Cigarettes are ubiquitous reminders of the power of addiction over the human psyche. Despite the constant stream of national news reports on rising death tolls from smoking related illnesses, most smokers feel they cannot stop. Regardless of whether they accept the various messages printed on the packs, they will be seen, summer and winter, standing outside public buildings flying their cravings like a flag of state.

You Can't Touch This!

Did we always assume we are invincible; is this the barrier that we feel protects us from cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, and a host of other diseases linked to smoking? We know from experience alone that teenagers feel they will suffer no harm from the external forces about which their parents warn them. Again and again, they seem drawn to danger, much as the moth circles a flame, until, all too often, they slip and fall into the heart of pain.

Maybe our continuing love-hate relationship with Big Tobacco's favorite money-maker has something to do with hip-ness. Not everyone got the memo about the hazards of sucking in hot gases and associated toxins, and we continue to associate smoking with "cool" people. Mobsters are depicted as both powerful and socially free, and they frequently are shown smoking with abandon and enjoyment. The cigarette-pack warnings must apply to other persons, not to them.

Prove It's Hurting Me

Are the warnings on cigarette packs true? If we listen, and not all that closely, to messages from Big Tobacco, we may hear a half-hearted admission that some "problems" may be associated with cigarette usage. Regardless, the cigarette makers place the required messages on their packs of "coffin nails" and continue advertising campaigns designed to extol the virtues of their products. They know better than anyone else whether cigarettes actually cause cancer, whether pregnant women will be adversely affected by smoking, and whether nicotine is truly an addictive drug.

Does anyone believe the cigarette-pack warnings? Absolutely, there must be many thousands of smokers who consider those messages gospel truth. What will they do about it today? They will suffer guilt every time they take a drag of that so-necessary drug, er, smoke from their cigarette, and they will resolve soon to rid themselves of this terrible burden. One would think that $45 per carton of cigarettes would help this process, but the evidence on the street says otherwise.

Warnings on cigarette packs are a government wake-up call, and they are essential messages to victims of an insidious addiction. Sadly, they are also what we call "preaching to the choir," since many of those who have smoked the longest have the most to lose from the practice, and leave it behind only with the greatest difficulty.

Hidden in Plain Sight

An addicted smoker has seen cigarette-pack warnings thousands of times. The warnings are believable, supported by widely-reported testimony from those who ought to know, and ignored because of the insatiable hunger for the next "fix." Most smokers know the dangers, but they find giving up the habit one of the most difficult tasks they will ever face.

A cigarette or a cold-turkey quit-no one knows which it's going to be.

Learn more about this author, Jon Dainty Sr..
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