Smoking for money

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Smoking is a strange one, everyone knows it. It provokes the strongest emotions, from euthoria to anger. And that's not just in people who do it.

Recently, I was asked to take part in a study into the effects of smoking on lifelong non-smokers. For £3900 - £5900 depending on the number of cigarettes I'd be willing to smoke, the study would last a year. The bioresearch company organising the trial had apparently cleared it through an ethics committee, something that I wonder about. For that amount of money, however harmful it could be to my health, I had a good think about whether or not I should do it.

I've sometimes wondered what it would be like to be a smoker. Some my friends who smoke are trying to quit, saying they wish they'd never started. When I ask why they began, they say it was a social habit or something to relieve stress. When without cigarettes for too long at a time, it must be quite a relief to finally have the thing you're hankering for; of course that would take away stress.

I can totally see the positive perceptions around smoking. Everyone all huddled together sharing a lighter. It's the most sociable of addictions. I could totally imagine myself, being such an outgoing kinda guy, lighting up a fag outside and chatting to friends. It makes sense and that's why I imagine it's such a habitual thing.

The downside, which I've only learned in detail after being offered the trial, is that it can involve some health issues. I'm told 1 in 5 deaths this year in the UK are attributed to smoking. And Formaldehyde is a standard ingredient, which I'm pretty sure is used to preserve dead bodies. Eww. The other ingredients are linked to illnesses like angina and strokes. I guess however much they'd pay me to start up, I'd maybe get addicted and have to quit, or I'd like it and carry on, potentially getting ill if the nay-sayers are to be believed.

A couple of friends who smoke have harranged me for even thinking about doing the trial. Even one who has no intention of quitting has said that I'd be stupid to start now. But they do choose to carry on the habit themselves, so it's hard for them to convince me it's so bad. Apparently it's the quitting that's the problem. It sounds easy on paper and I've never had a problem quitting a food or a drink before, even coffee, but I keep being told that it's a right ball ache to give up the cigs.

Many say it's hard for them to quit when their friends smoke, as they feel rude not going outside with the others or accepting the kind offer of a fag from a good friend. The number of doctors and nurses who warn a patient about smoking damaging their health, only to go outside and light one up themselves. Logical, intelligent people smoke, and I like to think I'd be one of them if I took it up.

Being an analytical soul, I've read a few things about the 'science'. Nicotine sends signals to the brain that are similar to being in love. People in love find it hard to control their chemical impulses. They'll defend their violent partner vehemently if someone suggests they ditch them. Even if they know their partner has the potential to kill them, they'll still exercise their personal choice to stay with with, providing a sense of control. I have no idea if I'd react that way to smoking if I had to quit. People tell me that quitting after smoking for some time would be harder than winning a ten month long fight with a demented but cuddly kangaroo on steroids.

As smokers are nowa minority in the country and are oppressed by rising prices and no smoking areas, it's becoming increasingly rebellious to do it which many people find exciting. The camaraderie must be very powerful, like with anything the government tells you you're not supposed to be doing.

And smoking is sexy, there's no denying it. The way those puffs goes up in the air is mesmerizing and works especially well in films. Movies never seem to show people turning their noses up at the smell or a non-smoker being repulsed by kissing a smoker. However hard people try to deny it, it will always be sexy. Campaigns that show diseased lungs and throat cancer only seem to repulse NON-smokers, who don't buy them anyway. Those kinds of images are shocking, but numbingly so, and I don't they're at all right for changing long-standing positive perceptions. In fact, they probably add to a feeling of persecution and spur people to carry on.

I know several people who have quit after a health issue has come up because of it, or the health of a loved one. However, my grandma smoked heavily for over sixty years and was fairly healthy all-in-all until she died. There must be loads of people who smoke and lead a long happy life. It is a risk, but everyone has to choose how acceptable that risk is to them personally. After all, you could drink calcium-rich milk and eat your five veg a day, only to be run over by a milk float or beaten to death with a marrow. Who knows what's round the corner even if you are health conscious.

In conclusion, based on advice from smokers and non-smokers alike, I've decided not to do the trial. I think anyone who smokes should carry on if they genuinely enjoy it and should only quit if it's what they want for themselves. So, puff away, or don't puff away. Either way, I hope you lead a long, healthy and happy life ;)
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