142 replies to this topic

[Catz]

Smoking is my addiction.  It's been for a long time.  I've tried to quit but it has always been just too hard. For me, smoking is my only pleasure.  I am not a big eater or drinker.  Where others enjoy their good food or wine, I go for a cigarette.  Our government has also been taxing us hard on alcohol and cigarettes.  It is expensive, but it is not putting an end to my addiction. I am a considerate smoker - always smoke away from non-smokers, do not smoke inside and basicly just keep it to myself.  I do not cause any harm to others.  Yes, smoking is harmful to my health, but I feel that alcoholism and drug users should be of more concern. My smoking habit would not cause a car accident or cause me to be abusive towards my family.  When it comes to violent crime, prostitution and abuse, in most cases, alcohol and drugs are involved more ofthen than not.

Should cigarettes be illegal?  If cigarettes become illegal where will it end?  What's next? Will all fast foods and soft drinks become illegal too as this leads to heart disease and diabetes?  Should the government then make all our choices for us?
To smoke is my choice, and my choice only - As long as I do not harm those around me, and these days that is easy with the banning of smoking in public places.

Now let me get back to my coffee and cigarette..

Edited by Catz, 25 January 2013 - 03:47 PM.

[Hasina]

I believe you, on 25 January 2013 - 03:20 PM, said:

Any product shown to harm society should be regulated. Sodas contribute to poor lifestyles because of poorer health and it leads to early deaths robbing years of productivity from society. This is beyond the toll of higher health costs while they do live, get ill, and they might even die in the hospital. Alcohol does all this to some regarding a toll on health, it causes drunk driving incidents with others, and for even another group alcohol leads to abuse and other negative states emotionally. It kills just slower but it does kill.

Now you defend alcohol, your choice, but not cigarettes, saying they only kill. That is not exactly fair as smokers would claim the pleasure they derive just as those who drink would do the same? Or did you mean something other?

Pollocks to the 'society first ahead of the individual' ideal, I personally don't agree with it. An individual should care about themselves because they want to, not because someone's making them, which is why I dislike public healthcare. If someone wants to be unhealthy, let'em, just don't make me pay for their idiocy.

That's why alcohol's regulated usually, you have legal blood limits, etc. Very true, it doesn't help much, but there's a fine line between something that inhibits your ability to control your actions (something that should be regulated then) and something that causes cancer.

Soda and unhealthy foods? Once again, you'd have to have an unhealthy lifestyle to begin with. Are we not adult enough to know 'oh man I'm getting huge time to cut back on the pizzas!' Evidently not, but does that mean the government should tell us what to eat and drink? Well, if they want to make money with their public healthcare, darn right they will!

Alcohol has some health benefits, as does tobacco (some studies say at least) but cigarettes, especially the tar filled crud I'm smoking right now (I'm a Marlboro gal me self, I like the reds) that kills ya. I have no problem with those e-cigarettes, as long as it doesn't cause a cascade of health problems.

[Frank Merton]

I think the main difference between tobacco and things like soft drinks is the degree to which they are addictive.  That something is harmful without countervailing benefits is enough to put special restrictions and taxes on it, but something that kills people and is addictive so that many are helpless to do anything about it should not be something people are allowed to profit from.

[Frank Merton]

Hasina, on 25 January 2013 - 03:47 PM, said:

Alcohol has some health benefits, as does tobacco (some studies say at least) but cigarettes, especially the tar filled crud I'm smoking right now (I'm a Marlboro gal me self, I like the reds) that kills ya. I have no problem with those e-cigarettes, as long as it doesn't cause a cascade of health problems.

There are alternative, better ways to get the benefits alcohol can provide (statins and grapes) without the harm to your liver.

[Hasina]

Frank Merton, on 25 January 2013 - 03:52 PM, said:

There are alternative, better ways to get the benefits alcohol can provide (statins and grapes) without the harm to your liver.

