In some ways it does have special considerations in parts of AA I've experienced. I know of several discussion meetings that pause the meeting so people can go out and have a smoke break. I figure if that is what the group wants to do, OK by me. I'll sit right where I am with my oxygen tank.
Treadly is right on #23. I'm the poster child for what happens when you don't quit in time. I may not have to worry about jails and institutions, but I'll not be able to get around the early death. I lost a good job at the peak of my career, the ability to go camping, hunting, fishing, playing outside with my grandkids, forcing my wife to become my caregiver. Simply traveling overnight became a massive exercise in logistics and planning.
What is ironic about all this, is about 20% of people that drink struggle with alcohol sometime in their lives. 20% of smokers get emphysema. For those that get severe emphysema, there is no AA for it. 100% will die a pretty miserable death before they die of old age.
Despite all that, I'm sure glad I got sober. If I hadn't, I'd never have quit smoking...

Hugs,
Dennis

My counselor offered research that smokers were four times more likely to relapse on alcohol/drugs. Has to do with pleasure pathways. Might be worth looking into. Look at it if interested.

Here is the Reward pathway

http://stavros69.blogspot.com/2013/09/reward-circuits-themesolimbic-dopamine_30.html

Mind if I weigh in Treadly. Good to see you still passionate about this topic. I am too. Reply 26 and 27 resonated with my experience. I smoked most of my life and when I gave up drinking I was so busy making changes elsewhere in my life that I quitting smoking wasn't a thought.

I continued for another year and that's where the knowledge and awareness Nicky talked about came in. Not for me, but with my daughter. They had some anti-smoking ads on tellie that showed diseased organs being dissected etc. For me it just reminded me to go outside for a smoke, but for my little girl, she watched them. One day as the ad came on and I was heading out the back, she looked at me and said "Mum... I don't want you to die". I never smoked again.

Being sober probably helped as I was learning to listen to messages that crossed my path instead of dismissing them. God how many messages I'd missed over the years. Something else that happened was I wanted to give up. I just needed a reason to want to and she gave it to me.

24hrs later I could breathe better. The difference was noticeable that early and over the days and weeks that followed, I felt so much better. Fast forward 14 years today and no-one smokes in my home and my daughter who is 18 now hasn't ever wanted to even try it. If i'd kept smoking, well, wouldn't have been a good role model if I'd survived that long. I'm glad they had those ads on TV and I hope they reach out to the next generation like they did to my daughters. Because in that moment on that day that she watched that ad, it was another moment of change in my life.

Don you know what --- I just heard a speaker on my a.m. run and thought of this post. He was talking about in his first two months his sponsor told him to carry the message into treatment centers. He said to his sponsor what do I have to offer? I've only got 2 months sobriety? His sponsor said something like "just go jackass and bring a carton of cigarettes."
LOL. Wrong on so many levels.

Thank you for that post Denny. Sorry to hear about your COPD but glad you are no longer making it worse.