[Argy]

hi hi everyone

i am doiung an assignment for class and i need to know all the pro's and cons of smoking, as told by smokers and non-smokers themselves, and as there are no good websites on this subject i thought i should come here and ask some of you.

any addition you people can make would be greatly appreciated.
then
*ARGY*

[teengeekgrrl]

Well... smoking gives you lung cancer.

[teengeekgrrl]

Not helping much am I? Sorry.

[Ciberblade]

Here is a webring of such...might be a good place to get started:
http://n.webring.com/hub?ring=opossumsallyssmo

And this about the dangers:
http://www.health.org/govpubs/phd633/

That is all I shall leave you with...for I am a strong believer in doing your own research -- truly will learn much more that way

[A_erised]

A bit vague about what you need. Non smoker .. never once tried a puff. I watched my Gram die of cancer from the time I was four until I was six. About the time they were finally talking about what caused Grammie to become so sick was when the surgeon general was saying there MIGHT be a link. I hoped to spare my loved ones from watching me die in that manner. She died in 1961. They have made such strides in treatment that today her outcome might have been different. Never got to meet her husband, he died 3 years before I was born basically from asthma, and emphysema.

Talk about incentive to not smoke. All six of their children smoked at one time or another. Two died of lung cancer. One of the others died young, from an accident, one died from 'natural' causes, the other two stopped smoking young and are in their early 80's.

If not what you are looking for I tried.

[poochee]

I am a non-smoker. There are no pro's IMO. I have heard smokers say it curbs their appetite. Calms their nerves. And so forth.

Some cons are:

Unhealthy, whether smoking it or inhaling it.
Smells up your clothes, hair, house, furniture, drapes, car, and anyplace
it is done.
Some people are allergic to it.
It can be dirty...full ash trays, cigarettes discarded in the wrong place.
Can be a fire hazard...falling asleep with one in hand, etc. etc.
Discolors teeth, and bad breath.
Accident hazard...Walking with one in hand...Driving with one in hand...Flicking ashes carelessly.

On one of my jobs we had a smoking lounge and a non-smoking lounge. I had to go into the smoking lounge one day and was shocked! The walls were filthy from the cigarette smoke. I thought don't these people see what is happening to their lungs when they see these walls.

[belithrawien]

Well, I have been on both sides of the fence. I was a smoker for 10 ears or so, and quit 5 years ago. I love not smoking, I don;t have to leave the movie, dinner, company, or the web just to take my sorry behind out for a ciggy. I like the "extra" money. A pack costs 8.00 here, thats every day at a pack a day smoker. I like the 240.00 bucks a month I no longer spend on that.I also have a cleaner home, and taste every flavour of drink and food like I never did prior. I also like never feeling a "nic fit" and having to always be afraid of the health risks. Of course, as silly as it seems, I do like best, that I never have to try and quit again!

Benefits are few and generally absurd. it does sort of ward off hunger, and calm nerves, but it is all an illusion, and does neither. It is only that we think it calms us as it is the coping mechanism we use. Calming can be acheived in equally effective ways. I see no benefit to smoking now that I am no longer under it's spell, so to speak.

[Flight_19]

I am certain you will get plenty of con information, so I will take the pro side this occasion. Some studies indicate that nicotine wards off alzheimer's disease, while others disagree. You will have to weed through the politics to decide which studies are correct. I recall a university study that showed a significant inprovement in concentration skills when subjects were given a battery of tests while smoking.

The calming effect of nicotine is well established. Some people who take prozac type inhibitors also smoke and find that while the inhibitors give long-term relief, smoking is better at combatting panic attacks because nicotine acts almost immediately.

Asking for pros and cons on smoking is something of a loaded question and I suspect you already have a resolution in mind. There is no doubt that cons outweigh pros, but in the spirit of your "assignment", both sides need to be represented as accurately as possible. Given enough thought, everything has some kind of benefit and everything has some kind of risk. Nothing to excess.

[linskyjack]

Well, since nicotine is a stimulant, it gives you a nice little transitory bit of energy. Smoking also works on receptors in the brain that endorphines work on---Thats about it on the pro side---By the way, sounds like a miserable assignment.

[Argy]

well, to be honest, the reason i asked for others opinions , as that i myself am a smoker, and i'm finding it hard to do this assignment because i experience the pro's AND the cons. and im kinda failing to get my head round it, thanx for your views and opinions, rthey are much appreciated and are helpin me alot, and please keep them coming in.

[teengeekgrrl]

Hmmm... I watched my grandpap die a couple years ago... emphysema, lung cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, not only from cigarettes but from woking in a steel mill. My grandma and great grandpa and great grandma all smoked I believe, and they lived in the same house for a long time. Grandma quit a long time ago and the greats died awhile back. Grandma recently sold her old house which we had to scruband paint the walls. GOSH the walls were COVEREd in years of nicotine stains. Yellow. Brown. Ugly.

[ezymony]

I watched my mother die a slow death in 2003 from smoking she had cancer. She was so addicted to cigarettes that she was on a ventilator twice in the hospital and she would have smoked a cigarette then if she could have. She never quit now she has 2 sons,3 grandchildren,3 greatgrandchildren that miss her very much. I have never smoked, my mother had 4 sisters and only one of their children smoked that was my brother and he quit after we lost mom.

[angelize56]

As a nurse...I watched many patients die from smoking induced illnesses....lung, throat, esophageal, oral cancers...emphysema....those alone were terrible enough. The patients struggle for each breath at the end...it's a horrid way to die...it's very hard to not be able to do anything to ease their pain and discomfort....drugs and 02 only go so far! I have never smoked and never will! And second hand smoke is a disaster in itself! I don't see any reason to smoke! Not to mention it makes you stink like an ashtray! And don't get me going on parents who smoke around their children! Good luck on your report Argy!

[LuckyStrike]

Assume you smoke one pack of cigarettes per day for forty years.

Assuming a cost of $4.00 per pack.

If you quit and put the money into a savings account:

Starting with $0 and depositing $4 per day over 40 years (at a rate of return 4% compounded monthly), you will save $141,188.
Initial balance: $0
Total deposits: $58,400
Total interest earned: $82,788

Total Saved: $141,188

[alex_holker]

Welcome to the boards Flight_19.

Originally Posted by Flight_19

I recall a university study that showed a significant inprovement in concentration skills when subjects were given a battery of tests while smoking.

Do you remember who these smokers were compared to? Was it to non-smokers, or people who do usually smoke but did not do so during the test?

Alex