Smoking in public.

[Denarr Sepphist]

I was sitting outside having a rare smoke, and started thinking about the idea of the Government banning smoking in any public area.

I was just curious to see some opinions on the matter, both from smokers, non-smokers, and all that fall inbetween.

We all know that second-hand smoke is particularly dangerous to others, and that fact alone is what (I'm guessing) most people have in mind when thinking about this issue. However, is the smoke being let into public air doing us any more damage than the smog and other pollution we inhale every day?

No arguments, just opinions!
Are you for it, against, and why?

[Turbogeek]

Considering how much smokers and their diseases cost in hospitals, and how bloody awful I feel after second hand huffing a smoker's habit even in the open air..... and not to mention butts being carelessly flung about.....

Ban smoking completely as far as I am concerned. It's no loss to us at all.

[Aurelias Kazaar]

I hate cigarettes with a passion. Hate how they taste, hate how they smell, hate what they do to our lungs. But I hate even more the government (federal, state, local) restricting the right of the citizens to smoke. If a business wants to say, 'We don't want smoking in our area', then I have no problem with that. But some of the restrictions are laughable.

Oh, and full disclosure, I smoke cigars from time to time.

[Aelor Oli'Shol]

I am off and on about this subject. Yes, I agree that smokeing around people is really bad and can be rude. but banning smokeing is restricting the right of Americans. NTM if they do ban smokeing in public areas, I am going to have ALOT of friends that are going to be really moody for a while.

[Alpha]

In New Mexico they have banned smoking within a certain amount of feet from any buildings (malls, shops, restraunts), and want to ban it completely. I reall think that shouldn't happen. I like being able to have a cigar from time to time when I'm outside, especially if I'm walking between classes.

[Khendon Sevon]

I'm not sure people realize this:

Governments are designed to restrict what people do. That's the purpose of a government. You're not allowed to shoot your neighbor for throwing leaves all over your yard, you're not allowed to take that pack of gum from the grocery store without paying for it, and you're not allowed (at least, in NY and Jersey) to smoke in diners, etc.

Personally, I'm 100% for the banning of tobacco products. If I can't legally smoke marijuana, I don't think I should legally be allowed to smoke cancer sticks.

Smoking isn't an "in moderation" activity. It's designed to be addictive and make you want more.

Of course, I don't smoke. My father smoked from age 18 to about age 60. I think he did enough smoking for the both of us.

I have smoked a cigar or two, however. It was fun, I was drunk; but, guess what? The experience wasn't mind blowing or redeeming of the negative qualities of said smoke.

I say we ban tobacco.

[Callomas Savoc]

In public it is a nuissance, so I'm fine with it being banned there. I'm concerned over the attempts to legislate its use within the private sphere though. I'm not a fan of them and everybody who does smoke should do their best to quit immediately.

I don't think tobacco should be banned and I don't think consumption in the private sphere should be any of the government's business. As much as I might want people to stop, what they do on their own property is their business.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

I'm kinda allergic to cigarette smoke, so I say ban the snot out of it.

I can do with less chronic bronchitis.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Smoking is not illegal so they shouldn't treat it as such.

[Kraehe Branwen]

Cigarette smoke gives me terrible migraine headaches. I hate how everytime I walk into a building, 90% of the time someone is smoking outside the entrance. And about 75% of the time it causes me a headache and 50% of the time it turns into a migraine. I also hate the fact that those smokers are giving the slight chance of asthma to my children. So yeah, I think smoking should be completely banned from public. If you want to smoke, you do it in your own home. I don't think it's right that smokers destroy their own health AND the health of the non-smokers around them.

What bothers me the most are pregnant mothers that smoke. I just want to slap them when I see them. :mad I've actually known one that said she doesn't think drinking is good during pregnancy and thats why she doesn't drink while she was lighting a cigarette. I seriously had to bite my tongue. I also think it should be illegal for pregnate moms to smoke.

I'm big on protecting children's health so thats why I think smoking should be illegal for a lot of reasons. Smoking during pregnancy can cause low birth weight, can cause their lungs to develop slowly, can be linked to premature birth, and has also been linked to SIDS. And it's also been studied that smoking around children can give them asthma. I forget how young they have to be. But if they are particularly young, it can, again, lead to SIDS.

