My old boss, a man that was like a father figure to me, died of complications of lung cancer and COPD at an early 73 years old. He was a light smoker when young but quit in his mid 30's. My actual biological father quit smoking in his late 30's and died of complications of diabetes at 72 years old.
It's because of cases like those, and the one with Alan Carr here that I had to find other reasons to quit smoking than "for your health", and luckily I found them. Like, for example, to be in control of my life. Mr Carr beleives that he would have died 20 years ago had he not quit, and that's really nice for him to hold onto, but there's no way at all to prove it.
Maybe he wouldn't have cancer now if he was still smoking... there's really no way at all of knowing, and this is exactly why I just don't buy the whole extend your life expenctancy. Statistics on smokers don't include other risk factors like the inability to cope with stress, or a poor diet, and therfore the stats are simply just made up numbers, and nobody can offer me proof that they lived longer because they quit.
There's a lot of hype involved in smoking and stopping smoking. There's also a lot of politics involved. People trying to get you to quit because they have a political agenda that is the oposite of what the tobacco companies want. The government deciding it's bad for you so that they are justified in taxing the heck out of smokers and getting rich on them. The drug companies wanting you to quit and using their products to do it. Face it guys.. many people have gotten rich off of us, our adiction, and the lies we've been told about it. <-- That alone is reason enough to quit, but I still don't buy all the hype. Alan Carr quit 100 a day when 50, my boss quit 15 a day when 30, and I quit 55 a day when 37. If i'm going to get lung cancer, then i'm going to get lung cancer.
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/17/2006
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 14
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 798
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $182
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 5 [B]Mins:[/B] 20 [B]Seconds:[/B] 32