What should we do about smoking?

[lazur]

by this logic, i guess they should also criminalize the consumption of alcohol and fatty foods.

Perhaps alcohol, but I don't know. At least alcohol offers a type of euphoria, and alcohol IN MODERATION won't cause you to die or give you disease. Also, the fact that alcohol is mind-altering makes it self-regulating. For example, you can't down a pint of JD and then go to work and expect to keep your job.

As for fatty foods, it's another EVERYTHING IN MODERATION thing. Eating some fatty foods won't kill you or cause disease. Eating it every meal obviously will.

Don't you think people should be required to SELF REGULATE (aka using SELF DISCIPLINE) so the rest of society doesn't have to pay for their stupidity?

Smoking is smoking is smoking. What's the pay off? What's the enjoyment? Sucking on a pacifier to relax? You can smoke 5 packs a day and still come to work. Since it's not self-regulating, then that means its user must self-regulate.

For example, I know people who ONLY smoke when they drink alcohol. Doing it that way is in MODERATION and doing it that way creates a SELF REGULATION.

Again, why is the concept of PERSONAL RESPONSBILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY such a goddamn foreign thing in today's society??

 

[huskerwebhead]

I do not smoke, but my Dad smoked growing up...recently quit. So I was around it quite a bit. I don't like smoke at all and I am all for banning it in public places. Outdoors is silly...there should be no problems there. The one time it absolutely bothers me is when I am in a resturant eating and some jackass at the next table blows his smoke right at our table. Ruins the enitre meal. At the very least, it should be banned where food is served.

It's important to keep in mind that these laws are something the the public has been fighting for...not necessarily the government. At least around here it's something that we have been trying to get our local government to adopt for several years. Thank god it's finally happening.

Now the whole fast food/Dougnut thing is just rediculous. That's just another example of people not wanting to take responsibility for their own actions. "It's not my fault I got fat...it's Krispy Kreme's for having dougnuts!!" BS...learn some self control.

 

[triplefive]

no, that simply would not happen, but nice try.

the patient with a better chance of a longer life after the transplant will get the transplant.

a life long smoker would not get the lung(s) transplant before a child with a disease.

I worked with a cystic fibrosis charity.

The child (teenager, actually) wasn't in dire need of the lung transplant. The smoker got it first. His wife was very sorry.

 

[chaseter]

I know they can stop making Truth commercials. If cigarettes are banned, guns, alcohol, other tobacco forms like chewing tobacco, snuff, McDonalds, etc...should be banned. All of these things kill people and are addicting. Hell, caffeine is even addicting and drinking too much of those products has adverse health effects. It is a person's right and choice to smoke. Now where they do it is where I have my beef. I don't smoke, think it is gross, and do not want to inhale it or smell it. I think the law right now is fine. Smokers have to be in certain areas. Illegalizing smoking is stupid.

 

[jaguarr]

Too bad we can't lace all cigarettes with cyanide. Since smokers are in such a big hurry to kill themselves anyway, why not speed up the process a bit and leave the rest of us to live long, healthy lives, without having to pay for their medical expenses?

Actually, hydrogen cyanide is already produced when cigarettes are burned and is present in the smoke of cigarettes (along with countless other poisons).

jag

 

[Orko Is King]

Ban tobacco and legalize marijuana.:meow:

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Also ban stupid, fat people. Thanks.

 

[The Last Meatbag]

I think they should make cigarettes more and more expensive....

 

[Dwarf lord]

I'm all for freedom, but I was at the mall last night and my friend and I walked out to wait for her father to pick her up. There was a whole crowd of people smoking. Because of this, we had to walk quite far away from the mall to escape the smoke. That's just crazy. Normal people who want to be healthy shouldn't have to put up with that. If they want to ruin their lungs and commit slow suicide, that's fine with me, but do it in the privacy of their own homes.

 

[KingOfDreams]

I don't smoke nor do I suspect I ever will but if people want to that's fine by me. I'm not against restricting smoking in restaurants...and it's already restricted in federal and state buildings, movie theaters, airplanes, etc. I'm not for restricting it in clubs and bars. The two seem to go hand in hand and even though I often leave a live club show smelling like smoke that's just all part of the experience. If people want to smoke I don't think it should be restricted outdoors either. My college passed a ban on smoking in the quad but it's not enforced and nobody obeys it. But having said that I wouldn't really care if it's outlawed. Ultimately that would be a good thing for everybody. And it would be an even better thing if marijuana was legalized in it's place.

 

[JLBats]

I think they should ban smoking, as well as television and those rotten children on my lawn.

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

Smoking in all forms should be banned,its bad for those who smoke and those who inhale the smoke,second hand smoking.

 

[The Shape]

There's nothing that can be done that will truly rid the world of spoking. I'd say ban it, but then everyone talks about how it's not fair because alcohol wouldn't be banned or something like that. So whatever.

But it shouldn't be allowed in public. It bothers people, like me. I mean, you usually hear the words "smoking" and "drinking", but you don't see people walking down the street drinking a bottle of vodka, yet people walking around blowing smoke in people's faces all the time. Consuming alcohol does not affect the people surrounding you (barring an unforeseen drunken incident). Sipping a beer doesn't disturb anyone around you, but smoking spreads that disgustiong smell all around your area.

