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Opinion

Put it out for good or don't put it out at all

Zach Lee
Opinion Columnist

If you're thinking about resolving to cut back on your smoking this New Year's Day, think again.

That is, if you're cutting back for health reasons anyway.

A Norwegian research team has found that reducing the amount of cigarettes you smoke doesn't result in any positive health changes; kicking the habit is the only way to stave off smoking-related health consequences.

The study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, was based on the results of 51,000 men and women studied over a 20-year period, and it concluded that men who smoked fewer cigarettes per day were just as likely to die early as men who were heavy smokers -- or those who smoke 15 cigarettes or more each day.

Researchers found that women who cut back on smoking were significantly more likely to die than women who were heavy smokers.

It would be interesting to know if there are any health effects associated with a reduction in second-hand smoke inhalation. 

I, for one, would be angry if I found out that a sadistic government was pushing smokers out of restaurants and bars just so the non-smokers of the world have to go outside with them or risk early death.

But the smokers are the ones drawing the short straw on this one. First, a power-tripping government makes them into second-class citizens who have to go outside to pollute their lungs, and then a power-tripping nature adds insult to injury by making nicotine addictive and eliminating the middle ground when it comes to cigarettes and health.

Once started on the slippery slope of addiction, smokers, especially women, need to either increase their daily cigarette intake or ignore their wanderlust completely and never return to flavor country again.

Or they could die.

So, in this holiday season, remember those less fortunate than you. Non-smokers, that means smokers; smokers, that means people who don't smoke as much as you.

And give the only gift that every human being in the world can appreciate, regardless of their relationship with tobacco.

Give the gift of life.

If you are more fortunate financially, you can give it in the form of a carton, but even the least fortunate among us can dig into our pockets for enough change to donate to our neighborhood panhandler.

Your other option is to pester those less fortunate until they decide to quit smoking, but everyone knows how that would turn out. They would only be cranky, and even after they told you they quit, they'd still sneak out in the middle of the night for cigarettes when they were stressed out because of work. And when you caught them smoking, they'd just tell you that you aren't their mother, and you can't tell them what to do.

And nobody wants that.

Lee, an English/Spanish senior, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu