I like smoking

It’s true. I like smoking. I can see why people do it. Why you spend money on it; why you keep doing it when everyone wants you to quit; why you jump through the hoops, stand in the cold, ignore the ads from your local and caring Ministry of Health.

All of my grandparents smoked. And none of them lived to 70. And that’s not a coincidence. They got horrible cancers and died badly. The consequences of smoking are thick in the missing branches of my family tree.

And still.

That’s not how to talk about smoking to get people to quit. Because smoking is not about the dead babies on the package or the poignant appeals that people love you and want you to take care of yourself and live a long and healthy life.

It is not part of the rhetoric of stop smoking campaigns that it feels good. That smoking is a pleasurable activity. That warm feeling after a glass of wine? The happy sensation of the first bite of a decadent dessert? You’re getting warmer. The first few drags off a cigarette feel lovely. Calm and happy and tasty and clear.

We talk about how people get addicted and how that’s bad for you. But we don’t talk about how you’re addicted, but you also like it.

If we want people to quit, don’t take that away or try and make it not true. People smoke because they are addicted to nicotine, surely. But people also smoke because they enjoy it. You can break it down into the science of why you (only) think it feels good. What chemical reactions are going on. What receptors in your brain are being doped. But when you’re in the middle of doping, that’s not how it’s going to feel to you. The same way as when you’re enjoying chocolate, you’re not too concerned that it’s because of endorphins being released in your brain. All you’re thinking is that it’s yummy and you want another bite.

So talk about how smoking makes you /stink/. Most people don’t want to stink. How it makes your fingernails gross. How it stains your teeth and gets into your nice clothes. Appeal to vanity. Smoking makes you appear and smell disgusting. Even smokers don’t like how smokers smell. No matter how glamed up the act of smoking is, a smoker knows the hangover-like consequences that follow after. You don’t feel fresh after a cigarette. You feel nicotine-y. You don’t really want to pick up babies, or cuddle pets. You want a piece of gum and a de-stinking spray. Talk about the art of the long view. Would you rather get a fleeting hit of self-destructive pleasure, or be able to run for the last movie ticket/hug your children/wake up in the morning without having to start your day dealing with a gross ball of phlegm?

And know that some days, it’ll be a toss-up. We don’t like to think or speak about our darker side. How some days, even factoring in the gross and the insensitive and the babies, it’ll feel worth it. How you’re not especially interested in the long view because dammit you’re a grown-up and this is what you want /right now/. But sometimes all it takes is to be able to acknowledge your darker, less reasonable inclinations. Because we’ve all got that dark side, the bit that doesn’t give a toss about other people or even ourselves. But most of us, most of the time, once we admit that it is there, will choose to try and be better than it.