REASONS NOT TO STOP SMOKING:
There are worse things than smoking.

• The thought of quitting scares you?
• No willpower to stop smoking
• It’s my choice to continue smoking
• I’ve got it under control
• I can’t stop
• They’ll find a vaccine against smoking
• Everyone I know smokes
• Smoking is social
• It didn’t kill my grandfather
• It’s not as bad as they say
• There are worse things than smoking
• If it was so bad, the government would make it illegal
• I smoke all-natural cigarettes
• Everyone smokes
• You have to die somehow...
• Tips to stop smoking
• Smoking and nicotine
• Quit without gaining weight
• Quit and manage your stress
• Quitting and physical activity
• Quitting and health benefits
• Quitting and withdrawal symptoms
• Failures and relapses
• The steps of the stop-smoking method

Quit Smoking
So there are worse things than cigarettes, are there?

Of course there are.
Dying in a car crash, for example.

So yes, there are worse things.  But here are a few facts that should make you sit up and think:

Pollution

Logically, everyone who lives in the same environment (city, countryside, workplace, etc.) should run the same risk of developing lung cancer because they’re exposed to the same pollution, whether or not they smoke.

However, more than 85% of all lung cancers are found in smokers.  (If you want to know more about this, check out the "They’re exaggerating" section.) In addition, this year in Québec approximately 300 non-smokers will die of lung cancer caused by second-hand smoke – in other words, smoke generated by the cigarettes of smokers...

And here’s one last statistic: The risk of developing cancer through exposure to second-hand smoke is roughly 57 times higher than the risk posed by atmospheric pollutants...

Alcohol

Maybe you think alcohol is more dangerous.  It’s true that its effects are more visible and may seem more dramatic.

Alcohol use generates excessive behaviours that often lead to violence and cause accidents.  And yet, even this is much less than the damage caused by smoking.

• Tobacco smoke kills more than 37,000 people in Canada every year (more than 10,400 in Québec alone).  That’s four times as many as the number killed by murder, alcohol, road accidents and suicide combined.

The Reality of the Situation

The problem with tobacco is that it’s more insidious.

• It’s already taken control of you, without you even noticing (and you may still be denying it).
• Once this has happened, every time you inhale smoke from your cigarette, nicotine tightens its grip on you.  And the chain of dependency becomes harder to shake off (see the nicotine section).
• It seduces you, and then it destroys you – slowly but surely.
• You’re probably already experiencing some negative effects such as breathlessness, sore throats, coughing, persistent colds, bronchitis, more severe asthma attacks, emphysema, and so on.
• Oh yes … let’s not forget the … how shall we put this … less than pleasant smell that sticks to your clothes, hair and skin.
• And then there’s your breath.  You need to be careful that it doesn’t smell the same as your clothes, ashtray and cigarette butts.
• Not to mention the money aspect.  Smoking costs a fortune!  But who cares, as long as your cigarette helps you feel better, right now, or when you’re sad or stressed or .
• Of course, smoking is worth a few unpleasant side-effects – at least, that’s what you tell yourself.  And naturally, you can always quit before things get too bad.  There’s plenty of time to quit … or so you think.

That’s precisely how you fall into the trap.  The longer you delay, the tighter the grip of nicotine.

Tobacco works insidiously, over time.

• The damage may not be obvious at once, but it will appear sooner or later. It’s inevitable.

Almost all the 37,000 or so people who’ll die from smoking this year had their first cigarette in their teenage years and thought exactly the same things as you.  But you’re luckier than them: you can still change your mind.