November 2005
Question…
I want to help my boyfriend quit (and he wants to too) but all the advice we
can find seems to be for people who smoke a lot. What can he do to quit even
though he’s just a “social smoker” – usually one or two a week? (Because
smoking none at all would still be better!).
Sharon’s Response
Dear ‘wanting to help’:
It may be difficult to convince your boyfriend to ‘quit’ something he really isn’t aware he is doing. I
am sure he does not consider himself to be a ‘smoker’ for instance. If you can find a Leave The Pack Behind team
on a campus you could get a copy of the brochure that has a self-rating questionnaire inside. The danger for him is that
smoking can become more frequent in different situations. Since he uses tobacco in certain situations now this may accelerate
in times of stress. Nicotine is very addictive so this may happen over a period of time without him realizing he is smoking
more. Reading the short questionnaire may make him stop and think more about it.
What can you do? Look at the situations which lead him to smoke and try to find other things to do. Is he smoking with certain
groups of friends? Or when drinking alcohol? These are the common time to ‘social smoke’. An open discussion about
this may be the best thing to do, without harassing him He should know how you feel about it and that you are concerned.
Otherwise, it is entirely up to him, although you need to avoid any exposure to secondhand smoke for your own health. A change
of environment or friends can also mean he may drop the smoking behaviour.
Best of luck!,
Sharon
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