By now every one of my friends knows what I think of tobacco and its use. Fifty years of research, denied by the industry, shows without any doubt that the use of any tobacco product will greatly increase your chances of getting some kind of cancer and increase the risk of cardio-vascular involvement. If you know me and smoke, dip or chew you have heard my entreaties. "Please consider quitting", "Please stop before you get cancer", "Please don't poison those around you", "Spitting in a bottle or cup is disgusting", "You smell like an ashtray", "With all the evidence at hand only stupid people use tobacco" and others.
I started out (right after I quit cigarettes) as a militant, heaping abuse on users, insulting them, battering them with all the logic and research I could find. Didn't work. I finally realized that users had to want to stop and a gentle reminder of the consequences and acknowledgement of the challenge of quitting might be a better strategy. Didn't work.
None of it works. Some of you out there will know what you do when all is dark, nothing works and there is nowhere left to turn. Turn to love.
I love you. I will miss you when you die. Please consider what you are doing to yourself and others and try. That's all any of us can ask. Try.
And go to the link below to read more about the photo at the top.
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