On Mar 8, 3:17*am, Don Foreman wrote:
On Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:31:48 -0800, Hawke

wrote:
Sheen was saying that HE cured himself by willing it to happen.
That statement is as goofy as the things that come out of Gummer.

Hawke

That is exactly how I quit smoking after being addicted for 40 years.
I willed it to happen. *No drugs, patches or other crutches. * It'll
be 3 years in May, 4 years the following May, and so on.

TBD whether Charlie cured himself, we'll see if it sticks. It can be
done.

I smoked three packs a day for 15 years. Quit cold turkey in 1984. To
this day, I often find myself looking in my shirt pocket for a
cigarette. I;m glad it was so easy for you. Such is not the case for
everyone, though.

On Wed, 9 Mar 2011 19:53:37 -0800 (PST), rangerssuck
wrote:

On Mar 8, 3:17*am, Don Foreman wrote:
On Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:31:48 -0800, Hawke

wrote:
Sheen was saying that HE cured himself by willing it to happen.
That statement is as goofy as the things that come out of Gummer.

Hawke

That is exactly how I quit smoking after being addicted for 40 years.
I willed it to happen. *No drugs, patches or other crutches. * It'll
be 3 years in May, 4 years the following May, and so on.

TBD whether Charlie cured himself, we'll see if it sticks. It can be
done.

I smoked three packs a day for 15 years. Quit cold turkey in 1984. To
this day, I often find myself looking in my shirt pocket for a
cigarette. I;m glad it was so easy for you. Such is not the case for
everyone, though.

I didn't say it was easy! I had tried before and failed.

On Wed, 9 Mar 2011 19:53:37 -0800 (PST), rangerssuck
wrote:

On Mar 8, 3:17*am, Don Foreman wrote:
On Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:31:48 -0800, Hawke

wrote:
Sheen was saying that HE cured himself by willing it to happen.
That statement is as goofy as the things that come out of Gummer.

Hawke

That is exactly how I quit smoking after being addicted for 40 years.
I willed it to happen. *No drugs, patches or other crutches. * It'll
be 3 years in May, 4 years the following May, and so on.

TBD whether Charlie cured himself, we'll see if it sticks. It can be
done.

I smoked three packs a day for 15 years. Quit cold turkey in 1984. To
this day, I often find myself looking in my shirt pocket for a
cigarette. I;m glad it was so easy for you. Such is not the case for
everyone, though.
Being Canadian, with our card stock cigarette packs, when I quit
smoking I had to start carrying a note pad in order to have something
to write on and also to replace the missing weight in my shirt pocket.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 01:56:28 -0500, Gerald Miller
wrote:

On Wed, 9 Mar 2011 19:53:37 -0800 (PST), rangerssuck
wrote:

On Mar 8, 3:17Â*am, Don Foreman wrote:
On Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:31:48 -0800, Hawke

wrote:
Sheen was saying that HE cured himself by willing it to happen.
That statement is as goofy as the things that come out of Gummer.

Hawke

That is exactly how I quit smoking after being addicted for 40 years.
I willed it to happen. Â*No drugs, patches or other crutches. Â* It'll
be 3 years in May, 4 years the following May, and so on.

TBD whether Charlie cured himself, we'll see if it sticks. It can be
done.

I smoked three packs a day for 15 years. Quit cold turkey in 1984. To
this day, I often find myself looking in my shirt pocket for a
cigarette. I;m glad it was so easy for you. Such is not the case for
everyone, though.
Being Canadian, with our card stock cigarette packs, when I quit
smoking I had to start carrying a note pad in order to have something
to write on and also to replace the missing weight in my shirt pocket.

Doesn't that get in the way of your pocket protector, Ger?

--
Life is full of obstacle illusions.
-- Grant Frazier

On Mar 10, 2:24*pm, Hawke wrote:

*wrote:
Sheen was saying that HE cured himself by willing it to happen.
That statement is as goofy as the things that come out of Gummer.

Hawke




Those guys are just ignorant.
Hawke

These people are not ignorant. They were stating facts about how they
quit. Some people can decide to stop and do so. Others can not.
Just because you do not realize that people are not all the same, does
not make them wrong. You just look ludicrous when you post without
thinking.

Dan

On 3/10/2011 12:39 PM, wrote:
On Mar 10, 2:24 pm, wrote:

wrote:
Sheen was saying that HE cured himself by willing it to happen.
That statement is as goofy as the things that come out of Gummer.

