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Cultural shift - 1960s there were ample advertisements for smoking, famous socialites, and celebrity endorsements.
Regulatory - 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with the four largest tobacco companies. Created a lot of restrictions on the marketing, advertising, and promotion of tobacco. It also created the Truth Initiative.
Even as a casual smoker, I think this was all good progress and a success story. The lies perpetuated by Big Tobacco to hide the health effects of smoking were wrong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lodestar
We hear a lot of people saying prohibition doesn't work but it seems to have been relatively successful regarding smoking.
Prohibition does not work. However, encouraging a cultural shift can work if the public is ready to accept and embrace those changes. Thus it is a shift in how the public chooses their vices rather than by force. It has to be a shift made by the people making a choice.
In NJ, they banned smoking indoors. This sparked many private smoking establishments to appear and older smoking establishments that were grandfathered to corner their markets. Similar situation in Dallas with those private membership cards that allow you to order a drink. This is another case in which prohibition by force does not work.
I agree that workplaces (assuming not tobacco-related) should be smoke-free. I agree that businesses should have the right to operate smoke-free.
What I do not agree with is the removal of the choice from the business owners who run establishments. Business owners should have the choice to run their business smoke-free or cater to smokers (or both). The decision should not have been legislated. It is silly to see a cigar store whose patrons cannot enjoy their purchase on the premises. It is also silly to expect someone to stand outside for an hour to enjoy a cigar without a complimentary drink at a bar whose patrons historically were smokers. Obviously, a person who seeks a smoke-free establishment wouldn't be at a cigar or smoker lounge of any sort.
One of the worst aspects of living in Germany is the high number of tobacco smokers. There are a lot of different statistics, but the percentages I have seen show 32 percent, almost triple the number in the USA. Some areas it is much higher than 32 percent, and certainly other places lower. I suspect my area in eastern Germany is higher.
You would think a country where there is a lot of government funding of universal health care, they would take more steps to discourage smoking. Tobacco advertising is still allowed in print publications and even movie theater ads as long as nobody is actually smoking the cigarette in the ad. There are still vending machines out in the open where anyone with the money to buy can do so. They tax tobacco to the max, as a typical pack of cigarettes costs about 8 Euro, almost $9 USD, but that doesn't stop the buyers.
If you go to an outdoor dining or beverage place, it is common to be clouded by cigarette smoke, as it is OK to smoke almost anywhere outdoors. Yesterday I was sitting at an outdoor bus stop, and a guy sat down on the bench and lit up. I politely asked him in German if he could smoke further away from the bench, and he replied nastily what's the problem, we're outdoors! I could tell it was pointless to argue so I just got up and walked further away.
Now I have a pretty good idea why there are so many widows in Germany over age 65 - a huge percentage of the widows lost their spouse to smoking related disease.
Just FYI, second hand smoke won't be harmful to you, especially outdoors at a bus stop. You may not like the smell, but it won't be harmful.
Now that this is out of the way, if this is the worst aspect about living in Germany then Germany has it good. Smokers, unless you're married to one or live with one, don't really affect you. While their decisions may reduce their lifespan, that's between them and their loved ones and their doc, and should be no concern to you.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
Yeah, but that's the thing. We didn't really want to quit. We knew it was unhealthy and it made us smell bad and we were throwing our money away.
But smoking also made us feel good, lifted our moods, made our minds work faster and sharper, and those were the hard things to give up.
Last cigarette for me was December 12, 2011. I will never smoke again, but I will always remember how good it felt when that nicotine hit my bloodstream and brain.
At least for myself, I think wanting to quit is the only thing that makes it relatively easy You have to do it for yourself and not because someone else tells you should.
First time I quit surprised me, I was sitting around one Sunday morning reading the Sunday paper, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette which I'd had no intention of giving up. To this day I have no idea why but I looked at the half pack on the table, said to myself I don't need this stuff and threw that half pack in the trash and didn't have another cigarette for 7+ years, then both parents came down with long term illnesses about the same time and I had other things going on in my life and I started again. Second and hopefully last time I quit was October 2004, quit two packs a day cold turkey and have been 'clean' to this day and doubt I'll ever go back to the habit.
Henry Ford said something to the effect that whether you think you can do something or think you can't do something, you're correct. I think that very much applies to quitting smoking.
And I also remember things like walking through blizzard conditions to get a pack of cigarettes or picking butts out of the ash tray to smoke, that part didn't make me feel so good.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,329 posts, read 54,381,135 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pvande55
Although only about 10% of US residents smoke, some in the medical field talk as if smoking is the nation's biggest health problem. Why? Maybe they are a disproportionate number of the patients?
I remember sitting with my family Doctor in his office while in my late teens. listening to him tell me why I shouldn't smoke while he himself enjoying a cigarette.
You're not gonna die from smoke, you're gonna die from a combination of other issues. Smoking is a catalyst of those issues and hinders your body's resilience.
At least for myself, I think wanting to quit is the only thing that makes it relatively easy You have to do it for yourself and not because someone else tells you should.
First time I quit surprised me, I was sitting around one Sunday morning reading the Sunday paper, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette which I'd had no intention of giving up. To this day I have no idea why but I looked at the half pack on the table, said to myself I don't need this stuff and threw that half pack in the trash and didn't have another cigarette for 7+ years, then both parents came down with long term illnesses about the same time and I had other things going on in my life and I started again. Second and hopefully last time I quit was October 2004, quit two packs a day cold turkey and have been 'clean' to this day and doubt I'll ever go back to the habit.
Henry Ford said something to the effect that whether you think you can do something or think you can't do something, you're correct. I think that very much applies to quitting smoking.
And I also remember things like walking through blizzard conditions to get a pack of cigarettes or picking butts out of the ash tray to smoke, that part didn't make me feel so good.
Well, obviously I meant it literally makes you feel good. Meaning nicotine! It didn't make me feel good emotionally to pick butts out of ashtrays, either (thanks for that memory!) or to have to take an elevator (or two) to go outside and have a cigarette at work or to know I smelled like stale smoke, or to have cigarettes be a major expense in my budget. It was the latter that primarily drove me to quit.
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