Hardbopjazz Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 The rest of the world seems to be somking just as much. I've in Europe and Asia in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and there are a lot of smokers, but the below article, smoking seems to be on a decline in the states. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of cigarettes sold in the United States in 2005 fell to the lowest level in 55 years largely due to enforcement of marketing restrictions imposed on the tobacco industry, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT According to federal tobacco tax figures, cigarettes sales slid 4.2 percent from 2004 levels in the largest one-year percentage decrease since 1999, the group said in a statement. The attorneys general said 378 billion cigarettes were sold in the United States in 2005, the lowest number since 1951. The drop continues an eight-year decline in cigarette smoking since the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between U.S. states and the tobacco industry that settled state lawsuits over the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses, the NAAG said. Overall, cigarette sales have plunged more than 21 percent since the agreement, which raised cigarette prices and severely restricted industry marketing practices, the organization said. "It is not a coincidence that cigarette sales are down and fewer people are smoking. The Master Settlement Agreement was designed to protect the public and reduce cigarette consumption -- and it does just that," said Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell. The major companies that signed the MSA are Philip Morris, a unit of Altria Group Inc.; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.; British American Tobacco Plc's Brown & Williamson unit; and Lorillard, which trades as Carolina Group and is part of Loews Corp. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers cigarette smoking to be the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. About 440,000 people die each year from lung cancer and other diseases related to tobacco use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Good News! Being a former smoker myself (I quit about 7 years ago), I can attest to how addictive and incredibley hard to quit cigarettes are. Hopefully, it's something young people don't think is cool anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted March 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 I never lite one up in my whole life so I can't understand how hard it is to quit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 I never lite one up in my whole life so I can't understand how hard it is to quit. Well, let me put it this way. I know musicians who were once heroin addicts and/or crackheads who have since stopped those things but can't quit smoking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
md655321 Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Being a former smoker myself (I quit about 7 years ago) Congrats! Keep up the good work! I too know some former junkies who cant stop smoking. Brutal. It is still beyond me how those things are still legal at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Being a former smoker myself (I quit about 7 years ago) Congrats! Keep up the good work! I too know some former junkies who cant stop smoking. Brutal. It is still beyond me how those things are still legal at all. Thanks. Yeah, I've never known a smoker that wasn' sick of it and wanted to quit. Hell, I love sex too, but if I had to do it every 20 minutes it might grow old as well! Smoking is a big drag. My mom's visiting now. She's a lifelong smoker and spends the entire visit on our back porch smoking. I used to be the same way. Smoker's really get to know porches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted March 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Anyone ever see the German anti smoking commercial where a whole office is out on a balcony smoking? One worker starts to walk towards the balcony to join the rest of his co-workers for a smoke. As he gets near the entrance to the balcony, it breaks loose from the building and falls a good 20 stories to the street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 I copped a few cigs from my Dad's packs when I was a kid, but never inhaled. After about three of them, I was done. Never touched em since. Now if I could only quit drinking beer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noj Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Smoked about a pack a week from 16-23. Quit cold turkey and never looked back. The intensity of the addiction appears to depend on the individual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Smoked about a pack a week from 16-23. Quit cold turkey and never looked back. The intensity of the addiction appears to depend on the individual. Correct. One other thing to remember is that for people with emotional problems (like myself), the withdrawal symptoms from trying to quit can really be torture. It can trigger a major depressive episode...and when you find yourself asking whether it would be better to buy a pack of smokes and calm down...or slit your wrists...there's a pretty good chance you'll decide to keep smoking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Yeah, some people just don't seem to be as addicted to nicotine as others. My brother-in-law might smoke a whole pack of cigarettes on day and not smoke for a year. He might smoke for 3 months and then not smoke for 8 months. Pretty wild. For me, I know if I smoked a cigarette right now I'd be hooked again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 I hear you Mike, Shawn, Jon. . . . I smoked a third of my life, the middle third, and have been nicotine free for sixteen and a half years. Quitting was the hardest thing I ever did, and I think I only accomplished it because I was in one of the happiest periods of my life, paired up with my soulmate in the first blush of solid romance, happy in my work. If smoking is on the decline, that's oh so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Being a former smoker myself (I quit about 7 years ago) Congrats! Keep up the good work! I too know some former junkies who cant stop smoking. Brutal. It is still beyond me how those things are still legal at all. Never smoked a cig in my life, and while I'm pleased to see that smoking may be decreasing I have no desire to make cigs illegal - no more, at least, than prohibiting folks from drinking beer or alcohol, eating greasy foods, or smoking pot. It's all about personal responsibility. For decades now we've been taught that smoking is bad for you. If someone still wants to smoke, knock yourself out. Just don't come crying to me when you get lung cancer or try to sue a manufacturer for selling you a dangerous product that you willingly purchase. At the same time, no cig manufacturer should be targetting those under 18 and cigs shouldn't be sold to kids. But I'm pretty libertarian when it comes to this issue. Now you can move this to Politics... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 I smoked for fourteen years, starting when I was 16. Finally kicked the habit at 30, having quit for over a year twice only to pick up the habit again. It's a nasty and insidious habit, and every time I see a kid smoking, I'm disgusted as to how the kid has been duped (as I was) by the idea that it's "cool" to smoke. Have now been tobacco-free for much longer than I was hooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 Have now been tobacco-free for much longer than I was hooked. Congrats Stereojack and Lon! That's a real accomplishment. I love being a non-smoker and look back on those years as having wasted some valuable time. I quit on behalf of my kids when my son was two and just before my daughter was born. My son has asthma and my daughter doesn't. And although I didn't smoke in the house, I still wonder if perhaps it was a contributing factor somehow to his asthma. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 Being a former smoker myself (I quit about 7 years ago) Congrats! Keep up the good work! I too know some former junkies who cant stop smoking. Brutal. It is still beyond me how those things are still legal at all. Never smoked a cig in my life, and while I'm pleased to see that smoking may be decreasing I have no desire to make cigs illegal - no more, at least, than prohibiting folks from drinking beer or alcohol, eating greasy foods, or smoking pot. It's all about personal responsibility. For decades now we've been taught that smoking is bad for you. If someone still wants to smoke, knock yourself out. Just don't come crying to me when you get lung cancer or try to sue a manufacturer for selling you a dangerous product that you willingly purchase. At the same time, no cig manufacturer should be targetting those under 18 and cigs shouldn't be sold to kids. But I'm pretty libertarian when it comes to this issue. Now you can move this to Politics... You know, I'd agree with you, except that I don't see why anyone should be allowed to profit from selling poison to the gullible. And since almost all smokers started out as those under 18 you mentioned, well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 Have now been tobacco-free for much longer than I was hooked. Hmmm...that'll be fun to say; it'll take the edge off turning 64... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 By some coincidence, I started smoking cigarettes at around the same time I started smoking "another substance". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.