4 ms·

You could quite smoking...

ddingus 8y ago
Yeah. Easy to say. Seriously, doing that is often extremely difficult. For many in tech, and people oriented / facing work, there is a cycle of stress and or anxiety relief that amplifies when quitting. Ability to create and interact with people in difficult or higher pressure scenarios are all, can be, very significantly impacted. For many, really quiting takes a significant life event, or a substantial period of time away from the triggers as well as the cigarettes. Of course people vary. Some can do it cold, others patch, others can use drugs like Chantix. In my own scenario, Chantix was very bad news. Did not work, and I had those side effects. Big. Was scary and all escalated over a matter of a couple weeks. I had started in the military, and quitting was a serious struggle. Vapor pens got me off tobacco, and the benefits were more or less immediate! Overall well being shot up fast, and continues on a slow ramp up. As harm reduction, I have little question in my mind. The two are almost not comparable. Night and day type stuff I have been diluting the percentages down and it has reached the point where I am going longer times without thinking about it much. All that with marginal inpact on create and people handling / interaction too. Life has been tough on a number of fronts, basically denying me the time / space needed to deal hard core. Vaping ranges from a fairly tepid thing to obnoxious big clouds where the room ends up a sticky mist! Mutual consideration points to some regulation, and so far I see nothing unreasonable. People judging others harshly on various vices has never been a thing I find productive. (Not implying you are, just making a germane point here) Minimizing harm, making sure people have options, treatment when they get into trouble are all much more productive and sane policy. In basic terms, vaping is not even in the same class as smoking is. The big cloud people do approach that, and a few of them going to town can make a mess on par with smokers generally, but doing that is an edge case. The vast majority will do it in the same way people use wine, as an example. Real addiction will creep up on people. Happens, and the very last thing they need is a toxic culture adding difficulty to what will already be difficult enough. Just embracing harm reduction would have a hard to miss, positive impact.
- Simulacra 8y ago
  What if cigarettes were $20 a pack? Would that help?
  - ddingus 8y ago
    They are in places. So what? That's not really the issue. I don't need any help personally. For me, I'm in a good place, few worries. Others may need help, and they may even make that known too. Posing that question isn't really how to get at the matter of help. For that to actually happen and be germane, understanding needs to come first. I put what I did here to that end. Same with this comment.
  - Broken_Hippo 8y ago
    Not really. It sometimes makes more people try to quit, but the problems with quitting still remain. It isn't always a rational decision to start or continue smoking. What would actually help more folks would be better research to quitting. Better drugs and other methods to help folks quit (I couldn't tolerate Chantrix either). Making these things available to people for free. Not just "free for 4-6 weeks once" but free for as long as it takes people to quit, for as many attempts as they need to quit. If you are poor, some of the fear is that a patch might not work, and then suddenly you have no money for cigs.
    - UsernameProxy 8y ago
      The cost of patches and gum, etc, is definitely an issue for some of us. I've tried and failed quitting smoking several times cold turkey and can't afford all the other stuff.
      - ddingus 8y ago
        You may want to try a nicotine salt vape. That worked. I am currently tapering down by diluting the juice. Yhat is working nicely. Unlike tobacco, I am not in a hurry. Ending the health hazard was a source of constant angst. Today, it is about reducing cost and moving toward a more pleasure centered experience. Just getting rid of triggers. The SMOK brand refillable vapor pens are great, not a lot of money. Strength is there, at half the cost to start. Good luck. Don't let people tell you it isn't rough. It is. I have kicked supposedly harder things before. Sucked, but doable. Tobacco is no joke.

Yeah. Easy to say. Seriously, doing that is often extremely difficult. For many in tech, and people oriented / facing work, there is a cycle of stress and or anxiety relief that amplifies when quitting. Ability to create and interact with people in difficult or higher pressure scenarios are all, can be, very significantly impacted. For many, really quiting takes a significant life event, or a substantial period of time away from the triggers as well as the cigarettes. Of course people vary. Some can do it cold, others patch, others can use drugs like Chantix. In my own scenario, Chantix was very bad news. Did not work, and I had those side effects. Big. Was scary and all escalated over a matter of a couple weeks. I had started in the military, and quitting was a serious struggle. Vapor pens got me off tobacco, and the benefits were more or less immediate! Overall well being shot up fast, and continues on a slow ramp up. As harm reduction, I have little question in my mind. The two are almost not comparable. Night and day type stuff I have been diluting the percentages down and it has reached the point where I am going longer times without thinking about it much. All that with marginal inpact on create and people handling / interaction too. Life has been tough on a number of fronts, basically denying me the time / space needed to deal hard core. Vaping ranges from a fairly tepid thing to obnoxious big clouds where the room ends up a sticky mist! Mutual consideration points to some regulation, and so far I see nothing unreasonable. People judging others harshly on various vices has never been a thing I find productive. (Not implying you are, just making a germane point here) Minimizing harm, making sure people have options, treatment when they get into trouble are all much more productive and sane policy. In basic terms, vaping is not even in the same class as smoking is. The big cloud people do approach that, and a few of them going to town can make a mess on par with smokers generally, but doing that is an edge case. The vast majority will do it in the same way people use wine, as an example. Real addiction will creep up on people. Happens, and the very last thing they need is a toxic culture adding difficulty to what will already be difficult enough. Just embracing harm reduction would have a hard to miss, positive impact.

Simulacra 8y ago
What if cigarettes were $20 a pack? Would that help?
- ddingus 8y ago
  They are in places. So what? That's not really the issue. I don't need any help personally. For me, I'm in a good place, few worries. Others may need help, and they may even make that known too. Posing that question isn't really how to get at the matter of help. For that to actually happen and be germane, understanding needs to come first. I put what I did here to that end. Same with this comment.
- Broken_Hippo 8y ago
  Not really. It sometimes makes more people try to quit, but the problems with quitting still remain. It isn't always a rational decision to start or continue smoking. What would actually help more folks would be better research to quitting. Better drugs and other methods to help folks quit (I couldn't tolerate Chantrix either). Making these things available to people for free. Not just "free for 4-6 weeks once" but free for as long as it takes people to quit, for as many attempts as they need to quit. If you are poor, some of the fear is that a patch might not work, and then suddenly you have no money for cigs.
  - UsernameProxy 8y ago
    The cost of patches and gum, etc, is definitely an issue for some of us. I've tried and failed quitting smoking several times cold turkey and can't afford all the other stuff.
    - ddingus 8y ago
      You may want to try a nicotine salt vape. That worked. I am currently tapering down by diluting the juice. Yhat is working nicely. Unlike tobacco, I am not in a hurry. Ending the health hazard was a source of constant angst. Today, it is about reducing cost and moving toward a more pleasure centered experience. Just getting rid of triggers. The SMOK brand refillable vapor pens are great, not a lot of money. Strength is there, at half the cost to start. Good luck. Don't let people tell you it isn't rough. It is. I have kicked supposedly harder things before. Sucked, but doable. Tobacco is no joke.