Stress relief. Stress causes Hypertension. Hypertension causes heart disease. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in America.
(I'm BSing. There are no health advantages to smoking. For me it's a personal right issue)
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Smoking insanity
- Thread starter t77mackie
- Start date
Stress relief. Stress causes Hypertension. Hypertension causes heart disease. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in America.
(I'm BSing. There are no health advantages to smoking. For me it's a personal right issue)
I don't have time to look them up at the moment, but I recall seeing reports of studies that show that the only stress relieved by smoking is the short-term stress of nicotine withdrawal symptoms, and that over the long-term, smokers suffered from more stress than non-smokers.
Sports? You gotta be kidding me. What percentage of sports injuries even require hospitalization? How many scores (hundreds?) of sports injury treatments does it take to equal the costs of treating even one lung cancer patient?
I said that you, going about your business, was now affected by someone lighting up a cigarette next to you in an environment where you didn't want to be around a cigarette smoker. I didn't say anything about a lawsuit or any such matter. You however said that, and I'm quoting here "I don't smoke either, but it's none of my business if someone chooses." By choosing to smoke near you and your family, you're now inconvenienced by them if by nothing else than the smell. Your enjoyment of your meal is now lessened by the odor, which doesn't just leave when the smoker leaves, but will instead linger, persisting until it can be removed or dissipates on it's own.
People still have the ability to smoke in their own homes, in their own cars, on their own property, out doors, etc.
Holy cow! 7 pages... 
I think my original intent got off track a bit - I didn't want a smoker / anti-smoker or political thing to start.
I'm a smoker and it sucks. I don't mind that smoking in public places is banned, I never throw my butts on the ground - basically, I try no not let my bad habit effect other people.
The insanity - as I see it - is in these new regulations that seem hair-brained to me. CVS can't sell smokes because....? Nobody can sell cigar papers because...? All this tax money being collected on cig sales is being spent on......? $2.50 is more money than your average teenager is going to have???
I made a bong out of a Dr. Pepper bottle - does that mean we have to put soda behind the counter and card soda purchasers?
These reg's are being implemented so that the people who made them can look like they're doing something and protecting our children. They still bury their head in the sand about the fact that you can't regulate cigarettes and drugs away from people. It's like throwing money in a shredder. Actually, somebody for sure is making $$ off of this.
The healthcare issues are another whole can-o-worms that should probably be avoided at TB methinks.
Oh, and I'm not upset or anything - this whole thing is amusing to me. No amount of regulations are going to make me quit smoking just as no amount of regulations has won the war on drugs. The stairs at my house will do that one day...
I think my original intent got off track a bit - I didn't want a smoker / anti-smoker or political thing to start.
I'm a smoker and it sucks. I don't mind that smoking in public places is banned, I never throw my butts on the ground - basically, I try no not let my bad habit effect other people.
The insanity - as I see it - is in these new regulations that seem hair-brained to me. CVS can't sell smokes because....? Nobody can sell cigar papers because...? All this tax money being collected on cig sales is being spent on......? $2.50 is more money than your average teenager is going to have???
I made a bong out of a Dr. Pepper bottle - does that mean we have to put soda behind the counter and card soda purchasers?
These reg's are being implemented so that the people who made them can look like they're doing something and protecting our children. They still bury their head in the sand about the fact that you can't regulate cigarettes and drugs away from people. It's like throwing money in a shredder. Actually, somebody for sure is making $$ off of this.
The healthcare issues are another whole can-o-worms that should probably be avoided at TB methinks.
Oh, and I'm not upset or anything - this whole thing is amusing to me. No amount of regulations are going to make me quit smoking just as no amount of regulations has won the war on drugs. The stairs at my house will do that one day...
Well, you're the one who brought up secondhand smoke as justification for... what, i don't know... taxing smokers? I don't believe that the role of government is to protect people from being inconvenienced because where do you draw the line? People who answer their phones in movie theaters? People who pay with checks in the express lanes at grocery stores? People who drive big pickup trucks that you cant see around?
Sound numbers, I was wrong on that one!
Smoking is one of the biggest causes of heart disease.
However, smoking can suppress appetite, so it could reduce the growing obesity problem.
