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ttz, I'm just curious-are you one to walk by someone when they are smoking, no matter how far away they are, and make it a point to start coughing and hacking really really loud?
(No, I'm not a smoker)
Actually I do not say anything and I do not fake cough. I do not hate smokers, it's not thier fault. They are smoking because they are addicted and cannot easily stop. It's easier to kick a heroine or coke habit than cigs.
Yes I know it's shocking but it's the truth. I just try to avoid SHS as much as possible as I don't want lung cancer.
The reason I am so extreme is because I have seen first hand what this destructive habit can do to someone and how it can entrap them and make them a prisoner. And how it slowly sucks the life and money out of you.
I used to say that cigarettes should be banned in all public places, but now I say they should be banned completely. I was watching a show called "The Dr's" today, and they were talking about "third hand smoke." I never heard of this term before today. It seems that even people that smoke outside, and away from us are making all of us sick. Here are some links on this....
I say enough is enough already. I remember having friends who were so addicted to cigarettes, they would literally beg to smoke in my car like they would die if they did not have one. I remember going to nightclubs and bars and coming home smelling like smoke and being sick from it. I remember my eyes burning. Sorry for the ranting and all, but what are everyone else's opinion on this issue?
I'm speaking to you now as someone who's allergic to tobacco smoke. I think it should never be outlawed because it would create a whole new foothold for organized crime. It was outlawing alcohol that made the mob so powerful in this country, and they've never really been unseated despite the real of the 18th Amendment and decades of hard effort by law enforcement. I do not want to boost their sales.
Also, let me just note that when they shake a prison down and clear out the alcohol stills, the inmates grumble but they make do. When the cigarettes run out, there's a riot. I don't understand the power this stuff has over people, but I do respect it. I don't want to see any police officers barbecued on any streetcorners over this issue.
Also: How on earth are you going to outlaw a plant that's also a weed native to this country?
I'm speaking to you now as someone who's allergic to tobacco smoke. I think it should never be outlawed because it would create a whole new foothold for organized crime. It was outlawing alcohol that made the mob so powerful in this country, and they've never really been unseated despite the real of the 18th Amendment and decades of hard effort by law enforcement. I do not want to boost their sales.
Also, let me just note that when they shake a prison down and clear out the alcohol stills, the inmates grumble but they make do. When the cigarettes run out, there's a riot. I don't understand the power this stuff has over people, but I do respect it. I don't want to see any police officers barbecued on any streetcorners over this issue.
Also: How on earth are you going to outlaw a plant that's also a weed native to this country?
Good post and good observations cliffie but the US has already outlawed a plant that is native to this country: Marijuana. And we all know how succesful that has been. I think pot should be legal and taxed and controlled in the way that tobacco is. Marijuana is much less dangerous than tobacco. Less harmful to the lungs due to the fact that most pot smokers do not chain smoke marijuana cigarettes.
Cigarettes are banned in NJ prisons. All it has done is to give more control and power to prisoners who control the flow of illegal substances. When will the government wake up and realize that the problems that illegal sustances cause is not in their essence but the fact that they are illegal. People enjoy freedom of choice, especially when it comes to what or not they choose to introduce into thier bodies.
We should start with this because it kills 400,000 people a year. Sounds like a valid reason to many. It causes the cancer from 1 in 5 cases. It's the number 1 preventible disease in America. It shortens your life span (if you are lucky) ~15 years. I can go on and on about your precious smokes but I won't...
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Gosh it's amazing how "people like you" have such a hard time with freedoms and liberties, but for the rest of us we can care less about this one freedom, because we don't smoke! Really, if this gets banned, why do some of you think this somehow gives the gov't the green light to not stop there? Why would they continue?!!? Tobacco is very bad for you and kills a lot of people! Sugar, coffee, big macs, soda pop do not kill nearly as many combined. It's not like everything else will start to get banned because poor tobacco got the axe first...
Why not? Why wouldn't they continue to ban more and more if Tobacco was to be banned? What would stop them from banning Cheese next? Cheese has saturated fat, which causes heart disease, which is the actual #1 cause of death (look at my earlier link to the GOVERNMENT's list of death causes) in this country.
Again, I don't smoke cigarettes, but I'm not a traitor to the country who thinks we're better off as a fascist nanny state instead of the country of free men and women this was founded to be. You want to live in a society where you have no choice as to what you put in your body, move to Singapore.
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But this whole thread is a moot point, as Tobacco will never get banned as long as the cash cow is producing milk.