But yeah... it totally bugs me if anyone smokes around my kids. Particularly my daughter because she's only six months and to me, that could kill her.

[Dasquian Belargic]

If I can't legally smoke marijuana, I don't think I should legally be allowed to smoke cancer sticks.

Here, here.

[Lady Vader]

While I may not like smoking, I don't feel it should be banned, persay. There are certain freedoms and rights we should stick to, otherwise we move from this country being free to something else.

In most places there are designated smoking areas for those that wish to smoke.

I just wish some smokers were aware or more considerate that there are those that don't wish to smell the smoke or inhale it, and use said designated areas.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

In my state its already illegal to smoke INSIDE public places (bars included).

Banning smoking outside is ridiculous. Tobacco is not an illegal substance.

[Kraehe Branwen]

I'd be satisfied if they at least made it illegal to smoke so close to the entrances to buildings. Even second hand smoke can harm a fetus when you're pregnant just as much as if you were the one smoking.

[Miranda Tarkin]

I dunno, I see it this way... Alcohol and smoking are both legal substances, but legal substances that come with a price and personal responsibility. Both can cause injury when used improperly. You can harm yourself, but you should not harm others if abusing your right to drink or smoke.

We restrict people from driving while under the influence of alcohol. To me banning smoking near doorways is similar, because inhaling that second hand smoke can cause injury to a non-smoker's lungs. That isn't fair.

Now outright banning smoking outside is stupid, but I see the reasonings for the 15 feet rule. If they try and do this in the private sector, that's continues to violate rights.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I'm so glad that there is no smoking in public places in England. It makes working in a bar so much more enjoyable.

[Kraehe Branwen]

Then smokers should be paying for my monthly expenses in advil. I use about two 200 count bottles a month(or about one and a half, give or take, depends on how much I go out around smokers). I'm seriously allergic. The migraines are terrible, I get nauseous, I double over and can't move sometimes. I've actually vomited myself into passing out after being in a room full of smokers(unfortunately I married someone who's related to a bunch of people who smoke, that happened at a make up party I was invited to).

[Cat X]

While I may not like smoking, I don't feel it should be banned, persay. There are certain freedoms and rights we should stick to, otherwise we move from this country being free to something else.




Why should smoking a horribly addictive and proven deadly agent that kills millions per year and is the leading cause of lung disease and heart disease be in the slightest legal? And if the problem is that there are millions currently addicted to this habit, then why should anyone who wishes not to be exposed to this habit be forced to in any way shape or form?

The rights of smokers can go take a flying leap, I want my right not to throw up or choke, which is a damn sight more impotant than the 'right' to do yourself a lot of harm inhaling one of the best ways to get some really nasty diseases. When I pass through outdoor areas where smokers are (not by choice buecause I'll do a lot to avoid any hint of cigarette smoke) I detest being forced to breathe that noxious crap. I get LESS bad effects huffing car exhausts and in fact most modern cars can actually produce cleaner air then they use, if you live in cities. Around every city office tower you see cig huffers because it's flat out banned indoors for any place of employment here.

Calling smoking outdoors a right is not right at all.

Now another point - if tobacco for instance was a product created today, it would be completely banned from sale. There are a lot of foods and goods banned or tightly regulated that are a lot less dangerous than cigarettes have turned out to be - now the reason why they arent banned has a lot to do with taxes gathered on them, the huge number of smokers and the tobacco lobby, as well as historical.

It's very disturbing to come from a country where smokers are in a minority and growing smaller by the day (25% and going down), plus the attiude of smoking isnt a right so if we dont want it in places, then it happens and smokers 'rights' be damned, to the USA where it's a vastly different situation and you even have cigarette advertising. That I dont get at all.

[Erasmus Daragon]

The claim that there is a higher percentage of smokers in the U.S. may be erroneous, because I had seen a few studies that claim that the percentage of the population that smokes in the U.S. is smaller than in many European countries.

Further, if we address this issue by projecting our own personal judgements on the rest of the population, we do enter a somewhat dangerous territory.

I hate smoking, I don't want to be near it, it's terrible, doesn't taste good, it's bad for you, I've never seen what the fuss is about it. It's a terrible vice, it's expensive, and I'll be damned if I ever voluntarily develop weaknesses like that.