First of all, I don't want to ban sports. I was illustrating a point. And if you really want to compare apples to apples you need to look at all medical treatment related to sports, not just hospitalization. You need to take into account all the sprained ankles, skinned knees, stitches, tennis elbows, swimmer's ears, baseball fingers, ACL tears, Achilles heels, planter's warts, skin staff infections, bad backs, concussions... I can't think of any minor smoking injuries that require doctors visits, but maybe there are some.
Except you're not comparing apples to apples. You're picking something you yourself called absurd. A more accurate comparison would be alcohol.
Sports, while slightly dangerous, are on the whole, hugely beneficial to the people partaking in it, while not posing much (if any) danger to those around them.
Alcohol on the other hand, is taxed like cigarettes, lowers motor function, reduces reaction time, impairs judgement, and kills probably hundreds of people each year due to alcohol poisoning, and millions more on the roads.
The bolded part is the only reason most of us care. I know I'm not the only one who looks at his paycheck and sees all the taxes. About the last thing I want is the government taking more taxes.
Hell, as much as people hate on Big Pharma, think of how much the drug companies make selling various inhalers for smokers.
I've worked with enough social workers who get more than a little annoyed that a patient can't pay for a $5/mong generic, but can still smoke 2 packs per day. Any non-smoker can smell that one a mile away.
I brought it up to illustrate that people smoking can, in fact, be your business if they do it near you. It's true there is no constitutionally protected right to not be around a smoker, but there is also no constitutionally protected right to smoke in public places.
That's fine, but some of the things you're listing cost absolutely nothing except maybe the price of a bandaid or an over-the-counter cream. No way, IMO, these compare to the health-care costs related to smoking. I didn't even bring up heart problems and emphysema.
+1.
And compare the ancillary benefits of sports to those of smoking--fires and litter.
I never said it was an absurd comparison, I illustrated that imposing the same standards on sports would be absurd. The only one making an issue out of "posing much (if any) danger to those around them" is you. The fact that every secondhand lawsuit has been dismissed shows the government doesn't even take that position.
Then why doesn't the tax revenue from alcohol go directly to the victims of drunk drivers? The government started taxing rum 200 years ago, long before healthcare or drunk driving
Drunk drivers tend to pay dearly for their lapse in judgement. They pay a lot of court fees and tend to have many years of very high insurance premiums.
Emphasis is mine. You admitted yourself that you were being absurd, ergo you're making an absurd comparison. And in regard to this post, there are a few dangerous activities that require you to get a license for and for which you pay taxes on the equipment you need to do said activities. One in particular is motorcycle riding. In Florida, there was such a problem with motorcycle related deaths and accidents that they mandated everyone who wants to get their endorsement take and pass the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic Rider Safety Course before they could legally ride a bike. They did that to better prepare riders for safety issues related to their hobby. And you have to pay tax on the Gas you need to ride your bike, the oil you need to run it, and other such things.
You're latching onto some second hand smoking thing that isn't there. The danger to others was in reference to alcohol, which was further in the post.
I have no idea why it doesn't go to the victims of drunk drivers. Why don't you write your congressman?
The one thing that gets lost here, is the reason some people smoke. Nicotine is addictive! However, on it's own, it's no more addictive or dangerous than caffeine.(Also poisonous if over-consumed) (I Googled it.) 
There may be some benefits, (Sharper focus, better recall) but...the problem is the delivery system. Burning organic materials creates all the bad crud in tobacco smoke. This in turn causes lung cancers and the other killer diseases. It can also cause issues to others, as mentioned. This is why I now vape. No second hand smoke, I no longer stink of smoke, and my health has improved. I also avoid paying those extortion taxes. (At least until the feds figure out how/if they can tax it the same.)
There may be some benefits, (Sharper focus, better recall) but...the problem is the delivery system. Burning organic materials creates all the bad crud in tobacco smoke. This in turn causes lung cancers and the other killer diseases. It can also cause issues to others, as mentioned. This is why I now vape. No second hand smoke, I no longer stink of smoke, and my health has improved. I also avoid paying those extortion taxes. (At least until the feds figure out how/if they can tax it the same.)