So just because the military is doing it, it's okay? As we used to say to our subordinates: "We fight to defend democracy, we do not claim to practice it here". Are you saying that we should have a caste system where anyone with a lower rank must obey? How about uniforms as to what we can wear? Maybe there should be facial hair standards? Hair length too...see where I'm going with this?
Actually I do not say anything and I do not fake cough. I do not hate smokers, it's not thier fault. They are smoking because they are addicted and cannot easily stop. It's easier to kick a heroine or coke habit than cigs.
Yes I know it's shocking but it's the truth. I just try to avoid SHS as much as possible as I don't want lung cancer.
The reason I am so extreme is because I have seen first hand what this destructive habit can do to someone and how it can entrap them and make them a prisoner. And how it slowly sucks the life and money out of you.
My sister is addicted to cigarettes and it's a really annoying thing. We have to plan everything around her smoking and her car and house smell like an ash tray. But that's her right as a human being. If she wants to live that way, it's her choice. She's an adult.
Again, why do we need a nanny state telling us how to live? Maybe we don't want to live to be 107 if we're unable to enjoy ourselves. Maybe I want to have the freedom to smoke a big cigar when my best friend gets married or when we ring in the new year. People like you simply do not understand what they are suggesting, the consequences of their choices are clearly not thought through.
Let me ask you this, how has the ban on Crack-Cocaine worked? What about the ban on Heroin? Perhaps we should talk about the ban on Marijuana? What about those bans on Gambling and Alcohol?
I don't really miss trans fats because I never knew the difference between them and the regular fats...but telling a smoker that they have to give cigarettes up because some people have the desire to do so but are too weak to do it without the Government's help is pretty ridiculous.
Seriously, do you take the time to consider all that would happen with a ban on tobacco? Do you understand the economic ramifications? Do you realize that there are plenty of people who enjoy tobacco without smoking cigarettes? Are you aware that many people can smoke tobacco and enjoy it, yet not have a craving for it later? Clearly from your position in this debate, you don't really consider the consequences, you only look at a fraction of the debate.
Plus, where do you stop? Your method of "getting rid of the most evil" isn't any different than the moronic idea of Alcohol Prohibition. Don't you understand the consequences of prohibition? It leads to organized crime, violence, puts normally law-abiding citizens into situations where they become law-breakers and it destroys the economy by taking clean money and putting it into the black market and giving it to crime lords. Really, you'd have to be pretty dumb to think that a ban on cigarettes would have ANY positive effect on society.
People would still smoke. Just like they still snort blow, shoot heroin and drank alcohol during prohibition. To think that making cigarettes illegal will suddenly just cause the country to give them up is incredibly foolish. But you're not just asking the people to give up their cigarettes, you're asking tens-of-thousands of people to give up their jobs, an entire state to say goodbye to its tax revenue and a nation to SAY GOODBYE TO ITS FREEDOM.
Honestly, as a veteran of the US Armed Forces, I am appalled by someone like you who would honestly sell out the American dream. Asking Americans to live in a tyrannical society that tells them what they can put in their body is asking us to betray the founding fathers. I am entitled to the rights of life, LIBERTY and property. Liberty is something people like you do not understand. Anyone who would support a bill to ban cigarettes (or something similar) is a traitor to the constitution.
I DON'T SMOKE CIGARETTES. I JUST DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN AN ORWELLIAN STATE.
After Cigarettes, what's next? Cheese? Candy? Seriously, it's not the job of the government to be your mommy.
Can't say it any better than that. Thanks for your service to what used to be a GREAT COUNTRY and hopefully with the right voices/fighters still will manage to hold on to what's left and stop the disease that's eating up the good. I am an American and I still have rights!
My sister is addicted to cigarettes and it's a really annoying thing. We have to plan everything around her smoking and her car and house smell like an ash tray. But that's her right as a human being. If she wants to live that way, it's her choice. She's an adult.
Again, why do we need a nanny state telling us how to live? Maybe we don't want to live to be 107 if we're unable to enjoy ourselves. Maybe I want to have the freedom to smoke a big cigar when my best friend gets married or when we ring in the new year. People like you simply do not understand what they are suggesting, the consequences of their choices are clearly not thought through.
Let me ask you this, how has the ban on Crack-Cocaine worked? What about the ban on Heroin? Perhaps we should talk about the ban on Marijuana? What about those bans on Gambling and Alcohol?