Still, the human being can make his own judgement without government breathing down his neck. Especially when it's something concerning your own body, and no one else's.

Right now, I think a federal smoking ban is nonsense. I hope it never comes up. Many states have banned it at the will of the citizens of those states. I would prefer it be managed at a lower level than that, personally, and have it be taken care of by city or county more, if there would be any restrictions at all.

People have been pretty silly about smokers. Second hand smokers aren't really around so much, guys. I've always just been able to avoid them. If they happen to be smoking in a spot precisely where you want to be precisely outside of whatever building, just move over. It shouldn't be so difficult. Don't smoke in my house, don't smoke in my car: I'll kill you. Anyone has the right to say so when it has to do with their own private property.

Besides. It would probably be expensive to ban smoking and people would still smoke.


But hey, if citizens of a community vote out public smoking, then the majority agrees on it, so it seems fair... at least more fair than a Federal smoking ban where smokers have nowhere to run.



Oh, Kraehe,
Then smokers should be paying for my monthly expenses in advil. I use about two 200 count bottles a month(or about one and a half, give or take, depends on how much I go out around smokers). I'm seriously allergic. The migraines are terrible, I get nauseous, I double over and can't move sometimes. I've actually vomited myself into passing out after being in a room full of smokers(unfortunately I married someone who's related to a bunch of people who smoke, that happened at a make up party I was invited to).


You, like many other people, are very sensitive to cigarrette smoke. I want to ask, though, if it is possible for you to avoid these smokers in public places rather than demand they pay for your Advil expenses? Surely that would be a much simpler solution. That also seems like pretty rotten luck, about your husband's family, but even if there's a public smoking ban, they'd still smoke at those family get-togethers and parties, so you wouldn't be scott-free there. :-( I hope your husband is willing to help protect you from it.

[Morgan Evanar]

You, like many other people, are very sensitive to cigarrette smoke. I want to ask, though, if it is possible for you to avoid these smokers in public places rather than demand they pay for your Advil expenses? Surely that would be a much simpler solution. That also seems like pretty rotten luck, about your husband's family, but even if there's a public smoking ban, they'd still smoke at those family get-togethers and parties, so you wouldn't be scott-free there. :-( I hope your husband is willing to help protect you from it.Unlike Alcohol there are no medicinal uses for cigarettes at all.


Besides. It would probably be expensive to ban smoking and people would still smoke.Probably not and probably. Oh well.

[Kraehe Branwen]

I can't just avoid entrances to buildings. I live in an area thats teeming with a lot of smokers. It's a big area, not a city, but close to it. Every entrance to the mall has at least one smoker. Each entrance to the super walmart always has one everytime I go. And with two little ones if I'm lucky to see an entrance further away without a smoker in the wintertime, I can't make a mad dash. It's too cold! They are only 2 and 6 months. Right now it's close to 0 degrees out there, or at least last I checked it was.

Some of my husband's family members found out about my allergy when they heard me barfing in the bathroom and then a few more found out when my husband told them I passed out. So those few do avoid me when they smoke. But there are plenty more that either don't care or are not aware. And one of them smokes the strongest smelling cigs there are. Even if he's not smoking one, just the smell of it on his clothes makes me sick. :x

[Rod Stafford]

One of the best things our government has done in a long time is banning smoking in public places. The way I look at it is if I choose to drink, I drink and that is the end of it, but if I choose to smoke, I force the people around me to smoke, too.

[Erasmus Daragon]

[quote]You, like many other people, are very sensitive to cigarrette smoke. I want to ask, though, if it is possible for you to avoid these smokers in public places rather than demand they pay for your Advil expenses? Surely that would be a much simpler solution. That also seems like pretty rotten luck, about your husband's family, but even if there's a public smoking ban, they'd still smoke at those family get-togethers and parties, so you wouldn't be scott-free there. :-( I hope your husband is willing to help protect you from it.Unlike Alcohol there are no medicinal uses for cigarettes at all.


Yup. No medicinal uses whatsoever. Won't debate about the alcohol, it would be lengthy and off topic of the thread. But cigarrettes... useless. Don't know why you mean it as a response to me though, cause I didn't argue that... ?

