Almost, although with a note that “everything gives you cancer” is just a tad hyperbolic.
I think the number of smokers would go up and here’s why: the two main reasons that smokers stop are (1) health reasons and (2) expense. Now, (2) is contingent on (1) for the most part – cigarettes are so expensive due to taxation, which is justified by the health considerations. The OP is talking about removing the health considerations; the question then becomes: what legitimate reason is there to tax or ban smoking? If that is no longer an issue, few will quit.
On the other hand, for the number to go up, some people have to start. Granted, smoking is dirty and stinky. But personally, I don’t think “dirty and stinky” is a deterrant to starting for many/most. Moreover, even the newly minted social stigma attached to smoking isn’t enough to keep some from starting (although it might be, if it were to become even more entrenched).
I should think that prohibition of smoking indoors in public places would persist, and I think it’s right to do so (to a large extent). So perhaps this would result in an increase in “social smokers” and fewer “actual smokers”; I dunno. But I think the overall number would go up.
I liked smoking. I enjoyed the taste, the sensation of the warm smoking curling down my throat, the sense of relaxation and fulfillment that a smoke would bring after a good meal (or a good romp in the sack for that matter). I miss the way it made a long drive seem to pass just a little bit faster and the breaks I could take at work to go outside and shoot the shit with the other smokers.
Like others have said, I don’t miss the withdrawals or the smelly clothes, yellow teeth, stained windows, burns on the furniture and clothes, etc. Plus, if you would have to get a pill to keep yourself healthy, you would also have to get one for every member of your family. You would be forcing your family to be medicated so you would not poison them. That’s pretty selfish. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just not poison them in the first place?
I’d keep right on smoking as I do now, and I wouldn’t take the pill either. Anything that’s going to clean **this ** shite out of your lungs is going to have some very unpleasant primary and side effects.
Weird. That’s the exact date I quit. 10:11pm CST. After a St. Patrick’s Day party I decided I’d smoke what I had left and then quit cold turkey. Smoke free ever since. I didn’t replace it with gum, or gain an ounce.
I can go a few days now without thinking about them.
If this pill were a reality I would smoke again in a heartbeat.
Oh no. No, no, no. Hell no. The last thing I need is another shitty rationalization to keep smoking. I still enjoy it some, but the selfishness (irritating and possibly harming others’ health with it), and harmful effects to me personally are really starting to disgust me. Again.
-Denis, who has quit smoking several times, started up again several times, and doesn’t feel guilty about that because most ex-smokers I’ve spoken to say it takes several attempts to break the habit.