I don't really miss trans fats because I never knew the difference between them and the regular fats...but telling a smoker that they have to give cigarettes up because some people have the desire to do so but are too weak to do it without the Government's help is pretty ridiculous.
Seriously, do you take the time to consider all that would happen with a ban on tobacco? Do you understand the economic ramifications? Do you realize that there are plenty of people who enjoy tobacco without smoking cigarettes? Are you aware that many people can smoke tobacco and enjoy it, yet not have a craving for it later? Clearly from your position in this debate, you don't really consider the consequences, you only look at a fraction of the debate.
some people just see one side of the picture and don't realy want to see the adverse effects of whatever is bad in there own mind.
bad things list
alcohol
gambling
drugs
chicken mc nugets
electronics
cigarretts
fosil fuels
minning
i could go on and on and on, like the energizer bunny
Cigarette usage has dropped immensly because of it. Why do you think the Tobacco and other MOD (see "Thank You For Smoking" for more info on this) type lobbies fight so hard against any kind of information being forced onto the public about the danger of their products?
Plus, many smokers cut down from 2 packs a day to 1 pack a day when the health concerns became more widely recognized.
I poison my own body daily with sugar, cheese and some other toxins, but it's nobody's fault but my own. I would probably go insane if people like you tried to ban Cheese and Candy, let me poison myself!
I don't understand why people care if people kill themselves in their own home. If you want to smoke five packs a day, be my guest, just don't do it around me. Why is that so hard?
It goes the same for everything really. If you want to have a bunch of guns, go ahead, just don't shoot me. If you want to sleep with your sister and then marry your gay lover, go ahead, just don't tell me any stories about your nasty home life. If you want to snort some cocaine or shoot up some heroin, be my guest. I don't care what nasty or dangerous habits you have, just as long as you only do those things with consenting adults or alone. Children should not be anywhere near them.
Plus, if you thought alcohol and marijuana prohibition led to crime, you would be shocked at how much crime would skyrocket with illegal tobacco. Plus, what would you do to make up for the lost revenue in North Carolina and the rest of the Tobacco belt?
I don't do it around anyone -can't smoke in any indoor public places,don't smoke in the street,or car or at home.Is that OK?
Ah-now guns,'mazing how many people can justify owning a gun in the US
We should start with this because it kills 400,000 people a year. Sounds like a valid reason to many. It causes the cancer from 1 in 5 cases. It's the number 1 preventible disease in America. It shortens your life span (if you are lucky) ~15 years. I can go on and on about your precious smokes but I won't...
First, I dont smoke, whats precious to me is freedom. Second, all this paragraph says is that alot of people choose to do something not good for them. 100% of people jumping off of sky scrapers die, but who cares? Its none of my or your business.
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Gosh it's amazing how "people like you" have such a hard time with freedoms and liberties, but for the rest of us we can care less about this one freedom, because we don't smoke! Really, if this gets banned, why do some of you think this somehow gives the gov't the green light to not stop there? Why would they continue?!!? Tobacco is very bad for you and kills a lot of people! Sugar, coffee, big macs, soda pop do not kill nearly as many combined. It's not like everything else will start to get banned because poor tobacco got the axe first...
See, moral people care about everybodies freedoms & rights. I choose not to smoke, but I dont care what anyone else does as long as it doesnt effect me. Since nobody is forcing you to inhale their smoke it doesn't effect you & is none of your business. Its like me, who doesn't drink, wishing to ban alcohol simply so I can sit in a bar & not be near it.
Its unimportant to me if banning smoking will or will not bring about other bans. Although trying to say that it will not is an outright lie. You & your ilk will find something else to save people from.
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But this whole thread is a moot point, as Tobacco will never get banned as long as the cash cow is producing milk.
Its not funny that they want to ban it in the military, its perfectly logical. Men & women in the military sign away freedom. It makes great sense that the military would like to see their investment not do things detrimental to their health.
Also we, the tax payers DIRECTLY pay for ther health care, unlike the rest of us who pay our own for the most part.
I could see banning it for anyone on the public dole, such as ALL welfare recipients, all municipal employees ect. But people in the private sector who actually earn their keep are another matter.
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It's not like everything else will start to get banned because poor tobacco got the axe first...
Can't say it any better than that. Thanks for your service to what used to be a GREAT COUNTRY and hopefully with the right voices/fighters still will manage to hold on to what's left and stop the disease that's eating up the good. I am an American and I still have rights!
