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by Jackie
I was born in the 70s, while Singapore was still a growing country. My parents are honest and hardworking people who have to work more than 12 hours a day to feed our family of 6 people. Growing up, I was often alone with my brothers and sisters and, even though we cared for us, we had to grow up on our own. as well as. Our parents did not neglect us intentionally, but, like many families of the 70s, it is difficult to feed his family. This means that many of us did not have a lot of parental supervision.
Some of us have been lucky, have studied a lot and have good friends and teachers to guide them in their lives, while others have not had that chance. I was one of those who had mixed it. My brothers and sisters (I am the youngest) really took good care of me, but I too fell into bad influences. In high school, my mix of friends was like me, curious, experimental and eager to try new things and behave like adults. I thank my stars for not falling into even more sinister influences. One of the vices I took during my teenage years was smoking. All started innocently, we were a group of boys and girls and we pooled our money to buy a pack of cigarettes. We all took one. I think the girls were more curious than us guys and we were just there to impress them.
In our opinion, smoking at the time was fashionable; we would impress our peers and be cool. It was not social discrimination at the time. Our parents did not know, of course, I do not know what would have happened if they had done it, even if they were smokers themselves. But socially, it was not a stigma at the time. There was not much publicity about the misdeeds of smoking and many people were smoking at the time. These included professionals, teachers, people we called models.
Today, I have been smoking for thirty years or so. I have remained relatively healthy, but the effects of smoking on my lungs persist when I go to exercise, which I do 5 to 6 times a week. I do not doubt or deny that smoking harms our health and the environment. Nor do I blame non-smokers for not wanting or disliking my smoking habits. I went through a short phase during which I did not smoke for a day and the smoke smelled really bad. I really understand their concerns and do not like it. I can understand how smoking has become a social stigma and discrimination.
When I smoke now, I have to hide. I do not like the accusing look that someone gives me. When I'm on a catwalk, I have to give way to others, knowing that if they smell the smoke on me, they will make a rude gesture like turning their heads or pinching their noses. Although I do not blame them for their views on smoking, I can not accept their behavior. To discriminate against another human being is worse than the habit of smoking. Showing disdain to a smoker is a retaliatory action. As a smoker, I have the grace, the public conscience to avoid non-smokers, but the non-smokers seem to forget that I too am a human and that I actually have feelings . I do not see them as "straighter" than me. I smoke, while these people discriminate. What is the most serious crime?
Tobacco-related stigma has now gone further with government measures to reduce smoking. I remember a fellow smoker who had already smoked with me once and who told me that his teenage son had just started smoking and how sad he was. While telling the story, the co-smoker had tears in his eyes. He felt that he had a role to play in the fact that his son took the habit of smoking. I sympathize with him and that is why I am in favor of reducing smoking. It's an addiction that can cause harm to oneself and one's family. The health and social consequences are real and it is therefore necessary to discourage smoking.
However, I think for many people who have never smoked, they do not realize that there is a chemical and habitual dependence both related to Alcoholics and drug use.
What non-smokers do not realize, that's why most smokers persist in their habits? Why do most smokers seem to have been smoking for more than two decades (depending on their age)? I believe that almost none of us were addicts. Most people do not know that smoking is an addiction that goes beyond the body. It is also a mental and habitual addiction. One of the feelings that I have when I do not smoke, is to feel myself lost and not having something to do. If it was easy to end an addiction, many addicts would have done so. Of course, many people have managed to break their addiction, but many have not.
What's needed, it's changing your mind about reducing smoking. Forbidding smoking at home, installing CCD cameras in public places to detect smokers is a reprisal and seeks to punish. There is no point in helping smokers quit. It does nothing to prevent our young people from picking up this 1st cigarette. By issuing summonses and fines, does that reduce my addiction? If all goes well, I suspect it's increasing, now that I'm less likely to smoke,
I would smoke more when I could.
We can also argue that the current tobacco control act is a protectionist measure designed to protect the general non-smoking public from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and to prevent the younger generation from starting to smoke. Although the general population can be protected, smokers will remain in the dust, literally thrown under the bus. Again, the idea of using surveillance and punishment does not chemically help smokers quit. This discourages smokers from smoking, but people react differently to such forced behavior. Then, it is also possible that the younger generation is more curious about taboo issues and that smoking becomes almost a crime, it can encourage them to try.
Current education efforts to educate youth about the harmful effects of smoking are much more useful and effective. We should devote our efforts to this direction.
More education and public activities need to be organized and directed to the right places to discourage our youth from getting into the habit. Raising the price of cigarettes is a good way, but the additional revenue generated should be used to train youth teams to organize healthy activities that discourage smoking. Football and basketball camps, etc., are some examples of activities that can be used to discourage young people from smoking. To banish them and to banish them will not be. Teens tend to be aggressive and curious. The more you ban and amend, the harder it becomes for them to try.
To help older smokers like me quit, more concrete help should be provided. Clinics that may be allowed to use any form of chemical or mental therapy, etc., should be economically assessable. Incentives should be rewarded for smokers who can successfully quit smoking and become ambassadors to other smokers. These assistance-focused plans will be more effective than those aimed at punishing smokers. Most older smokers, like me, know and want to quit. We can not because we do not feel ready and worse, we are afraid to give up. This is not something that non-smokers can understand. A committee charged with reducing smoking should be trained to look for ways to help smokers, both young and old, to give up this habit. This committee should consist of current and past smokers, as well as non-smokers.
For young people, we should educate and rehabilitate, while for current smokers we should seek to help them quit and not to seek to punish them and throw them under the bus.
I am a 30 year old smoker. I work hard and feed my family. I take care of my parents and I served my country. I do not fly, I do not fly. I do not break the law. I am not a criminal. I am an ordinary human being and a true Singaporean citizen who has feelings and needs help. But I am not a bad person and I do not deserve to be ostracized, punished and discriminated against.
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