Yesterday I invited a good friend to take a coffee at my place. Now, I don’t know you, but I like my coffee with cigarettes (about 2 per cup). So I am drinking my coffee and smoking my cigarette, minding my own business when my friend tells me “That shit is going to give you cancer” and I am like “pffft! so what! A single one of these is not going to make any difference”. So he replies: “I just read this one article about how no amount of smoking is safe for you”. At this point I am like “GTFO! Pictures or it never happened”. So he shows me the article. Let me tell you folks, I’m never going to be the same Jhonny again. DAMMIT! He ruined smoking for me! Smoking is like, pretty much the only thing I do all day besides writing posts for this Blog! I am the sole reason my office has a smokers area! IT’S MY CUBICLE!!!

Anyhow, if you do like smoking hit the break at your own risk.

Even a single cigarette poses health risks.

That’s the latest conclusion from the U.S. surgeon general in a new report on the health effects of smoking.

The report, released Thursday, suggests for the first time that even small amounts of smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke can have health consequences, particularly in people with pre-existing disease.

“This report concludes that damage from tobacco smoke is immediate,” said U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD.

Obama administration officials said their report lays out for the first time the damage smoking can do at the cellular and organ level. For example, the report finds inhaling cigarette smoke causes immediate changes in the lining of blood vessels that can make blood clots more likely.

That can mean an increased risk of a heart attack, even from secondhand smoke, particularly in people who already have cardiovascular disease.

That effect on blood vessels can also damage a diabetic person’s ability to control their blood sugar and can make the consequences of poor control more pronounced, Benjamin said. Vascular damage in diabetic people often leads to kidney problems, nerve damage, and blindness.

The root of the problem is that even small amounts of the chemicals in cigarette smoke cause rapid inflammation in the endothelium, or lining, of blood vessels and in the lungs. Inflammation is increasingly blamed by researchers as a key promoter of blood vessel plaques and clots and in obstructive lung diseases like emphysema.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, the science is going to find a way to cure cancer and make artificial lungs and shit but, being honest, I don’t think I could afford that, it will probably cost an eye. I’d rather keep both eyes and both lungs.

I can not emphasize how much this sucks! I can’t even put it into words, that is why I made a song:

Da-da-da-da-dum! I will miss cigarettes
I like to smoke da-da-dGOD DAMMIT I WANT TO SMOKE!! WHY DID YOU HAD TO RUIN IT FOR ME!?!?!?!?!!!

Visit webmd.com to see the entire article while I go buy a truckload of nicotine patches!! 

Surgeon General: No Amount of Smoking Is Safe

Image courtesy of thehealthtime.com (not the same source as the original article)

Special thanks to Armando for ruining cigarettes for me the tip! I hate you. You are a good friend.