Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

Addiction #02 – Freedom from SMOKING
This was a pretty tough chapter to write. Nicotine is an especially insidious drug, so I
knew that most smokers who would read it could very well “tune out” before they even
get to the information that could help them free themselves from its grasp. And then
there are also all you non-smokers who possibly believe that you don’t need to know
anything more about the damaging effects of nicotine for the simple reason that you don’t
smoke yourselves … Of course, nothing could be further from the Truth.
So, for those willing to become informed on this very important subject, consider …
NICOTINE – A FEW UNCOMMON FACTS
First of all, nicotine is not merely an “addictive substance” – nor is it simply another
“legal drug”. Nicotine is actually classified as a “Super-Toxin” – a poison that is drop for
drop more lethal than rattlesnake venom, and three times deadlier than arsenic.
When a person inhales cigarette smoke, the inside of their lungs forms overlapping layers
of moisture in order to keep nicotine’s poison from entering the bloodstream. At the same
time, logically, these same layers of moisture also keep oxygen molecules from entering
the bloodstream as well. That is why smoking drastically diminishes a smoker’s lung
capacity – their lungs literally cannot provide enough oxygen for their bodies. And yet
this defense mechanism is very important for every smoker – because if their lungs did
not prevent the absorption of the large doses of nicotine they are smoking, they would be
dead after smoking only a few packs!
While most people are not aware of the information I just shared, almost every smoker
these days IS aware that smoking causes cancer (of the 48,000+ chemicals in cigarette
smoke, at least 69 are currently known to directly cause cancer) and that it causes
premature death (with around 500,000 deaths attributed to smoking-related illnesses each
year in the U.S. alone) … In fact, cigarette smoking is now the number one source of
premature, preventable death in the world!
NICOTINE – the ADDICTION & its ADDICTS
So if folks already know how deadly cigarettes are, why are so many people still smoking
them? Well, for starters, it si not because smokers are “weak” – because they aren’t.
That’s right, you heard me … Indeed, for any of us non-smokers to judge a smoker
critically is to reach for the very pinnacle of pride. You see, of all the physiological
addictions available to humans, nicotine is tied with heroine as the one that is most
difficult to break.
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