Surgeon dies after alleged assault at Box Hill Hospital

Right. So now that we all know the risks, not just to ourselves, but to those around us, and there are plenty of avenues available to help quit smoking, why do we still see members of the public doing it?

I was a smoker for 20 years, I grew up with big tobacco advertising. I watched the Rugby League Winfield Cup. I watched the Marlboro Formula 1 team race around the track. I saw just about every advertisement or movie star lighting up as though it was perfectly natural behaviour. Even both of my parents smoked (not anymore). I still remember the smell of my Grandfathers tin tobacco because he used to smoke in the car with the windows up with us kids in the back. As I said, I was a smoker for 20 years. I used to smoke two cigarettes, one after the other on my break because I didn't know when I'd be getting the next one. I'd smoke after every meal. I'd smoke the moment I turned over the engine in my car. I'd smoke as soon as I got out of my car. Smoking was such a bad habit that I could tell the time purely be how many smokes I'd had or when my last one was. That was before we all knew just how harmful it was. As a smoker of 20 years, I first tried quitting only 5 years into my addiction. It took me 15 years to quit, I can't even count the number of times I tried and failed, only to be seduced again by that sweet caress on the back of my throat.

Anyone that smokes now, or continues to smoke when we have had well over two decades of education explaining how harmful it is to us and those around us cannot be right in the head. There's definitely a few screws loose, a stubbie short of a six pack, a few roo's loose in the top paddock.

Smoking is worse than self harm. It is also harming those who are forced to breathe in the second hand, unfiltered smoke.

I used to think smokers got picked on. When I smoked, I felt I was treated like a second class citizen quite often. As a non-smoker now, I see why. It is a selfish, harmful addiction, to which there is ample support available to help people overcome it. There is no excuse for smoking any more, other than "I like killing myself and those around me".

Maybe next time a smoker decides to breathe their rotting lungs in my face I might decide to punch first and ask them to stop later.

/r/australia Thread Parent Link - abc.net.au