Comparing Cigarettes and Other Drugs

This is in response to the individuals your paper interviewed during the smokeout. I became an ex-smoker as of March 27. Prior to that date, I smoked up to three packs a day for 17 years.

The last months of my smoking cigarettes were the worst time of my life. I literally lived to smoke. Day after day, I would get up out of bed and light one up, sometimes as many as two or three in a row. When I would get ready for work, or even while driving to the job, I would smoke up to half a pack. When I got to the office, the first thing I would do is light up again. During my breaks and lunches, I would smoke an entire pack. The cravings were as insane as my desire to buy up to four cartons of cigarettes a week.

Then, in the last two weeks of this past March, I felt a slight pain on my lower right side of my chest. I knew that this could only be the beginning of a respiratory ailment like emphysema, lung cancer or some other disease. I was later told that I was suffering from loss of circulation.

I made a decision that day; I prayed to God and asked him for help. I haven’t had a smoke nor a desire for one since that day passed. Don’t get me wrong; I suffered withdrawal for almost two months. But I accepted my pains knowing that in the long run I would live longer and healthier.

MANUEL J. RODRIGUEZ

Los Angeles