For tens of thousands of people, these lyrics from Sade's 1985 hit song "The Sweetest Taboo" sum up their forbidden romance. But not with a special someone, with a thing - nicotine.
An incident I experienced the other day at a fast food restaurant drive-thru, of all places, illustrates nicotine's strong pull.
I'm sitting at the drive-thru with my car window cracked when the woman who was waiting on me steps away from the window to retrieve my food. Suddenly, another woman in a uniform walks up and starts approaching my vehicle.
This second woman is holding a cigarette and steps next to my car and bangs on the drive-thru window. The woman who had been waiting on me returns and looks mortified as her coworker hands her a lighter to return to another coworker.
While this is going on, the woman standing in the drive-thru next to my car is absentmindedly dangling her cigarette in my direction, so that all the smoke wafts into my car and blows directly into my face.
When the woman with the cigarette walks away, I joke to the woman who's waiting on me as she hands me my order, "Be sure to thank your friend for the free dose of nicotine."
The woman who'd inadvertently blown smoke in my face is a textbook example of the power of nicotine: she risked her job by doing something really silly. Snuffing her cigarette out before she stepped up to the drive-thru window (which she shouldn't have been doing in the first place) would have cost her a few precious puffs.
Instead of getting angry, the situation struck me as hilarious at the time. But nicotine addiction is really no laughing matter.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for more than 480,000 deaths, or one in five deaths, every year. More than 16 million Americans suffer from a smoking-related disease.
Fortunately, nicotine never became a habit for me. I once tried cigarettes as a teen, but smoking seemed disgusting, like putting my mouth on an exhaust pipe. And since one of my chores as a kid was emptying my grandfather's spittoon, which carried the nasty remnants of his Red Man chew, I was never tempted by smokeless tobacco, either.
We all have our bad habits. And nicotine seems to be one of the hardest to kick.
Instead of getting angry, the situation struck me as hilarious at the time. But nicotine addiction is really no laughing matter.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for more than 480,000 deaths, or one in five deaths, every year. More than 16 million Americans suffer from a smoking-related disease.
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| For tips on how to quit smoking, visit http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/how_to_quit/ |
Fortunately, nicotine never became a habit for me. I once tried cigarettes as a teen, but smoking seemed disgusting, like putting my mouth on an exhaust pipe. And since one of my chores as a kid was emptying my grandfather's spittoon, which carried the nasty remnants of his Red Man chew, I was never tempted by smokeless tobacco, either.
We all have our bad habits. And nicotine seems to be one of the hardest to kick.
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