It's a horrible habit, and frankly, I don't see why anyone would ever want to start. Breathing smoke into your lungs and then out again. Whoa. How cool!

**** cigarettes.

 

[Orko Is King]

Also ban stupid, fat people. Thanks.

Rock on.

 

[jaguarr]

REGULATE EVERYTHING! MORE BIG GOVERNMENT! FTW!

jag

 

[KingOfDreams]

I mean, you usually hear the words "smoking" and "drinking", but you don't see people walking down the street drinking a bottle of vodka, yet people walking around blowing smoke in people's faces all the time.

Well, it's illegal to walk around with alcohol on the street.

 

[The Shape]

Well, it's illegal to walk around with alcohol on the street.

Precisely. The same should be done for smoking then.

 

[Grim Goblin]

I can understand not wanting smoke around them while eating at the restaurant (I agree ), I can understand not wanting it inside public buildings. I can't however, understand those that cry out about smokers outside.

Like someone already stated, you won't suffer any trouble from smoke in the open air since the amount you'll breathe is negligible. STOP *****ING! YOU'RE NOT GETTING KILLED BY ANYONE!

Yeah, after the last few months that I've been off cigarettes, I can smell it sometimes while I'm walking past a smoker outside. No it doesn't smell good. But you know what? it last for a fraction of a second and it's over.

And to whoever said that my example with cars didn't apply because they're a necessity, ever heard of a bicycle? Isn't it a healthier solution than cars?

or does health only apply to stuff you don't like?

 

[Spider-Bite]

Personally, I don't and never will smoke. If someone wants to I'm fine aslong as it's not around me. I say we make it private so people smoke at their home or out in the jungle or on the side of a highway. Please no public parks, not around my home, not downtown, not outside the mall. Go somewhere you don't bother anyone. I don't want to get sick. What do you think?

personally I smoke and I always will. If somebody wants to not smoke, I'm fine as long as they don't try to tell me where I can and can't smoke. If they don't like it, then get away from me.

 

[Spider-Bite]

This is my solution to smoking.

the tobacco companies have raised the amount of nicotne by like either 10 or 15% in the last 15 years. our government should put a stop to that immediately. by law they should have to meet standards. and the standards for the maximum legal amount of nicotine should gradually go down every year for the next 20 years untill nitcotine is illegal. NOt tobacco. Just nicotine. They can sell you tobacco cigarettes with no nicotine and they will taste and feel exactly the same. The only difference is you decide when you want a cigarette instead of nicoting addiction deciding for you. Sometimes I smoke to relax and enjoy a cigarette. Other times I have to drop what I'm doing, not because I feel like relaxing and smoking, but to simply satisfy my withdrawls.

We should make smoking a leisurely acitivty which is done only at conveinent times like after a nice hearty meal, or with a nice capucino, or a cup of coffee, rather than a chore which absolutley must be carried out.

I love my cigs. I don't want tobacco illegal. but I do want nicotine illegal.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

personally I smoke and I always will. If somebody wants to not smoke, I'm fine as long as they don't try to tell me where I can and can't smoke. If they don't like it, then get away from me.

If you smoke in my face, you can get lost.

 

[Lantern Venom]

That's the way it is in Jersey. Can't smoke in public places, gotta go outside. Bars and resturants smell much, much nicer and the food even tastes better.

You still gotta wade through the smoke to get to the door though.

That's reasonable. Smoking is never going to be totally illegal, period. However, it should be up to the smokers to alter their lifestyles to accomodate non-smokers. Let them make the choice: light up or eat out?

 

[Sandman138]

This is my solution to smoking.

the tobacco companies have raised the amount of nicotne by like either 10 or 15% in the last 15 years. our government should put a stop to that immediately. by law they should have to meet standards. and the standards for the maximum legal amount of nicotine should gradually go down every year for the next 20 years untill nitcotine is illegal. NOt tobacco. Just nicotine. They can sell you tobacco cigarettes with no nicotine and they will taste and feel exactly the same. The only difference is you decide when you want a cigarette instead of nicoting addiction deciding for you. Sometimes I smoke to relax and enjoy a cigarette. Other times I have to drop what I'm doing, not because I feel like relaxing and smoking, but to simply satisfy my withdrawls.

We should make smoking a leisurely acitivty which is done only at conveinent times like after a nice hearty meal, or with a nice capucino, or a cup of coffee, rather than a chore which absolutley must be carried out.

I love my cigs. I don't want tobacco illegal. but I do want nicotine illegal.

You can't completely eliminate nicotine frome tabbaco as it exists in it naturally, but I agree completely that the amount of nicotine in ciggarettes needs to be regulated to a much stricter degree.

 

[deemar325]

I hate smokers.

That crap is nasty and causes harm to others not just the weak willed simp suckin' on the cancer stick.

 

[Lantern Venom]

Hell, caffeine is even addicting and drinking too much of those products has adverse health effects..

Actually, many people in the mainstream medical community don't think it's physically addicitve. There is also some new evidence that it's consumption actually helps long term memory. I'm not sure I buy all of this but things like soda and coffee are the least of society's concerns.

Now, these new energy drinks that have 3-5 stimulants in them, I think those are indeed dangerous. I'm not saying they should be illegal but concentrated doses of that stuff is not good at all.