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• November 17, 2009 7:06 p.m.

  Hi, I'm a student at Metro State of Denver. I'm researching a new product possibility; the product would be a "Quit Smoking" aide that offers a stepping down approach. I am a former smoker myself but I'm addicted to Commit lozenges and they contain nicotine. I would still buy them if they had zero mg of nicotine but they don't offer that. I would like to market a product that does. Anyways, I made this survey for my research project and it would really help me if anyone could take it [smokers, former smokers, and non-smokers are all welcome] Thanks so much. -- Casey Here's the link to the survey. http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/206243/r2zgt

  - Casey

• April 24, 2009 3:43 a.m.

  Secondhand smoke increases the risk of getting asthma and causes asthma attacks. Secondhand smoke causes babies and children to get coughs and colds, as well as middle ear disease which can cause deafness.

  - natashaclarck

• April 5, 2009 10:52 a.m.

  Being a nonsmoker, I can't really say I "understand" how difficult it is to quit. However, I have now watch 4 great-aunts and uncles die of lung cancer. My grandmother quit when I was very young because I had asthma, and couldn't be around her if she was smoking. She has been screened for lung cancer, and is clean. I know that people make the argument that "smoking doesn't cause lung cancer" or that it is "debatable." When you've watched what I have, those arguments are nullified. Quitting can save your life, and those around you. If you're not willing to do it to save yourself, think of your children, or grandchildren.

  - Kim

• March 22, 2009 1:01 a.m.

  Hi Jennifer. I really appreciate your effort! Can you please join my new group on facebook so that we can share and help smokers in this beautiful planet no matter what color their skin is to slowly quit smoking? 1,000,000 People To Say No To Cigarettes! http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63513600879 Hope you will play your roles. Thanks in advance. God bless you. Regards, Adam http://blog.smokingnomore.info

  - Adam

• March 18, 2009 6:12 p.m.

  A better word for "passive smoking" is "ENFORCED SMOKING." More and more people are using this term. Parents who smoke are actually committing child abuse. No-one has the right to smoke. rather, people have the right to breath clean air. To impinge on the health of innocent people should be considered a criminal offence. Manufactures should be jailed, their profits confiscated and given to the health service and smoking should be banned and prohibited. Full stop.

  - trevor

• March 12, 2009 9:30 a.m.

  I'm besides myself. I have never smoked and when I grew up no family members smoked...then I married a smoker. His awful habit has been handed down to my children. As their spouses also smoke I am afraid my grandchildren will pick up the destructive habit. I agree with folks who smoke...their rights ARE being infringed on - who gives others the right to be mean and cruel...these people are addicted! What happened to us being a free country of choice? I don't understand why the government doesn't MAKE tobacco companies remove those toxic ingredients? They want to regulate everything else, why aren't they demanding these chemicals to be removed from cigarettes? I thought they were supposed to be looking out for us -- so much for regulation. Well guess now with the addition of a higher tax on cigarettes...my husband will be looking elsewhere for his drug of choice. I will die I know earlier because of this awful habit that was not my choice--my choice should of been selecting a man that didn't smoke.

  - Mary

• March 11, 2009 9:45 p.m.

  We smokers are exactly like alcoholics. Take one drink and many will follow. Never think you can smoke just one. If you want to quit, you must get into a mind set that tell yourself that you cannot just smoke one. I am on my 8th week without them. I used Chantix for but one month and it really helped with the desire. However I slept most of the month. The side effects were just too much , so when I stopped Chantix and soon thought I had to have that cigarette, I got Nicorette. I take it just one day at a time. I'm 65 and have smoked for 46 years. I've quit three times : seven months, five months, and four months. It has been ten years since I last tried. This time will be THE LAST TIME because I now know I cannot smoke just one. When it gets too bad do something. File your nails, take a walk, call another nonsmoker,just don't sit and think about that cancer stick. Yes, I have already gained 10 pounds and that makes me unhappy. You might have to have your doctor give you an antidepressant. Losing your cigarettes is like losing your best friend.

  - cindy N

• March 11, 2009 9:35 p.m.

  hk8DDH

  - cindy N

• March 11, 2009 6:20 a.m.

