Why Do People Start Using Tobacco In 2009?

Some things have been going on recently that have made me start thinking back to my “glory days.” One of the things that has come to mind is when I started dipping.  I still remember my first dip. Who I was with, how sick I was, how I justified it.  I’m a little fuzzy on why there was a second after being so sick…but that’s another topic.  I was an athlete so smoking was out.  It was dangerous, it would slow me down, and I really didn’t care for the smell of it.  But in 1985 in this neck of the woods, dip wasn’t any of that.  There was no label on the can and c-stores were just as happy as a clam to sell it to a 14 year old.

So fast forward to 2009.  Dip has gained its rightful status of taboo.  But there are still folks picking up the habit.  Not just adults, but kids.  And not just dipping either.  I see young folks all together too often puffing away or spitting that nasty brown crap.  What is going on?

The schools are doing their damnedest to make these kids aware of all the things that are wrong with tobacco.  The lawmakers are trying to legislate tobacco off the planet.  Rules and laws are being put in place too keep tobacco out of the hands of our youth.  TV commercials have been put in place to change the once glamorous connotation of tobacco to that of social outcast.

All of this has to make one wonder, what else can be done.  And most importantly, what can a dim witted dope that couldn’t make the decision not to start in the first place say to his kids to keep them from being “a spitting image of their father”? (Quote courtesy of QuittinTime).

NOTE: This piece written by KillTheCan.org forum member 11×4