I am not talking about pot. I was a smoker when I was 16, it lasted two years. I started snuffing, and now everytime I have a cig it is just disgusting. But I cannot understand this anti smoking craze in the US. What blows my mind even further, is the people who are most for legalization of drugs, pro choice, essentially the left, seem to be the biggest anti ciggarette people. Look at the first cites to illegalize it in restaurants and bars. It just confuses the hell out of me.

For me, smokers do not bother me. If they are at my house, they go outside, I don't have to be around it. If they are in my car, put the window down, it will be gone in a day. If I am at a bar, or a concert, it doesn't bother me. When I drink I guarantee you I am more life threatening then any secondhand smoke. So someone explain it to me. I think people should pretty much be able to do what they want to do as long as it doesn't kill other people, and I think second hand smoking killing people is complete bull.

don't smokers pay more taxes than anyone else?

Being from Illinois and paying $.98 in tax per pack, i'd have to say yes. If you smoke a pack a day you're paying $357.70 a year just in tax.

People always focus on secondhand smoke as a possible cause for cancer...but they never think about short term effects of cig smoke.

When I walk out of a building and through a haze of cigarette smoke (because of all the smokers huddled by the exits) it hurts. I get migraines, very severe ones, and smells like cigarette smoke (and some perfumes, candles, oils etc) trigger a migraine for me.

For people with asthma, emphsema, or other respiratory problems, this haze of secondhand smoke is even more problematic...

So, yes, I can remove myself from a smoke filled room, I can choose to not go to certain places because there will be a lot of cig smoke hanging in the air, but I DO have to do errands and go to public places to conduct said errands, and that fucking secondhand smoke is putrid and deadly to me.

And before you ask, in order for me to go to a Pearl Jam show where there is always copious smoking, I have to take my pain meds before I go, and then usually more pain meds halfway through the show.

So I am all for the banning of smoking in all public places. I don't give a fuck about cancer, I just don't want to have to walk around in pain all the time because some fucker wants to pollute their lungs outside the supermarket.

Just to let you know, most towns have laws stating that you must be at least 10 or 15 feet from an entrance of any building if you are smoking. While this may not be much, it does allow for someone else to walk around the smokers and away from the smoke. If places you frequent aren't following those rules, you can call and report them.

This is a public service announcement from a smoker.

how bout just the simple fact it turns walls and ugly yellow, along with your teeth, makes your hair and clothes smell terrible, and yes, second hand smoke is a definate health hazzard for people who do not smoke

and would it hurt smokers to chew on a fuckin breath mint?

I go thru about a package of eclipse every other day. My breath is better than yours, rathead.

ok, maybe not you, but i have a few students who just have a cloud of stench around them and when they talk to me, i about pass out

So on the first day of class, give everyone a pack of gum. Tell them to chew a piece before they come talk to you. Since you're not singling anyone out, they won't get mad AND you'll have solved the problem.

Feeling that people should be allowed to use recreational drugs and wanting them blown in your face w/o regard to your own choices are two different things.

If I'm at a business dinner or on a first date, I don't want to reek of tobacco OR marijuana smoke.

Plus, aren't a lot of these bans based on studies that show restaurant employees who do not smoke are more likely to get lung cancer than a regular smoker?

That being said, sometimes I smoke, and my wife thinks I look sexy when I smoke.

Hi, devil's advocate here... don't smokers notoriously have more health problems than most non-smokers? Not just short term, but long term. Cancer is a very expensive disease to inflict on oneself. If it is true that smokers are less healthy, does their habit not increase the cost of health care for everyone, thus affecting people who do not choose to participate in said habit? Just a thought to throw in the mix.

I think smokers should be allowed to sue the tobacco company and then that money should be taken away from them and put into a healthcare fund, so that my tax dollars don't have to support all the smokers who inevitable die a slow, expensive death.

OK, and I'll get a photo of you eating something unhealthy. Then after you have a heart attack, I'll just have the government take all of your things away to pay for your slow, expensive death.

What is with smoking?



--PunkDavid

I hate cigarettes, and smoke (not to be confused with hating cigarette smokers). It's just irritating to be walking walking down the street and someone in front of you is smoking, which means you're also smoking all the way down the street. My wife gets far more irritated though. She has a mild allergic reaction to the smoke. It just sucks.

Man is basically evil and that's why everything sucks.

Quit stealing my bits Bania!

I told you to stop fucking with me!



--PunkDavid

This is utter bullshit. If you can find me one legitimate, peer-reviewed study documenting this, i will eat buggy's hat. It fact most second-hand smoke studies are biased. There has been no definiteve evidence for the dangers of second hand smoke. For every study that makes claims against, there is one that refutes it. You just never hear about the ones that refute it.

There are even some Hormesis studies showing that second hand smoke is good for you. Not unlike radiation. Frequent small doses of low level radiation has been shown to decrease the liklihood of cancer. These studies have shown that frequent exposure to low-dose carcinogens can actually cause your body to build up somewhat of an immunity to it.

I'm not taking it that far. I do, however, think that the second-hand smoke studies are way overblown.

I also support a sin tax on candy, soda, and fast food that goes into healthcare. And if I ever sue a fast food company b/c I have a heart attack (and I will have a heart attack, you're right, I'm a fat ass), you're welcome to take my money and pump it into a public healthcare fund.