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First Cigarette....

Smoking hasn't been cool for ages.
People like smoking (and other drugs) because it feels good. No other reason is needed.

Im 18 with a lot of friends who smoke. Smoking makes you a "Bad Boy" and thus cool. You can walk up to people on the street and ask them for a light, and but out your cigarettes on other peoples property among many other "rebellious" things to do.

If you want to do a drug that feels good, there are a lot of other options out there.
 
You tell people not to make sweeping judgments of smoking, then follow it straight up with a sweeping statement about idiotic stunts?


Im sure there are plenty of people out there who would beg to differ that walking a tightrope with a grizzly bear on their back, over a pool of sharks and a volcano makes them feel more alive, and they find solice and comfort in the act of spitting in the eye of death. I can't say im one of them, but they are out there.

You've missed my point entirely. The purpose of smoking is to get high on nicotine. If it weren't for that specific drug, only stupid hipsters and old rich men would smoke.

Nicotine is a relaxant and improves mood. Of course this isn't true for everyone - so if you want to feel like a unique snowflake, feel free to refute me here - but for most humans it is.

Nicotine will relieve stress - fact. All it takes is one coffin nail. Seems a little more time efficient than whatever the heck you said about volcanoes and bears or whatever.
 
Smoking hasn't been cool for ages.
People like smoking (and other drugs) because it feels good. No other reason is needed.

The only reason it feels good is because your addiction makes you feel terrible when you don't have one.
You feeling "good" while having a cig is the same as what your normal state would be having never started them.

There is literally no good reason to start smoking.
 
You've missed my point entirely. The purpose of smoking is to get high on nicotine.

Im sure you have heard the term "Adrenaline Junkie".

Plenty of people "Get High" on the hormone produced by the body while undertaking "Idiotic Stunts", and as such idiotic stunts also act as a stress relief and comforter.

You can't defend smoking and then bag out Idiotic stunts, its hypocritical. They also provide hours of entertainment for the viewer.
 
Smoking is no worse for you than shoveling big-macs into your unsightly gut, or living in a city that's choked in atmospheric pollutants. Hell, people brag all the time about how much beer they can down in a night, and that crap ruins lives all the time.

No matter where you look, there are going to be people arguing aganist smoking because being a tobacco hater is 'in' right now. Don't be a idiot - weigh the boons and consequences of being a smoker yourself; if you rely on other people to help make the decision for you, you're robbing yourself of the only true freedom a person has; that of personal choice. You're a human. Exercise that damn intellect.

Yes.
 
i've seen people that have done water fasting, after a few days, several ex-smokers broke out in black acne all over their body, the smelly tars melting out from the fat stores. to me, this proves fasting is a good detox.
 
Incorrect. More than a half million American people are employed in the tobacco industry. That's a lot of people with a roof over their heads and food on their tables.

Most studies (about 10 years ago) demonstrated that the cost to taxpayers was well beyond what they sold for and the tax revenue was not nearly enough to cover the associated health care costs. These studies did not evaluate employment, but it also didn't evaluate the environmental impact.
 
Sure smoking is a free will choice, but hopefully, in this day and age, it's one someone would make based on facts and not disinformation or emotions.

Fact: Nicotine is not the most addictive or harmful substance in cigarettes anymore. The chemical slurry that is sprayed on paper and shredded and that makes up about 30% of the cigarette is more harmful and addicitve. If you want pure tobbacco (nicotine), smoke American Spirit Brand, though they are still very bad for you.

Fact: Nicotine is responsible for a variety of coronary and arterial problems, which I now have as a result of smoking for 21 years; The symptoms of which didn't even start showing up until a couple of years after I quit smoking.

Fact: Multiple balloon angioplasty and (ultimately) quintuple bypass surgeries were painful, scary and expensive. Even with today's incredible medical interventions, only 50% survive longer than 5 years after surgery. I got 'lucky' by making radical changes to my life. That was 16 years ago at only age 39, with a wife and two young sons worried about my survival. Not good times.

Add Peripheral Artery Disease to the list since then. It's another great artifact of smoking that can hit you years after you stop.

Fact: I would give anything if I could go back in time and stop myself from making the choice to start smoking.

Everyone hears about the one person who supposedly isn't effected by smoking and they assume it will be them. It won't be. There is probably only one of those people for every million smokers and they might even have a genetic difference that allows them to escape harm. Would you still roll the dice if the odds were only 100 to 1 against you? I wouldn't again.

Please quit now and find another way to relieve stress/be cool.

Here's a link to facts about this drug: Invalid Link Removed
 
Most studies (about 10 years ago) demonstrated that the cost to taxpayers was well beyond what they sold for and the tax revenue was not nearly enough to cover the associated health care costs. These studies did not evaluate employment, but it also didn't evaluate the environmental impact.

I'd be interested to see those studies if you can find them for me. Don't feel obligated, though. Time is a precious thing.

I once read a study that suggested that a jar of peanut butter is more radioactive than the outside shell of a nuclear reactor. Could be true - but who cares?

My point, although poorly made, is that some consequences are so far removed from the cause that they might as well not be related at all. I understand that cigerettes are no good for your health and the enviroment, but to a broken man they can be a crutch, and anything that helps a person stand taller cannot be worthy of total denouncement.

Sure smoking is a free will choice, but hopefully, in this day and age, it's one someone would make based on facts and not disinformation or emotions.

I, for one, am not a computer. I will damn well make decisions based off of my faith in the natural world and intuition until the day I die. If something works for me - I'll keep doing it. If not, it's time to try the next thing. I understand your outlook, but you only have one life to live. Romance and exploration are not dead if you'd peel your eyes away from wikis and snopes for a moment. Am I the only one that remembers what it's like to be a child and know what everything smelled and tasted and felt like?

Logic and information are powerful tools, but humanity is a very, very special thing.

Edit: NINFAN - I don't smoke, nor do I advocate it. I know it seems like I'm supporting it. I'm not. Rather, I support fixing yourself by whatever means you can - if a pack of smokes lifts whatever shadows lay across your heart, lung cancer might be an okay price to pay for not living a stagnated version of what life should be. It is your call to make, buddy.
 
Also, just to throw this out there: America was built on Tobacco. Tobacco made Jamestown turn a profit. Tobacco is therefore more American than Tobacco pie. Therefore, we need to eat tobacco pie and smoke apples.

I once read a study that suggested that a jar of peanut butter is more radioactive than the outside shell of a nuclear reactor.

I want to see the study about the Peanut butter and radioactivity. Because if it's true, I can make a peanut butter-based nuclear device, and then I will RULE THE WORLD WITH PEANUTS!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

No, really, I want that link. And thanks for the new, out-of-context sig.
 
I'd be interested to see those studies if you can find them for me. Don't feel obligated, though. Time is a precious thing.

I pitched most of that stuff when I passed that particular class. Since graduating, I no longer have access to their online medical journal databases.

If we get into a statistical war, there are no studies that are bullet proof. Most smokers tend to have a few habits that can contribute to their overall health or lack thereof. Given that a large portion of smokers typically don't have health insurance, the government picks up the tab when it comes to health care. Needless to say, the government having to pay for anything tends to get their attention. ;)

Why not follow Canada's move and simply tax the hell out of cigarettes? We can't ignore that tobacco companies have deep pockets and have been in bed with the government forming a very strange relationship.

However, anyone in health care or with a relative who has become ill from smoking can tell ya that the impact is pretty great. The medical bills will generally far exceed what was paid for cigarettes and obviously any tax revenue that may be generated under the current pricing.