Should cigarettes be banned?

[tomahawk]

Quote from macal425:

Tomahawk, sorry to hear of your loss. I too lost a parent, at a very young age, due to the effects of smoking.
It seems that my attempts at sarcasm at Dax's original post went over a few peoples heads. First of all, although I started smoking 30 years ago, my smoking habit has been off and on for the last 15 years. I'll smoke for a few weeks, stop for 6+_mths, have a moment of weakness and start again for a few weeks. Rinse and repeat. I do consider myself relatively healthy since I exercise hard at least 6 times a week and have a very healthy diet. Of course I am aware that I will never reach peak health/fitness while I continue to struggle and give into my habit and that I'm opening myself up to other diseases that I cannot hold off with diet/exercise. As I inferred earlier, the point of that post was not to say "I'm a heavy smoker that is very healthy" but to show how ridiculous it would be to say "I'm a heavy smoker (substitute "burger and fries w/cheese") that is very healthy"
Thanks for your concern though, and your story will only serve to help me finally quit this dumb habit completely, once and for all. (then perhaps I can enjoy a burger and fries )

Glad to hear your smoking is and has been fairly limited. Trust me, I'm not exactly the poster child for100% good healthy living always - we all have our vices.

I guess it's just that since my mom died, and maybe cuz it's still kinda recent, I can't look at or hear about anyone's smoking habit without picturing what she ultimately went through... and I usually feel compelled to say something, appropriate or not.

Thanks for your condolence, and I wish you the best.

 

[melee]

if cigs were a recent invention, there soon would be an out cry to ban them. but sence they've been around for hundreds of years its to ingrained in our culture to imidiatly ban them. i sugjest, in stead of taxing the cig pack, of taking a fixed % of the industries profits. then throw that money away in anti smoking education and subsidies to tobacco farms to grow somthing else. in a few decades when smokeing numbers have dropped, ban them.

there problem solved, stay tuned tommarow kids as melee solves abortion, illegal imigration, and the healthcare issue!

 

[nutmeg]

there problem solved, stay tuned tommarow kids as melee solves abortion, illegal imigration, and the healthcare issue!
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Good job melee. Actually, problem solving is the easy part, any group of men can solve a problem over a cup of coffee, it's the dang politics that gets in the way.

 

[Daxtrader]

Quote from macal425:

Point was to show how ridiculous the statement from Dax re: cheeseburgers is. Now, he may be one of the lucky ones and indeed be able to eat burgers on a regular basis with absolutely no adverse long term effects, but to imply that cigs can't be compared to junk food because he happens to think he is fit on a diet of burgers is just plain dumb. As is my sometimes smoking habit.

How come you didn't address the second point of my post? Does my consumption of cheeseburgers harm the guy next to me? You can go sniff a can of petroleum for all I care. Just don't let it spill on the guy next to you.

 

[nutmeg]

Only a smoker could make such an argument against in-your-face scientific evidence. My father was an otherwise intelligent man who, unfortunately, shared your views. Let's hope you live longer.

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Thanks. I know it's lame.

Classic case of my not wanting to be told what I can and can't do. Put on your seat belt, no talking on the phone while driving, no smoking within 50 ft of an entrance. Yikes, in ten minutes of being out in the world I can break three laws.

 

[neophyte321]

Tobacco is a plant ... cigarettes are an evil concoction ...


if done right, tobacco can be enormously healthy


ever smoked a handmade cigar, sipping a very robust cup of coffee while noshing on fine chocolate?


the stuff that dreams are made of


I had a pack day habit for 10+ years ... it's ugly shit.


Although, I must admit, I may be smoking more tobacco currently than I have in years ... and I must say, I'm enjoying it thoroughly.

 

[neophyte321]

Quote from nutmeg:

Only a smoker could make such an argument against in-your-face scientific evidence. My father was an otherwise intelligent man who, unfortunately, shared your views. Let's hope you live longer.

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Thanks. I know it's lame.

Classic case of my not wanting to be told what I can and can't do. Put on your seat belt, no talking on the phone while driving, no smoking within 50 ft of an entrance. Yikes, in ten minutes of being out in the world I can break three laws.

you're clearly not in tune with the left's version of freedom... do what they say, it's for the common good.


these threads are always so revealing ... they reveal exactly who wants to control you

 

[acronym]

Quote from neophyte321:

Tobacco is a plant ... cigarettes are an evil concoction ...


if done right, tobacco can be enormously healthy


ever smoked a handmade cigar, sipping a very robust cup of coffee while noshing on fine chocolate?


the stuff that dreams are made of


I had a pack day habit for 10+ years ... it's ugly shit.

Precisely why i mentioned cigarettes specifically in the poll, although my comments should perhaps have mentioned "nicotine" products, rather than tobacco products, when speaking of "supposed" quitting aids.

You dont normally inhale cigar smoke, right? Fine cocoa products, coffee beans, and tobacco aroma......a fine mix indeed.

My major issue is the taxation levelled on it, and the reality that most govenments WANT people to smoke cigarettes, the revenue is incredible, yet that revenue, rather like speeding fines, doesnt go toward anything usefull from the finee's perspective.

I've seen people die slowly from lung cancer, emphasema, and industrial related health problems, coal miners, building workers (asbestos) yet this stuff is still for sale.........

and its highly addictive, and governments know it.

 

[neophyte321]

Quote from acronym:

Precisely why i mentioned cigarettes specifically in the poll, although my comments should perhaps have mentioned "nicotine" products, rather than tobacco products, when speaking of "supposed" quitting aids.

You dont normally inhale cigar smoke, right? Fine cocoa products, coffee beans, and tobacco aroma......a fine mix indeed.

My major issue is the taxation levelled on it, and the reality that most govenments WANT people to smoke cigarettes, the revenue is incredible, yet that revenue, rather like speeding fines, doesnt go toward anything usefull from the finee's perspective.

I've seen people die slowly from lung cancer, emphasema, and industrial related health problems, coal miners, building workers (asbestos) yet this stuff is still for sale.........

and its highly addictive, and governments know it.

agreed, I know you and appreciate your posts.

i'm watching "Breaking Bad" right now and I put cigarette makers nearly in the same catagory of meth-producers. The goal? get em hooked.

Thankfully the cigarette smoking rate is dwindling, and we have the alarmists to thank.

There are only two taxes I like to see raised, cigarette and gasoline.

 

[hcour]

If they're going to ban cigarettes then they should ban fast food. McDonalds gears its ads to children, their spokesperson is a frigging clown, for chrissake. They have "Happy Meals" w/toys, and playgrounds in front of their stores. And children (and adults) in this country have a serious obesity problem approaching an epidemic. Are cigarettes that much worse? So why cigs and not fast food?

Harold