I have smoked for many years, mother insisted. No, actually, smoking was banned from our home when I was very young, but that didn't stop me. I would hang out with friends that smoked because it was social acceptance, it was cool and little did we knowit was dangerous to our health. I remember trying to get my father to quit smoking by stealing his cigarettes. Mmmm, Pall Mall unfiltered. It was just like smoking socks. For those non-smokers, there is nothing but paper at the end, no filter; making this a particularly strong cigarette to cut your teeth on. Smoking became a friend, a crutch to hang on to. Again, it made me cool. I finally fit in or at least I thought I did.

Now that I am older I have learned the horrific after effects of cigarettes and the health problems that it proposes. In men, there is a certain amount of impotence, shortness of breath, nicotine stains on your fingers and bad breath. These are only a few of the immediate effects of smoking.

Long term smokers, face a myriad of health issues from eczema, high blood pressure, heart conditions, poor circulation to lung infection that will lead to lung cancer, so it would seem that a smoking ban would be inevitable.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he "enthusiastically" supports the idea and he signed it into law which took effect Jan. 1, making Illinois the 19th state to impose such a ban.

Anti-smoking activists described the legislation as an important step in protecting people, especially waiters and bartenders who are constantly around cigarettes, from secondhand smoke. The House approved the measure 73-42, a much larger margin than expected.

For those of you that want to quit, two years ago I found a new experimental drug called Chantix. Chantix cuts off the receptors to the brain that give you pleasure when you smoke. It literally resists the nicotine from penetrating the pleasure response in the brain.

If you've ever tried to quit smoking, you know what a tough road it can be. That's because for most people smoking is more than a habit: It's a nicotine addiction.

In the past, you might have tried to just address your smoking by changing your behavior, like avoiding situations where you might want to smoke or going "cold turkey." But to quit smoking, you need to understand and address smoking from both a behavioral and a physical standpoint.

When you smoke cigarettes, nicotine goes to the brain. The effect creates a short-term feeling of pleasure. The body wants to continue that feeling. So even if you want to quit smoking, the body craves more nicotine and that's what makes it tough to stop.

In general, medication used with behavioral support can give you a better chance of quitting smoking than doing it on your own. With Chantix you can enroll in a support plan, such as GetQuit.com that is designed to help you overcome the day-to-day challenges of quitting smoking.

I guess this is starting to sound like an ad for Chantix, rather than a ban on smoking, however, this is the pill that helped me to quit smoking after 35 years. So I urge you to speak with your physician about quitting smoking this time for good! Let's keep the air clean and we just may live longer!
GetQuit.com (Chantix website)