  It was really shocking to know that indirect or passive smoking can be as harmful as in the case of regular smokers. Guess we need to be more careful about the kind of air we are breathing. Acomplia Online

  - HelpLine

• March 10, 2009 1:54 p.m.

  Janet, If the people that smoke are addicted to nicotine (by mind only because they can stop when they put their minds to it)then they can get addicted to going outside and respecting other people, not nearly killing them to death. I know I will be going to the doctor tomorrow just for this because of my chest & back having to hold my breathe, especially when he has just finished a cigarette & calls me in the office to help him find something. I can only stay for so long then I have to leave. I cannot hold my breath without it hurting my back & cough without it hurting my chest, right in the middle everytime. Smokers can become addicted to the OUTSIDE just like they are their cigarettes. Leave us alone with the secondhand smoke.

  - Angela

• March 10, 2009 10:10 a.m.

  After smoking pretty heavily for nearly 50 years, I will be smoke-free for 8 months in a couple of weeks! Never thought I could do it, but after trying Laser Therapy twice without success, I asked my doctor for Chantix. I will admit I must have been strongly addicted because it took 2 prescriptions, but the 2nd one worked once my mind was positive. I heartily recommend Chantix and am so thankful for it -- & so is my 26 year old daughter who has been asking me to quit practically ever since she could talk!

  - Eileen

• March 9, 2009 9:15 a.m.

  Janet, Whether you are a nurse or not, smokers have got to remember the other person. Obviously, my brother/boss is trying to get me to go sooner than my time. People around here knows how he smokes and I can guarantee you, we are the ONLY BUSINESS in our county where someone smokes inside. Everybody else has to go outside or the other attorneys respect their workers & go outside, not stay in and {literally} smother the others with smoke. In this office, it is just me & him. Like I have told people, "SINCE his name is the one on the door, there is not much I can do." He is the attorney. Not me! If my name was on the door, I would be the PROSECUTOR & you better know it, "YES,I would turn him in." Smokers don't pay attention to other peoples health, just their own. They don't pay attention to how it affects others either, showing they don't care and none of this is right for the person that does NOT smoke. They should NOT have to suffer because of someone else's dirty & STINKY habit.

  - Angela

• March 9, 2009 9:01 a.m.

  Ann > The thing is, when he is NOT around, out of the offce, on the weekends etc. I'm perfectly fine. I have already told him about the smoking but he doesn't care & jobs are scarious. This started when I got sick earlier this year but the coughing NEVER stopped until he was gone or I closed his door to the office. I'm going to go try see my doctor sometime the week my chiropractor is off because it is beginning to hurt my back trying to hold my breath. It doesn't do any good to say anything to him because he is going to do it anyway no matter what. Angela

  - Angela

• March 6, 2009 9:25 p.m.

  After 25+ years of smoking,I finally was able to quit with the help of Chantix. Ask your doctor about getting a prescription for Chantix if you are sick of being a slave to cigarettes! It helps eliminate the urge to smoke and comes with a support program you can access any time.

  - Shannen

• March 6, 2009 8:23 a.m.

  I am allergic to cigarett smoke. My husband smokes two to three packs a day. He refuses to smoke outside saying this is his house too. He recently bought a cabin. He lives there and I live in our home. We cannot think of a better way to solve our delema other than divorice.

  - Janet

• March 6, 2009 7:10 a.m.

  I have never smoked, but in actuality I have smoked for almost 27 years. My father has smoked my entire life, and my mom smoked about 10 years of my life, therefore I was exposed to secondhand quite often. My mom has been diagnosed with COPD and was told she HAD to quit smoking, and she managed for a few months last year until she ended back in the hospital with pneumonia, she tried to quit again and it only lasted a few weeks and she was back at it. This past August she was in the hospital once again with pneumonia only this time sent home to be on oxygen full time. She has quit for good this time. For those of you that are trying to stop smoking, but just can't seem to quit...I have always heard it takes trying at least 3 times (as in the case with my mother) before you kick it for good. So don't stop trying if you fail the first time!

  - Kallie

• March 4, 2009 2:18 p.m.

