I hate cigarettes, hate cigarette smoke, and wish no one smoked them...

[kwassa]

118. No, they can't. This is why they are called addictions.

You have no knowledge base on this subject other than your personal experience, because you are wrong on a wider factual level. This suggests to me that you are in denial about your own dependence on nicotine.

The reason some choose not to give up an addiction is that they can't. There is no rational reason to chose to smoke, only the rationalization that they will be able to quit when they really want to.

Your health is your business, and you know the risks of smoking, though you underestimate the damage smoking causes, and how hard it is to quit. You will discover that when you finally make that attempt. I quit smoking 27 years ago, and I know exactly how hard it is.

from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/

Morbidity and Mortality

Tobacco use leads to disease and disability.

Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung diseases (including emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic airway obstruction).1
For every person who dies from a smoking-related disease, 20 more people suffer with at least one serious illness from smoking.2


Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death.

Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year, and current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030.3
In the United States, tobacco use is responsible for about one in five deaths annually (i.e., about 443,000 deaths per year, and an estimated 49,000 of these tobacco-related deaths are the result of secondhand smoke exposure).1
On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.4