[Erasmus Daragon]

I can't just avoid entrances to buildings. I live in an area thats teeming with a lot of smokers. It's a big area, not a city, but close to it. Every entrance to the mall has at least one smoker. Each entrance to the super walmart always has one everytime I go. And with two little ones if I'm lucky to see an entrance further away without a smoker in the wintertime, I can't make a mad dash. It's too cold! They are only 2 and 6 months. Right now it's close to 0 degrees out there, or at least last I checked it was.

Some of my husband's family members found out about my allergy when they heard me barfing in the bathroom and then a few more found out when my husband told them I passed out. So those few do avoid me when they smoke. But there are plenty more that either don't care or are not aware. And one of them smokes the strongest smelling cigs there are. Even if he's not smoking one, just the smell of it on his clothes makes me sick. :x


Wow... I'm sorry. That really sucks. It looks like it would be difficult to pass a ban in your community. A lot of places have "smoking areas" now. I'd imagine if you can get enough people to agree with you and present it to some local areas like malls or the Wal-Mart, they might not mind making that change. It seems like an easy and cheap fix. I'm not an expert on petitioning, though, so I can't tell you where to start. Other than that, I hope you manage better somehow. :\

Yeah I hate that too, when the smell just sticks to people... ugh. I broke up with a girlfriend once because she tasted like cigarrettes too often.

[Aretsuya]

Ban.

I've been living with a certain idiot who loves to smoke in my face, and honestly. The smell makes me really nauseous and I get bad headaches from it. Besides, the stench kinda just stays there, even with the ventilation on.

In public, it's kinda the same thing, since there aren't too many non-smoking areas around here.

[Taja Loraan]

Ban.

I've been living with a certain idiot who loves to smoke in my face, and honestly. The smell makes me really nauseous and I get bad headaches from it. Besides, the stench kinda just stays there, even with the ventilation on.

In public, it's kinda the same thing, since there aren't too many non-smoking areas around here.

Oh shut up, I don't smoke anywhere near you. -_- Besides, I've seldom come across any smokers here in Qatar. They've prohibited most places from even selling the stuff.

I'm glad I live in Malaysia, where 90% of the population smokes anyway so there's no real possibility of a ban like that being enforced anytime in the near future. I can't imagine being restricted to smoking only inside my own house, but eh, to each his own I suppose.

[Zeke]

Can't say I care. I'm accustomed to holding my breath before exiting a building and as I approach the entrances because in spite of the "don't smoke within X feet of the doors", they still do. I don't think the government can do anything effective to keep people from doing it.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Despite what some of you may think, there are considerate smokers out there in society; it's just that there are those of our particular ilk that lack a little respect and decency.

For myself, I pretty much take it outside whenever guests come over, and I generally try to empty out my ashtray beforehand. Of course if my guests are smokers as well, I don't bother. If I smoke outside it's usually a good distance away from people who don't smoke. Now, if a non-smoker approaches me after I've distanced myself, that's their decision and I don't want to hear any complaining.

Yes it's a nasty habit. I know this, and most if not all smokers do as well.

Now as far as banning, I don't know. Look how well Prohibition turned out *shrug*

I'll accept and honor a ban on tobacco if in turn they legalize marijuana and MDMA.

[Yuri Thrice]

That's an interesting thought. Take a drug that is a bit on the mind-altering side and make it legal, when tobacco does nothing of the sort. What about those people that get cancer and haven't ever smoked or been around environments that promote lung issues? I think that if marijuana was legalized, we'd have a lot less issues with drugs, but then again, sometimes the mere use of the stuff is enough to bring issues into question.

Personally, I like to have a cigar or a cigarette once every six months to a year. It's been at least a year since my last cigarette, and I just smoked a lovely Middleton's "Gold and Mild" the other day, ironically right before this thread was brought up. :lol Personally, I agree with whoever said that smoking should be limited in the public sector, but not in the private sector. For those who have health issues that is incited by smoking, may they have people who are understanding and caring in their plights, so that they could have some relief of sorts, such as Kraehe.

[Taja Loraan]

If I smoke outside it's usually a good distance away from people who don't smoke. Now, if a non-smoker approaches me after I've distanced myself, that's their decision and I don't want to hear any complaining.

Yes it's a nasty habit. I know this, and most if not all smokers do as well.