Hawke




Those guys are just ignorant.
Hawke

These people are not ignorant. They were stating facts about how they
quit. Some people can decide to stop and do so. Others can not.
Just because you do not realize that people are not all the same, does
not make them wrong. You just look ludicrous when you post without
thinking.

Dan


Testimonials from people who quit doing something that they were
addicted to is not related to the field of addiction and what is true
and what is not. Those who said they quit cold turkey or any other way
are just anecdotes. Want to talk about the science of addiction with
them? I'm telling you they are ignorant about what the facts are and are
not. Dr. Drew Pinsky is an expert on the subject. I'm sorry if I take
more store in what he says about nicotine addiction than some yo yo who
quit smoking. He's a scientist who is an expert in the field. I get
information from him. Are you saying you can get the facts from anyone
off the street that has quit smoking better than from him? I'll go with
the educated guy every time. You can believe the addict if you choose
to. Not me. I've known too many personally and I find them unreliable.

Hawke

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:35:16 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 01:56:28 -0500, Gerald Miller
wrote:

On Wed, 9 Mar 2011 19:53:37 -0800 (PST), rangerssuck
wrote:

On Mar 8, 3:17*am, Don Foreman wrote:
On Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:31:48 -0800, Hawke

wrote:
Sheen was saying that HE cured himself by willing it to happen.
That statement is as goofy as the things that come out of Gummer.

Hawke

That is exactly how I quit smoking after being addicted for 40 years.
I willed it to happen. *No drugs, patches or other crutches. * It'll
be 3 years in May, 4 years the following May, and so on.

TBD whether Charlie cured himself, we'll see if it sticks. It can be
done.

I smoked three packs a day for 15 years. Quit cold turkey in 1984. To
this day, I often find myself looking in my shirt pocket for a
cigarette. I;m glad it was so easy for you. Such is not the case for
everyone, though.
Being Canadian, with our card stock cigarette packs, when I quit
smoking I had to start carrying a note pad in order to have something
to write on and also to replace the missing weight in my shirt pocket.

Doesn't that get in the way of your pocket protector, Ger?
Haven't been able to find them for forty or more years.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 21:35:19 -0500, Gerald Miller
wrote:

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:35:16 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 01:56:28 -0500, Gerald Miller
wrote:

Being Canadian, with our card stock cigarette packs, when I quit
smoking I had to start carrying a note pad in order to have something
to write on and also to replace the missing weight in my shirt pocket.

Doesn't that get in the way of your pocket protector, Ger?

Haven't been able to find them for forty or more years.

What? You have just ruined my mental picture of you, Gerry.

--
Know how to listen, and you will
profit even from those who talk badly.
-- Plutarch

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:24:45 -0800, Hawke
wrote:

On 3/9/2011 7:53 PM, rangerssuck wrote:
On Mar 8, 3:17 am, Don wrote:
On Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:31:48 -0800, Hawke

wrote:
Sheen was saying that HE cured himself by willing it to happen.
That statement is as goofy as the things that come out of Gummer.

Hawke

That is exactly how I quit smoking after being addicted for 40 years.
I willed it to happen. No drugs, patches or other crutches. It'll
be 3 years in May, 4 years the following May, and so on.

TBD whether Charlie cured himself, we'll see if it sticks. It can be
done.

I smoked three packs a day for 15 years. Quit cold turkey in 1984. To
this day, I often find myself looking in my shirt pocket for a
cigarette. I;m glad it was so easy for you. Such is not the case for
everyone, though.


Those guys are just ignorant. If they were correct you could say the
same thing about heroin addiction or alcohol addiction. You just decide
not to do them anymore and it's over with? Yeah, sure, that's how
addiction works. Well, maybe there is no such thing as addiction either.
It's just "weakness". Yeah, that's it. It's just weakness that prevents
people from quitting addictive substances. Anyone who knows anything
understands that kind of thinking is wrong. Addiction is real. Whether
it's nicotine, heroin, or alcohol, or other drugs, they are physically
addictive. Any time someone tries to stop using those substances it's
very difficult and it takes more than simply making a decision. As Sheen
himself pointed out the cure rate for alcoholics is only 5%. So does
that make the other 95% of alcoholics just weak people?

