Reply #85: What the moral superior here don't understand is stress...

[comtec]

I used to think I knew what stress was... then my wife cheated on me, i'm in a foreign country where it FEELS like im quite unwanted, my job sucked, and im going through an identity crisis, and a divorce...

The cigs help... a massive amount!

I've always been a anti-smoker, and honestly have no problem with the anti-smoking laws in the US (Im from California), but ... I have empathy for my fellow smokers now.

It's a horrible thing i'm doing to myself, I know, but it's also oddly social.
I've started to re-connect with my ex-wife (who i live with... it's complicated) because we go out for smokes together.

Smoking isn't the horrible evil here that it is in the US, and it really is an amazingly social thing.

I'm past some major stress in my life (unemployed, but surviving) and cutting back to 0-2 a day.

But I find it really takes the edges off things.
I stopped while I was sick (of course) which im glad for. But I also noticed that I was angry again (not more, not the usual withdrawal, but how it was before I started).

As little as one cig every few days simply takes that horrible edge off life.

I understand the problem here, however. The sad part is the unenlightened self-interest.

There are two sides fighting here that should not be, and it really goes a long way to understanding he problem dem's have in poor areas.

S-CHIP is great for kids, and I agree that as a smoker I should pay a tax... but perhaps they should consider a sliding scale.
less on shag, more on high-end cigars.
I'm sure there's a way to, in the end, keep the income the same, but reduce the burden on poorer smokers.

To those that say "fuck the smokers"... keep in mind many of us are self-medicating for real problems.
If you took away our stress relief (which being chemical AND social, works DAMN fast) what is left?
Americans have the fewest vacation days of any civilized nation, we actually have sick days (an idea completely unknown in holland and many countries.. when you're sick... you're sick.) and we have a fucked up medical system that punishes genetics and poverty!

Yes it will hurt our health down the line... but it certainly makes living in the present tolerable.
and as a civic minded smoker, I never smoke in a public area, and always put my butts in the trash.

*sigh* oh well i'll probably be flamed anyway.