Occasionally, I remark to others about a positive benefit of smoking. The reaction I get is almost always one of complete lack of interest... a sort of "Ho hum, I don't want to listen to you beating a dead horse". If I do press a little harder, I get a polite, disbelieving response. I can get a more interested reaction to the most inane piece of trivia. The reason is clear; it's "common knowledge" that smoking kills. We've all heard it so many times, from so many sources, with such vengeance, that it really is no longer even acceptable conversation. A few women have actually walked away, insulted and indignant that I would even dare question what they consider as a given.

Nevertheless, I am compelled to continue to try to get others to understand. Based on my experience, you're now wondering why in hell anyone should care. We certainly know, don't we, that smoking isn't GOOD for you, and most of us don't LIKE it, so why not just let the subject die a quiet death?

That's the question I'm going to answer today... why discuss a subject that is closed?

First, I want to remind everyone that the subject of marijuana was also "closed" long ago. It was the "devil weed", thoroughly despised and feared. For a long time, marijuana was a verboten subject... we all "knew" that it was destructive and completely without merit of any kind. Thanks to a long, difficult battle, 80% of our population now favors the use of medical marijuana. Our federal government will, naturally, be the last to admit that marijuana has benefits, but the medical benefits of it are now undeniably clear.

I want you to understand that the very same thing is true of tobacco smoking. If you consider how brainwashed and wrong we were about marijuana, it should NOT be hard to believe that we could be just as brainwashed and wrong about tobacco. We have been bamboozled about many things in the past. We should be aware that "common knowledge" and what "they" say is very often false.

The health benefits of smoking cigarettes are not unknown or imaginary. They are supported by scientific research... research that has often gotten no publicity, or has gotten enormous adverse publicity by those groups who have built giant organizations by fleecing donations from gullible followers who believe they're fighting a health hazard. In some cases, researchers who dared to present positive results about tobacco have been personally vilified and physically threatened. Some have been pressured into keeping their results quiet with threats of the loss of research funding.

Nevertheless, the results are available, and they're significant. The problem is getting anyone to pay any attention to them.

Here's a reference from one of many articles I found about the results of a new study:

Scientists reported yesterday that nicotine seems to diminish mental impairment stemming from stress or an underactive thyroid -- the latest in a growing body of evidence that the long vilified substance may help people with brain disorders ranging from Alzheimer's disease to schizophrenia.

Notice that it says "a growing body of evidence". This isn't news, this is supplemental information. It's been known for some time that smokers suffer from Alzheimer's and Parkinsons much less often and less severely than non-smokers. It's also been noted for years that schizophrenics almost all smoke cigarettes, presumably as a form of self-medication.

There is information in this latest report that I hadn't heard before, and it's startling to me...

[for] "teenagers with ADHD, nicotine administered through a skin patch appeared as effective as Ritalin in helping them perform an important mental function called inhibition, which involves the patient blocking a distracting response". The teens' improved concentration could help explain why adolescents with ADHD are much more likely to smoke.

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is being widely discussed these days. Currently, as many as 7.5% of school age children are believed to have true ADHD. ADHD children have trouble in school and are at increased risk of a host of social problems, including drug and alcohol abuse.  It affects boys more than girls, and runs in families. There also seems to be a strong correlation between ADHD and criminal activity.

The exact cause of ADHD is unknown, but it's believed to be a neurobiologic disorder. The areas of the brain that help control attention and activity appear to be underactive in people with ADHD. Ritalin has become the widespread, rather notorious medication for controlling ADHD, and is not without adverse side effects. (more)

Tomorrow in Part 2: The important questions we should be asking, and why.