People quit using addictive substances without help all the time. But
most people addicted to some kind of chemical can't do it on their own.
It's not a matter of will. That's 19th century thinking. My hat's off to
anyone that quits smoking on their own, or quits any addictive
substance. I know it's difficult. But not understanding the real
difficulty of getting off some of those substances, and that it takes
doctors and a lot of help for most people to do it, only demonstrates
the lack of knowledge of those who think that way. They're the kind of
people who still think you can beat the homosexuality out of a conservative.

Hawke

I think it's more a matter of motivation than of strength.

I had the help of a couple of doctors. They told me that my risk
wasn't merely an enhanced risk of cancer maybe someday. They told me
that if I didn't quit immediately and totally I would have another
heart attack within a year, one that I very probably would not survive
-- and did I realize how incredibly lucky I'd been this time?

Tawk about motivation!

I already had a number of other miseries to distract me and I'd
already been off smokes for 5 days while in a coma, so I already had a
head start.

I wish Mary hadn't tossed my windproof butane lighter, though. It was
really useful for singing nylon line to stop it from raveling.

On 3/10/2011 10:40 PM, Don Foreman wrote:
On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:24:45 -0800, Hawke
wrote:

On 3/9/2011 7:53 PM, rangerssuck wrote:
On Mar 8, 3:17 am, Don wrote:
On Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:31:48 -0800, Hawke

wrote:
Sheen was saying that HE cured himself by willing it to happen.
That statement is as goofy as the things that come out of Gummer.

Hawke

That is exactly how I quit smoking after being addicted for 40 years.
I willed it to happen. No drugs, patches or other crutches. It'll
be 3 years in May, 4 years the following May, and so on.

TBD whether Charlie cured himself, we'll see if it sticks. It can be
done.

I smoked three packs a day for 15 years. Quit cold turkey in 1984. To
this day, I often find myself looking in my shirt pocket for a
cigarette. I;m glad it was so easy for you. Such is not the case for
everyone, though.


Those guys are just ignorant. If they were correct you could say the
same thing about heroin addiction or alcohol addiction. You just decide
not to do them anymore and it's over with? Yeah, sure, that's how
addiction works. Well, maybe there is no such thing as addiction either.
It's just "weakness". Yeah, that's it. It's just weakness that prevents
people from quitting addictive substances. Anyone who knows anything
understands that kind of thinking is wrong. Addiction is real. Whether
it's nicotine, heroin, or alcohol, or other drugs, they are physically
addictive. Any time someone tries to stop using those substances it's
very difficult and it takes more than simply making a decision. As Sheen
himself pointed out the cure rate for alcoholics is only 5%. So does
that make the other 95% of alcoholics just weak people?

People quit using addictive substances without help all the time. But
most people addicted to some kind of chemical can't do it on their own.
It's not a matter of will. That's 19th century thinking. My hat's off to
anyone that quits smoking on their own, or quits any addictive
substance. I know it's difficult. But not understanding the real
difficulty of getting off some of those substances, and that it takes
doctors and a lot of help for most people to do it, only demonstrates
the lack of knowledge of those who think that way. They're the kind of
people who still think you can beat the homosexuality out of a conservative.

Hawke

I think it's more a matter of motivation than of strength.

I had the help of a couple of doctors. They told me that my risk
wasn't merely an enhanced risk of cancer maybe someday. They told me
that if I didn't quit immediately and totally I would have another
heart attack within a year, one that I very probably would not survive
-- and did I realize how incredibly lucky I'd been this time?

Tawk about motivation!

I already had a number of other miseries to distract me and I'd
already been off smokes for 5 days while in a coma, so I already had a
head start.

I wish Mary hadn't tossed my windproof butane lighter, though. It was
really useful for singing nylon line to stop it from raveling.


The way you know how hard it is to quit using an addictive substance is
by seeing an old person carrying around one of those oxygen bottles with
them...and they're having a smoke. Now that's commitment. You'd think
that being on oxygen would be enough to convince anyone to quit but long
term addiction, especially to tobacco, is really hard to break. I salute
anyone who does it no matter how.

My father was a two plus packs a day smoker for over 50 years, a WWII
vet. Around a decade ago he had an aortic aneurysm that he had to have
surgery for. After being in the hospital for that procedure he stopped
smoking. Had it not been for that I'm sure he never would have. So
whatever it takes stopping is always the best thing you can do for
yourself.

Hawke

On Mar 10, 7:52*pm, Hawke wrote:


Dr. Drew Pinsky is an expert on the subject. I'm sorry if I take
more store in what he says about nicotine addiction than some yo yo who
quit smoking.