  What I think is absurd, was when I worked for a medical center that of course, did not allow smoking, yet they would send the homecare aides out in public health to homes that did. We were told to deal with it or say something, in which most people said it was there home and were rude, so we were forced to stay and do our job. I told my ex-boss that I was allergic to smoke, as I had been exposed for years by second hand smoke from my dad, I would get sick,get a cold, and my chest would tighten. My ex-boss told me there was no such thing as "allergies from smoke" and forced me to work in this environment. Then when I did miss work, I was told I needed to take care of myself better. And this was a medical facility that expected this, then turned around and blamed my days of being sick on me!

  - sherri

• March 4, 2009 8:41 a.m.

  Has anyone on this blog tried electronic cigarettes?

  - Marcia

• February 27, 2009 8:45 p.m.

  i am a non-smoker and never have been a smoker. i have a child and 2 daughterinlaws who smokes and they are not a children. they are in danger of dying mainly because of smoking,and i have a few grandchildren who smoke(all kinds of cigarettes)some of the grandchildren have bad cases of asthma and other alergies, i feel helpless beacause most of the smokers will not give it up .even if they are addicted to this drug, it seems that i will live to see some of them dead before me. this makes me very sad,as i will be the loser to grow old all alonewith most of my family gone.I pray for them all the time, but it is like youall say smokers don't quit until they are ready or dead.

  - Marcy

• February 27, 2009 10:10 a.m.

  We all have to remember that for most smokers they are addicted to nicotene. Nagging, pleading, begging, teasing, etc doesn't work. Frankly, I think that all nagging does is make the person want to smoke more & longer. Non-Snokers: Wise UP! you aren't going to nag or force anyone into stopping smoking if they don't want to stop! If the person is motivated, that's a different story. For years my husband nagged the hell out of me to quit. All that did was make our life miserable & make me want to stop more. It was as if I were saying to him "who are you to tell what I can & cannot do?" Non-smokers NEVER understand why smokers smoke! Geez, half the time smokers don't even understand why we're addicted to these things. The good news is that I stopped smoking almost 9 years ago. I did it when I was ready to stop. It was different & I could not have succeeded without the patches. But I did succeed & am eternally glad I stopped otherwise this would still be hanging over my head. Non-smokers: please just support the smokers in your life. Try to understand the addiction (many smokers don't think they're addicted until they try to quit). If you're allergic to the smoke or don't want to breathe the stuff, work out a compromise with your significant over. You shouldn't suffer & the smoker should be willing to compromise. This is my 2 cents!

  - Janet RN

• February 26, 2009 6:48 a.m.

  oooh my almighty GOD if this is the case then here in Tanzania, East Africa we are nearly to die. because people are taking the smoking besides our houses windows. What we can do now while our government officials do not take enough time to implement the laws created for that puporse of avoiding the secondhand smoking. GOD KNOWS!!!!!!!!!!

  - cathbert tomitho

• February 26, 2009 12:51 a.m.

  I am 45 years old. I used to smoke for the past 27 years in average 30-40 cigarettes per day. My wife did the same for the last 25 years. My Kids always punched me and my wife for the bad habit and couldn’t answer. Me and my wife decided to stop smoking. We had our dinner and our last cigarettes three months ago. It was a little bit hard the first 3-4 days but now we feel much much better. For all smokers regardless of how much or how long you smoked, if you have the confident and well you can do it and pass it and feel the taste of new life. Now we became a good example for our kids.

  - Radwan Jordan Amman

• February 25, 2009 10:56 a.m.

  Hi!I would like to help people Quit smoking also!Becase my father & Bother Die because smoking.

  - sandychen

• February 25, 2009 9:35 a.m.

  my husband and myself are going to stop smoking april 1st this is how the doctor said do it plan a day you are going to quite, and he help us by giving us some meds, the thing i am worried about is i am a apartment manager and worried i will tear into someone, some of these people can really get on your nerves, please all say a prayer we can do this

  - sheri

• February 24, 2009 10:55 p.m.

  I am still smoking and have been for 15 yrs. I want to stop now, my boys tell me how sick it makes them. I am going to check into Nicoral or this medicine that helps you stop. I need to stop right away. I feel really really guilty, I don't smoke by anyone, mostly outdoors. But, I know I should stop. I hope I can sooner that later. I'm not getting younger.

  - Debra Rincon