Quitting shouldn’t be our cost

Has anyone paid attention to one of our new premier’s proposals?

Ultimately we, the people will be subsidizing a program to help people stop smoking. Free gum and patches to stop smoking? Excuse me, isn’t that just another crutch? That’s all a cigarette is – a crutch.

Why should the province pay for someone’s individual destructive habit? It has also developed into an expensive one with the present price of tobacco.

To all the smokers who sincerely want to quite this deadly addition, don’t forget, inside that bony dome called a skull is a mass of grey matter that dictates every aspect of your activities. It is your responsibility to use it in the most positive manner. You and you alone must decide whether or not to smoke. It is not up to the entire population, financially or otherwise.

I smoked for some 20 years and quit one day, cold turkey. If I had any aid it was the disturbing complaints of two little people who were constantly nagging, “Mommy, do you have to light up those things?” Besides, the taste had begun to resemble the odour of horse manure.

Consider your health, the state that tobacco leaves in your mouth, what you breathe on others plus the second-hand smoke. From the standpoint of vanity alone, look at your image in the mirror. Eventually a smoker develops so many wrinkles, even the wrinkles have wrinkles.

By cutting the menace off at the source, why isn’t it mandatory for tobacco farmers to convert to growing beneficial food crops? After all, bona fide farmers are constantly advised to switch from one type of crop to another.

For the health needs of this province, Christy Clark has to examine top priorities far more cautiously. Free gum and patches are a cosmetic façade.

 

 

Alli M Graham

 

Salmon Arm Observer