Day 208. Yes, hitting the "second floor" is freaking cool as hell. Also, at this stage, almost innocuous. The craves are shadows of their former selves. My use of alternatives (SM, gum, fireballs, seeds) has diminished bigtime. I am finally starting to feel like tobacco use isn't something I'm still running away from. It's becoming a distant memory. I love it.
My anger is still present, however. This morning I was reading an article on Time about a global survey to determine what each country's tobacco use profile is. Low- and middle-income countries have rates where as much as 70% of their adult males (Indonesia) use tobacco!!!
For you tobacco apologists, or those of you who think you are entirely culpable for your former habits because it was always a "choice", I challenge you to read the article:
http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/17/l ... -warnings/Look, here in the U.S., we have regulations, lawsuits, high taxes (on tobacco), and high awareness of the dangers. We also have a cultural shift away from tobacco use -- it's no longer the realm of 'coolness' like it was years ago, and the tobacco companies are no longer allowed to plaster billboards, magazine ads, TV ads glamorizing the shit.
However, in places like Russia/Indonesia/P.I./Bangladesh, where tobacco use is off the charts, our beloved tobacco companies have their huge lobbies there keeping lawmakers, regulations, and taxes at bay. Ads are everywhere, luring those poor bastards in.
This shit isn't an 'amoral' business, folks. Those f-ing tobacco companies know their product kills (4 million this year globally? Wow.), and they're working hard to recruit new users, wherever they can.
I can't conceive of why anyone wouldn't be angry about this.