Hawke

I did some looking for papers that Dr. Drew Pinsky wrote and only
found references to his TV show appearances. Maybe you could tell me
better places to look to find his research.

Dan

On 3/11/2011 2:23 PM, wrote:
On Mar 10, 7:52 pm, wrote:


Dr. Drew Pinsky is an expert on the subject. I'm sorry if I take
more store in what he says about nicotine addiction than some yo yo who
quit smoking.

Hawke

I did some looking for papers that Dr. Drew Pinsky wrote and only
found references to his TV show appearances. Maybe you could tell me
better places to look to find his research.

Dan




I can't give you access to any research he's done personally. But I can
tell you that he is extremely well qualified in the field of addiction.
He is a medical doctor and addiction is his specialty. Below is a list
of his credentials. Like I said, I don't have anything specific on his
own research but he's one of the tops in the field of addiction. Which
is why I believe him when he talks about addiction and not just anybody
else who has an opinion. His opinions are educated ones.



Additional Credentials:
BA Amherst College
MD University Of Southern California, *Keck School Of Medicine
Residency Internal Medicine, *Huntington Memorial Hospital, *USC Affiliate
Chief Residency Internal Medicine, *Huntington Memorial Hospital
Board Certified Internal Medicine, *American Board of Internal Medicine
Board Certified Addiction Medicine, *American Society of Addiction Medicine
Member of American College Of Physicians

Current Positions
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, *Keck USC School of Medicine
Program Medical Director Chemical Dependency, *Las Encinas Hospital
Active Staff Huntington Memorial Hospital

On Sat, 12 Mar 2011 12:15:01 -0800, Hawke
wrote:

On 3/11/2011 2:23 PM, wrote:
On Mar 10, 7:52 pm, wrote:


Dr. Drew Pinsky is an expert on the subject. I'm sorry if I take
more store in what he says about nicotine addiction than some yo yo who
quit smoking.

Hawke

I did some looking for papers that Dr. Drew Pinsky wrote and only
found references to his TV show appearances. Maybe you could tell me
better places to look to find his research.

Dan




I can't give you access to any research he's done personally. But I can
tell you that he is extremely well qualified in the field of addiction.
He is a medical doctor and addiction is his specialty. Below is a list
of his credentials. Like I said, I don't have anything specific on his
own research but he's one of the tops in the field of addiction. Which
is why I believe him when he talks about addiction and not just anybody
else who has an opinion. His opinions are educated ones.



Additional Credentials:
BA Amherst College
MD University Of Southern California, *Keck School Of Medicine
Residency Internal Medicine, *Huntington Memorial Hospital, *USC Affiliate
Chief Residency Internal Medicine, *Huntington Memorial Hospital
Board Certified Internal Medicine, *American Board of Internal Medicine
Board Certified Addiction Medicine, *American Society of Addiction Medicine
Member of American College Of Physicians

Current Positions
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, *Keck USC School of Medicine
If he's tops, why is he only an assistant?

Program Medical Director Chemical Dependency, *Las Encinas Hospital
apparently not...
http://www.lasencinashospital.com/ab...al%20staff.php

Active Staff Huntington Memorial Hospital


On a January 2011 episode of Loveline, Pinsky mentioned that he
appeared on Wheel of Fortune in 1984, but did not win anything.

Dr. Drew Pinsky made his acting debut in "Terminal," a 1998 episode of
the TV show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and later appeared on Dawson's
Creek and Family Guy

He has also hosted his own television series, Strictly Sex with Dr.
Drew, on the Discovery Health Channel

In 2008, Pinsky starred in Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, a reality
television show which involves celebrities in a drug rehabilitation
facility.

Pinsky also appears on the MTV series Sex...with Mom and Dad.

In November 2009, Pinsky starred a spinoff of Celebrity Rehab, Sex
Rehab with Dr.Drew. Patients included members celebrities being
treated with sexual addiction

Honors: Asteroid 4536 Drewpinsky is named in his honor.


In 2009 Pinsky drew criticism from experts for publicly offering
professional opinions of celebrities he has never met or personally
examined, based on media accounts, and has also drawn the ire of some
of those celebrities. Following comments Pinsky made about actor Tom
Cruise's belief in Scientology and Lindsay Lohan's drug abuse,
Cruise's lawyer compared Pinsky to Joseph Goebbels, and Lohan posted
on Twitter, "I thought REAL doctors talked to patients in offices
behind closed doors