"WhatÕs in it for me?"

 

QUESTION 

Which Colby celebrity says:  "Dr. Thompson, twenty-seven years ago (Nov 86) I threw away the Kools and quit, cold turkey. My chest actually hurt. Enough so that smoking just wasn't the pleasurable activity it had been. Have had only one cigarette since a Lousy celebration! I just hurt again. Stupid and outrageously expensive habit. Go get'em, Thompson! I'll back you up."

 

CHOICES

a) Bruce McDougal, Director of Safety

b) Charlie Bassett, Professor of English and Echo columnist

c) Janice Kassman, VP of Student Affairs, Dean of Students

d) Dick Whitmore, Assistant Director or Athletics

e) Derek Taff, SGA President

 

ANSWER

If you answered "b" you are correct. If you answered "e," Derek would have been about negative 7 years old.

 

What are the benefits of becoming a non-smoker? or helping a friend or relative become a non-smoker? or remaining a non-smoker yourself?

 

¤      Improving the health of family and friends

¤      Being a positive influence on youth

¤      Reducing the highest risk for domestic fire

¤      Beautifying the campus and saving the planet, since cigarette butts take about 25 years to decompose.

¤      Being polite to the Colby family (help PPD workers avoid the extra work that picking up butts entails.)

¤      Increasing land for food production 72% of all the land used to grow tobacco is in developing countries.

 

¤      Diminishing waste of paper as a cigarette manufacturing machine uses four miles of paper per hour to roll and package cigarettes.

¤      Decreasing the death rate since tobacco kills more Americans each year than alcohol, cocaine, crack, heroin, homicide, suicide, car accidents, fires and AIDS COMBINED.

¤      Not smelling like an ashtray

¤      NOT TASTING LIKE AN ASHTRAY

¤      Not having to stand outside in the rain/snow/heat since smoking is prohibited in residents halls, public buildings, restaurants, airports, hospitals, etc. etc.

¤      Decreasing carcinogens from the environment (The US Environmental Protection Agency classifies secondhand smoke as a known cause of cancer just like asbestos.)

¤      Being a part of the healthy American work force (smokers are absent 50% more often than nonsmokers.)

¤      Saving money, directly (see below**) and indirectly, from reduced premiums for health, life and property casualties

¤      Reduced medical bills

¤      Reduced costs for repairing or replacing smoke or cigarette damaged property

 

 

**Money saved each year by NOT buying cigarettes:

           @Packs/day:              1/2              1                2                3                 

      Price/pk $4.00:             $730        $1560         $4380         $5840                       

¤      And, as Prof. Bassett intimates, you feel better:

 

20 minutes after quitting

Blood pressure and pulse rate drop to near normal

Body temperature of hands and feet increase to normal

8 hours after quitting

Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal

24-48hours after quitting

Ability to smell and taste is enhanced

1 to 9 months after quitting

Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decreases

Cilia regain normal function in the lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, reduce chance infection

1 year

Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker

5 years

Lung cancer risk, stroke risk, risk of cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus is reduces to half that of a smoker's

 

Smoking cessation may be a long process. Most smokers do not quit on their first attempt.  However, help and support are all around.

An "Adopt-A-Smoker" event for the Great American Smokeout (November 20^th) is taking place. Youth and adults "pledge" to help a loved one, friend, or co-worker get through that day smoke-free. If they are successful, the pair is eligible to win prizes from local businesses. For more information call me, x3394 or come by the Student Center that day (11/20/03) between 11:00 and 1PM.

 

QUESTION

Who says this?  "It's been extremely difficult to stop smoking.  I wish I had never started."

 

ANSWER

Most of my adult patients who are up to smoking 1 - 3 packs/day say this and frequently. They say they started just smoking "socially" and believed they would not become addicted.

 

Think it's not worth giving up the pleasure, "peace," alleged coolness to give up cigarettes?  Make an appointment to see me (x3394) and take the "Why I Smoke" test.  Maybe you're more ready than you thought.

 

What's in it for you?  Plenty.