Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking - Allen Carr [87]
For many smokers, this observation—so obvious to non-smokers—comes as a bolt from the blue. At this stage, he is ready to start reading this book. He’ll be expecting to plough through reams of statistics and technical data about lung cancer and heart disease. Tell him that this book was written by a former chain-smoker and that a grand total of nine pages of this book talk about anything related to health. Keep pointing out that it’s only a book and that there is no pressure to quit—if he wants to keep smoking afterwards then he can. Tell him that one of the instructions in the book is to keep smoking—that will get his interest!
Help During the Early Days of a Quit
Whether a recent quitter is suffering or not, assume that he is. Do not try to minimize his suffering by telling him how easy it is to quit. This will merely irritate him and earn you a filthy look. Instead, tell him how proud you are, how much better he looks and smells, how much easier he is breathing and point out that his smoker’s cough has disappeared. Keep this praise and support going. I cannot even begin to explain how important this is.
Because he is not talking about smoking, you might think he’s forgotten about it. He hasn’t. Don’t avoid talking about it, unless you are asked to do so.
Go out of your way to relieve him of additional stresses and pressures during the early days of his quit. Try to think of ways to make life more interesting and fun. If you want to pamper him and treat him like royalty for a while, I’m fairly sure that he won’t complain.
Be aware that if the newly launched ex-smoker has a bad day, he is likely to blame it on having quit smoking. When I was trying to quit using willpower I used to throw a tantrum in the hope that my wife or friends would say, ‘I can’t bear to see you suffering like this. For goodness’ sake, have a cigarette.’ This would thrill me because it gave me an excuse to smoke without losing face. I wasn’t ‘giving in’; I was being instructed to smoke. If the ex-smoker uses this ploy, under no circumstances fall for it. Instead say, “If that’s what cigarettes do to you, thank goodness you’ll soon be free. How wonderful it is that you had the courage and intelligence to stop.”
CHAPTER 45
FINALE: HELP END THIS SCANDAL
In my opinion, cigarette smoking is the biggest scandal in our society. The hypocrisy is incredible. We get uptight about glue sniffing and heroin addiction, but it is smoking that is decimating our society, and it has been doing so for decades. In the US alone, smoking kills an estimated 450,000 people every year, making it easily the biggest cause of preventable death. It is estimated that over thirty million Americans alive today will die from smoking related causes.
State and Federal government is by far the biggest beneficiary of tobacco sales in the US. The most recent figures indicate that Government makes over $25 billion every year. This dwarfs even the profit that the tobacco companies make, or their-$12.6 billion marketing and promotional budget.
Compare this huge sum with the less than $500 million spent on tobacco control every year. This equates to less than 2% of the tax revenue generated by the sale of tobacco products. And of that miniscule $500 million, a negligible sum is spent on helping smokers quit.
The Government’s annual investment in tobacco control amounts to around $10 per smoker per year and just over $1,000 per smoking related death. A comparable calculation for the annual cost of the ‘War on Drugs’ reveals spending of $54 billion. This equates to a staggering $27,000 per head for the estimated 2,000,000 users of illicit drugs excluding cannabis, or a staggering $908,000 per death.
There is the application of double standards here. We throw resources at heroin addicts—who are technically criminals—giving them treatment, shelter, safe injection sites and subsidized