“Betcha can’t eat just one!” I remember when that now-famous potato chip slogan first appeared in television commercials back in the 1960’s. The implication was that their chips are so tasty, they’re addictive: once we start eating them we simply won’t be able stop.

It may have been a snack food company that originally came up with this marketing concept, but it’s the tobacco companies that have been banking on it all along. They know how addictive their products are and are fully aware that we “can’t smoke just one.” I learned this lesson quite well the very first time I tried to quit smoking.

I was 18 years old and had been smoking for about three years. I kept telling myself that I wasn’t like everyone else and would never allow myself to get hooked on cigarettes. To prove it, I decided to quit at that time and was successful for about six months. Then, I made the mistake that all too many of us make: I decided to smoke “just one” to remind myself of what it was like to be a smoker. BIG MISTAKE! All it took was that one cigarette and I went back to buying them by the pack.

More than 40 years later, it’s now been nearly two years since I quit smoking once and for all. This time I know how dangerous it would be for me to “smoke just one.” Whether I’ve been quit for six weeks, six months, or six years, I can never allow myself to take even one puff of a cigarette because I know the consequences all too well. If forced to make a choice, pass me the chips!

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