A Mormon friend living in southern California, David Shaw, reminded me this morning, in the vein of "this date in history", that 40 years ago today on January 1, 1966 the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 went into effect. The new law required cigarette manufacturers to label their product with, "Caution: Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health."
The warning evolved over the years, becoming a bit strong with each new law, into the current version which now reads:
In his 1604 "Counterblaste to Tobacco" King James I of England (of Biblical fame) issued a colorful (and one of the first) government warnings against tobacco use wherein he called it "a custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomlesse."
A few years later, in 1658, according to an article by libertarian Jacob Sullum (1999) at reason.com entitled Campaigning In The Courts: The Misuse of the Legal System Against Unpopular Industries, an unnamed Jesuit pries asked: "What difference is there between a smoker and a suicide, except that the one takes longer to kill himself than the other? Because of this perpetual smoking, the pure oil of the lamp of life dries up and disappears, and the fair flame of life itself flickers out and goes out, all because of this barbarous habit."
The writer goes in to point out that 18th-century American physician Benjamin Rush (a signer of the Declaration of Independence and and surgeon general of the armies of the Middle Department) warned that tobacco use could lead to impaired appetite, indigestion and other stomach disorders, tremors, palsy, apoplexy, tooth loss, and cancer of the lip. In an early version of what today is called the "gateway theory" of drug use, he also claimed that smoking fostered drunkenness because it created a peculiar kind of thirst that could be satisfied only by liquor.
Of course, the fact that the 19th century medical establishment issued similar moral warnings that used similar logic to warn America's youth against the physical dangers of masturbation and other harmless behaviors may not have lent credibility to their claims against tobacco, however accurate the concerns about smoking were. Today, based on the body of scientific evidence that has accumulated over the years, no one (not even the tobacco industry itself) disputes that nicotine is addictive and that smoking greatly hastens the death of the smoker as well as those who inhale the used smoke. The biggest controversy today around the issue of smoking is what role government should play in prohibiting its use in public spaces.
Among smokers, a common New Years resolution is to "kick the habit".
Stopping the use of a mind-altering drug once one has become addicted is never easy, and nicotine is among the most addictive and dangerous drugs used by humans. Those who are thinking of quitting cigarettes should talk with their doctor, not just for encouragement and information, but for assistance by way of a medical detoxification protocol. In many states, free or low-cost assistance is available to help smokers become nicotine free.
The surest way to quit is to accept all the help that is available, including not just patches or other medications like the antidepressant Zyban (which also helps to reduce the urge to smoke), but groups like Nicotine Anonymous, various online supports that are available, as well as enlisting the aid of family and friends.