go BT - You can compare facts and figures when you get bored with the US figures    
BTW I do not smoke and my DH gave up 20 + years ago.

STATISTICS ON SMOKING

From: Australian Council on Smoking and Health 334 Rokeby Rd., Subiaco,  W.A.  6008.

Each year more than 18,000 Australians die prematurely because of smoking - that's 50 a day.

Smoking kills more people in Australia than the total number killed by drink, drugs, murder, suicide, road crashes, rail crashes, air crashes, poisoning, drowning, fires, falls, lightning, electrocution, snakes, spiders and sharks.

Of 1,000 young Australian males who smoke, 1 will be murdered, 15 will be killed on the road and 250 will be killed before their time by tobacco.

In Australia in 1986, the following body organs were removed from humans because of cancer caused by smoking:

521 lungs

148 gullets

71 tongues

221 voice boxes

82 stomachs

40 pancreases

68 wombs

85 bladders 115 kidneys and 161 miscellaneous body parts.

Tobacco is an addictive substance. Smokers who use other drugs such as heroin, methadone, amphetamines and barbiturates rate tobacco as their most addictive drug.

In Australia approximately 30% of men and 27% of women are regular smokers.

Australia has approximately 5.3 million smokers: they smoke on average 18 cigarettes per day or a total of 34, 821 million cigarettes each year.

In Australia, in the 1940s and 1950s, nearly three quarters (72%) of men were smokers.

The proportion of Australian males who smoke fell from 40% in 1980 to 30% in 1989. The number of female smokers fell from 31% to 27% over the same period.

Smokers who start smoking when young are less likely to quit than those who begin when older.

In Australia 2.9 million people have already succeeded in quitting..

In the age bracket 20 - 24, 41% of men and 38% of women smoke regularly.

By the age of 15 a quarter of boys (25%) and over a quarter of girls ((28%) are regular smokers.

Surveys have established that up to 80% of smokers would like to stop smoking.

A quarter of smokers believe that smoking is not harmful.

A recent survey showed only 5% of respondents would be in favour of unrestricted smoking in restaurants.

Australian school children spend more than $30 million a year - $82,000 each day - on cigarettes.

In Australia $6,763 billion or 47% of the total economic cost of drug abuse is attributable to tobacco. This includes:

$609.6 million in direct health care costs

$6,028.3 million in indirect mortality costs

The tobacco industry spends upward of $70 million on cigarette advertising and promotion each year. Much of this advertising appears to be directed at recruiting children to smoke.

Around 140 Australians die each year from lung cancer caused by breathing other people's smoke.

Eight out of ten people favour some restrictions on smoking at work. Even smokers favour some restrictions: 67% of smokers favour some restrictions and 5% favour a total ban.

[justinsmama]

Wow, BT, 1 in 5 smoke? I would have thought it to be lower nowadays, what with the push against it.

I am currently not smoking, though last did in early December. I'll certainly try not to smoke again, but also am well aware of the power of nicotine addiction (still on the gum, too). Like Angie (though hers is at times), my smoking pattern is consistently heavy. I also have asthma, so cough constantly when smoking.

One of us monkeys quit smoking last year or so. I can't remember who it was?

[BTgirl]

Thanks to everyone who has answered me so far. I hope some more monkeys will participate. I am a health statistics geek, and this kind of thing is more fascinating to me than normal people could ever imagine.    

[2NJSons_Mom]

Wow, BT, 1 in 5 smoke? I would have thought it to be lower nowadays, what with the push against it.

I am currently not smoking, though last did in early December. I'll certainly try not to smoke again, but also am well aware of the power of nicotine addiction (still on the gum, too). Like Angie (though hers is at times), my smoking pattern is consistently heavy. I also have asthma, so cough constantly when smoking.

One of us monkeys quit smoking last year or so. I can't remember who it was?

I'm happy for you that you're not smoking now.  I have used the patch successfully several years ago, and fell back into the habit.  I also have the gum, but have not used it (go figure).

Chettigirl, I believe, was a poster who had quit while here.  Haven't seen her in quite a bit.

[IndyDan]

Hi BT,
I'm a NON smoker.  Clearly in the minority here!  HA

[Cat]

I am a non-smoker.I have a friend in Vestavia who chews,wears a patch and smokes.I think she is hooked,good.Coughing cat

[Mere]

Good Morning BT.....non-smoker here....threw the last pack away about 25 years ago...but even yesterday I recognized the smell of the cigarette I used to smoke and turned around...sure enough, there it was....!

[Kimmy53]

Hi BT- Just found your survey - I am a non-smoker

[2NJSons_Mom]

Justinsmom....error on my previous post...meant Ozziesmom....

[pdh3]

Hi BT......I am a non-smoker. I watched my Dad die from lung cancer due to smoking Pall Mall unfiltered cigarettes for 40 years, so I clearly have no interest in smoking anything.
I hope the smokers here can quit. Lung cancer is not an easy cancer to fight, and most people lose that battle anyway. It is truly a deadly disease.

[Sam]

I know I have already answered you in a previous post. I did manage to quit for a few months in 1992. I was using the patch.

My step father was a heavy smoker most of his lifetime. He quit when he was in his early 70's not for health reasons but because he almost caught my sis s house on fire. He lived to  be 85. Died of natural causes.

One of the things you must be careful of on statistics, Not all lung cancer is smoker related. I am sure it contributes to some. I suffer from Asthsma as well as COPD. My Dr said, From the time we are born everything we do affects our lungs. He also said it is more prevalent in females because of all the things we expose ourselves to. This includes our cleaning products, perfumes ect....

This is really not a defense of smoking just an explanation of other factors. Of course we are all going to die . JMHO

[mishy]

BT, I am a smoker, though I don't smoke in the car or the house or around my little pooh...I have cut back to half a pack a day...

I'm thinking about asking my doctor to put me on that new Pfizer quit smoking drug..Chantix...anybody out there heard of it or know anybody that's used it?

[Tamikosmom]

BT ... I am a non-smoker.  However ... if I miss your coffee survey ...

It is now 11:30 AM were I live ... one cup of the caffeinated stuff each hour since waking 7:00 AM.  I am sitting up my computer enjoying the buzz.

I believe that I was saved from the cigarette addiction as a direct result of an incident that occurred when I was ten years old.  In "those days" wringer washers were where it was at.  My mother who was a smoker called to me from the basement where she was putting the washed clothes through the wringer.  She asked that I put out her cigarette that she had left lit in the ash tray on the kitchen counter.

Well ... prior to automatically doing as I as told ... I looked at that cigarette for a second and had a very rebellious thought.  BT, I then picked it up and sucked it like it was a straw in the glass of my most favorite beverage.

As I said ... I was was only ten years old but ... I did have a very grown-up thought as I was chocking ... could not get my breath.  I was convinced my mother was going to come up from the basement and find me lifeless on the kitchen floor.

Fifty years later ... I consider "the incident" a blessing in disguise.

Janet