Dozens of times. When I really wanted to, I did. It’s been 22 years, and I haven’t so much as taken a drag. My wife smoked next to me on the couch as long as she was alive.

Alcoholics can develop cirrhosis of the liver if they don’t address their alcoholism. Smokers can develop lung cancer if they don’t address their nicotine addiction. Obese people can develop diabetes or heart disease if they don’t address their weight problem. If people admit their problems and try to fix them, you’ll see sympathy. On the other hand, if they just live in denial and continue on with their behaviors, you won’t see much sympathy when problems such as cirrhosis, lung cancer, diabetes or heart disease come to pass.

While it doesn’t qualify me in any way, my dad has worked in alcohol treatment on the support group side of things in a clinical setting. As his father was an alcoholic who abandoned his family of nine brothers and sisters when he was 12, he’s always been sure to impart the very real dangers of alcoholism that my possible hereditary predisposition could lead me to.

You seem content to make a nuanced and complex issue black-and-white while disregarding an entire field of scientific work.