Avoidcourt, your posting was well written and really touched me. I am sorry to hear about your health issues caused by smoking. Obviously, the impact that smoking has had on your quality of life is indeed significant. It obviously has also seriously impacted the lives of those that you love. I am also sorry to hear that you lost a lot of friends because you smoked. I can understand, because I do not associate with anyone who smokes. It is regretful that you didn't realize earlier in life what smoking was doing to you. So many people don't. I am truly amazed to see young people taking up smoking today because they think it's "cool". What's even more disturbing is listening to mature people on this website question any significant link between smoking and ill-health. One person in particular believes that the government and the medical profession are brainwashing us about the effects on smoking and that there really isn't any link between smoking and poor health; that the medical journals and lab reports are erroneous and fabricated. I didn't think such thinking even existed....and it's truly frightening. I concur with you that smoking needs to be banned from all public indoor/outdoor places. I wish you only good things in life and I hope you get better as time goes by.