No doubt there. Me and my dad are proven alcoholics. He took years to get over it, while I had to buckle down and quit for a few months and go cold turkey. Nowadays, myself and my dad have a glass of wine in the evenings, nothing more, nothing less, one glass.

[CrimsonKing]

As i have said myself about drugs,guns,and everything else banning them does nothing but make criminals rich.I dont need nanny barry and his buddies to tell me how to live.This country is becoming a nation of sheep,as voltaire said it is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere!

[Purifier]

Frank Merton, on 25 January 2013 - 03:44 PM, said:

Yea -- its like putting criminals in jail only works halfass -- you reduce crime some but you don't eliminate it and the jails have their own bad effects.

We do what we can.  Over time the generations that got hooked will die off and hopefully new smokers, once the profit motive is removed, can be prevented.  Now we have new smokers because there is profit to the tobacco companies in hooking them.

Where there is a will, there is a way, Frank. The question is, how do you remove the will?

[ExpandMyMind]

This thread really makes me want to go out in the blizzard to buy a packet of fags.

Back in 10...

[Frank Merton]

Hasina, on 25 January 2013 - 03:54 PM, said:

No doubt there. Me and my dad are proven alcoholics. He took years to get over it, while I had to buckle down and quit for a few months and go cold turkey. Nowadays, myself and my dad have a glass of wine in the evenings, nothing more, nothing less, one glass.

Maybe I'm fortunate but I've never been addicted to anything except food, which is why now I have to worry about diabetes.  Alcohol doesn't help there either, so I have to abstain completely.

[CrimsonKing]

Frank you seem like a knowledgeable guy from post i have read of yours,study up on some herbs and minerals that help regulate blood sugar levels and healthy diet.I have helped diabetics just cant give advice here lol

[ali smack]

I don't banning things work. It certainly didn't when booze was banned.
What they need to do is ban smoking in public and make it very expensive.
that'll stop people smoking cancer sticks.

[Mike D boy]

Oh boy, here we go: Laws banning a substance known to addict or injure people, at first sounds like a noble cause, but in the long run the law will backfire to create a criminal underworld to consume our society's time and resources to stamp out, like the war on drugs with Marijuana on its way to become legal someday throughout this country. Oregon's neighbor Washington state legalized marijuana for recreational use, the opposite is true on the legitimization of an illegal drug become legal in one of our states.

I have relatives who used to smoke: My Mom has COPD (Pulmonary Lung Disease) as well became overweight and diabetic by the way tobacco use affects the body by slowing down energy and metabolism in a negative manner. Alcoholism runs in my family on Dad's side as well, therefore I knew the impact of alcohol abuse can affect people. Honestly, I don't oppose anyone's right to have a drink, a smoke, a cheeseburger and cola, etc. so it shouldn't be anyone's business where laws and regulations are bound to fail.

[little_dreamer]

People have been smoking stuff for thousands of years.  It seems to be a part of human nature.
http://en.wikipedia....tory_of_smoking

(I know I use Wikipedia too much - it's a weakness.   Also not a smoker but I've tried it in the past.)

Edited by little_dreamer, 25 January 2013 - 04:35 PM.

[pallidin]

I heard a long time ago an argument that goes something like this:

"You can pilot an airplane drinking coffee and smoking a cig(both are powerful drugs), but you better not pilot a plane while drinking alcohol and smoking a joint"

Edited by pallidin, 25 January 2013 - 04:35 PM.

[ealdwita]

The 'Tobacco Control Act' enacted in Bhutan (Eastern Himalayas) in 2010 is the nearest any country has got to banning tobacco so far. It prohibits the cultivation, harvest, manufacture, supply, and distribution of tobacco, as well as the manufacture, supply, distribution, sale, and purchase of tobacco products within Bhutan.

Tobacco can be imported for personal use, but smuggling cigarettes for sale is punishable by a minimum of 3 years imprisonment.

I also suffer from mild COPD, and stopped smoking 4 years ago, but whatever the pros and cons, I personally believe a complete ban to be impractical.