Exactly. I don't think I know of anyone who makes it a point to deliberately exhale smoke into other people's faces, and in any case, it shouldn't be particularly difficult to avoid someone on the streets who happens to be smoking. At most, banning it near the entrances of public buildings makes sense -- but not elsewhere. If I'm in a restaurant with a non-smoking friend and it starts bothering them, either of us just shifts a couple of seats over. It's really not that hard.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I don't think I know of anyone who makes it a point to deliberately exhale smoke into other people's faces

I doubt that there are many people who do this intentionally, but there are a lot of inconsiderate people who wouldn't even consider how they are affecting others - and I'm not just talking about smoking here, I mean any kind of obnoxious behaviour. All the used cigarette ends that litter the streets are terrible, and pre-ban cleaning them up/emptying ashtrays was one of the most disgusting parts of my job, aside from having smoke-stench breath right in my face.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Yeah, I have to agree with you on the smoke-breath. Which is why I always carry around either delicious fruity gum or breath mints with me ^_^;

[Dasquian Belargic]

If only all smokers were like you, I would be a happy bunny :)

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Well I figure there are idiots in every village, and I have to at least make up for some of them who're in the smoker's corner. That, and I know that I wouldn't want to be assaulted sensory-wise by something that I don't like.

[Kraehe Branwen]

I lived with my mother in law for a while and my brother in law did too. He's a smoker. He's the one that smokes the terribly strong cigs. He'd smoke in the house even though his mother didn't want him too. It'd came through the vents no matter where he was. I asked him several times not to. He's a you-know-what on several accounts, not just for this reason. He never stopped. I practically threatened my husband if we didn't move. lol I had headaches everyday for God sakes. But bringing it to my mother in law was like talking to a brick wall. She just stared at me like she was high.

[Turbogeek]

Now as far as banning, I don't know. Look how well Prohibition turned out *shrug*

I'll accept and honor a ban on tobacco if in turn they legalize marijuana and MDMA.


I think we can all say that until the level of smoking and influence of tobacco lobby is reduced to tiny levels, there's no chance of that ever occuring. However, weed and MDMA are not thing we should ever legalise - there's good evidence and more is coing in just how bad those drugs are for the brain and body, with a lot of side effects to your system. Plus, a bad social cost by addicts. I'd say the current enforcement polices are stupid beyond belief and need changing (like, lets not arrest and convict users - how about going after the big dealers and cultivaters only?) but I really hope they are never legal.

[Kraehe Branwen]

My husband used to smoke weed but when he started dating me and I found out I nearly dumped him because my sister used to be a drug addict and I just do NOT accept that kind of behavior. Not around my son. So he quit cold turkey because he loved me. He wasn't addicted, just a social user, but still, I didn't find it acceptable. I would feel the same way about cigarettes and alcoholics(an occasional drink is okay, but drinking yourself to death isn't). Needless to say I gave him a second chance when he stopped using that awful stuff. He hasn't used it since.

He has strong feelings about marajuana that it doesn't have adverse affects to your health, but I think it does. We don't argue about it though. I don't think the stuff if worth the trouble it gets you in. If it gets on your record it can ruin your chances at a lot of things. Like when we tried to get this apartment they asked about our criminal records and he had a posession thing once. Luckily, though, his family knows the owners so we got the apartment anyways.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I just don't understand how alcohol and tobacco can be legal while weed is considered some kind of massive menace to society. It'd be better if they made it legal and monitored it, so that it didn't get cut up and laced with who knows what... because let's face it, people are going to use it regardless of its legal status. MDMA, I don't hold in the same regard because it's a Class A on par with Cocaine etc.

[Denarr Sepphist]

My mum always told me:

"I'd rather you smoke a joint than a ciggarette."

and I'd give the same suggestion to my kids, at least weed is entirely natural.

[Dasquian Belargic]

at least weed is entirely natural

This is what I mean by my previous post, in saying that I'd rather the government tried to monitor weed than ban it. The difference, from dealer to dealer, in what you're getting is worrying.

[Kraehe Branwen]

Yeah but it's illegal. Either they sacrifice their health of their criminal record.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Why should it be illegal, and smoking cigarettes be legal?

[Kraehe Branwen]

I don't think either should be legal. Why would any kind of smoke going into your lungs be healthy?

[Denarr Sepphist]

Probably because marijuana has 'mind altering' substances. It stops you from really seeing straight/making good judgements/having full use of reflexes, logic and motor function ect; while smoking just poisons you from the inside out?

I honestly wouldn't like walking down the street past people who were high. But I do think that perhaps making it legal for home use would be alright, and acceptable - as long as they made the same laws for smokers.

Do it in your own space. Not anyone elses.

[Alpha]

Booze has mind altering substances and yet it's still legal

[Dasquian Belargic]

It stops you from really seeing straight/making good judgements/having full use of reflexes, logic and motor function ect

Sounds pretty much like alcohol. I wouldn't want drunks to be roaming the streets either, but in bars/clubs or the home... they should be able to do what they want.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

My mum always told me:

"I'd rather you smoke a joint than a ciggarette."

and I'd give the same suggestion to my kids, at least weed is entirely natural.Uh, I may be confused here, but since when was tobacco not natural? O_o

[Kraehe Branwen]

I was told in highschool that cigarettes don't just have tobacco in it. It also has some various chemicals in it that you'd find in rat poison.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Unless you're growing your own tobacco leaves, you aren't getting it 'natural' by a long stretch.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I'm sure if they manufactured legalized marajuana cigarettes they would add all sorts of other stuff in there too, just like tobacco cigarettes.

They're both just leaves originally. *shrug*

[Cat X]

I just don't understand how alcohol and tobacco can be legal while weed is considered some kind of massive menace to society. It'd be better if they made it legal and monitored it, so that it didn't get cut up and laced with who knows what... because let's face it, people are going to use it regardless of its legal status. MDMA, I don't hold in the same regard because it's a Class A on par with Cocaine etc.

I'd have no problem with banning of alcohol and tobacco - Alcohol is bad, bad stuff especially with social impact. And I'd agree, there is a double standard. But because that double standard exist is absolutly no reason why we should do the obviously wrong thing and legalise a seriously harmful substance. And make no mistake, weed is a whole factor worse than it's proponents try to make out.

The problem is that alcohol has been used for so long and has such an industry around it, how is it possible to ban? And tobacco is exactly the same, how on earth can you ban it? I'd like to see them both gone but..... cant see it ever happening.

[Jeseth Cloak]

I just don't understand how alcohol and tobacco can be legal while weed is considered some kind of massive menace to society. It'd be better if they made it legal and monitored it, so that it didn't get cut up and laced with who knows what... because let's face it, people are going to use it regardless of its legal status. MDMA, I don't hold in the same regard because it's a Class A on par with Cocaine etc.

I'd have no problem with banning of alcohol and tobacco - Alcohol is bad, bad stuff especially with social impact. And I'd agree, there is a double standard. But because that double standard exist is absolutly no reason why we should do the obviously wrong thing and legalise a seriously harmful substance. And make no mistake, weed is a whole factor worse than it's proponents try to make out.

The problem is that alcohol has been used for so long and has such an industry around it, how is it possible to ban? And tobacco is exactly the same, how on earth can you ban it? I'd like to see them both gone but..... cant see it ever happening.
You're right... smoking weed is many times more harmful than smoking cigarettes, and a lot of people down play it. People are kidding themselves if they think that unfiltered marijuana is less harmful than filtered tobacco - even with all of those carcinogens.

When they prohibited alcohol in the US before, it only managed to increase the amount of unregulated products being sold illegally. I think the same thing would happen with cigarettes today if you managed to ban them. It would just be one more drain on the federal government, since they'd ultimately have to enforce the law, and countries which already funnel other drugs into the US would just add cigarettes to their list of illegal exports.

[Kraehe Branwen]

Then tax the hell out of cigarettes more.

[Alpha]

Problem is, taxing cigs are a state-based thing. So even if one state had amazingly high taxes on them, they could just go to a neighboring state that has a lower tax and buy in bulk. People are already doing that

[Kraehe Branwen]

Yeah but with gas prices so high now its not worth it for everyone.

[Alpha]

They carpool. Like six people, and stock up. They alwas find ways around it

[Erasmus Daragon]

Well, a lot of things we do in life are harmful. I agree that the tobacco industry is too rich for our own good, but less people are smoking today than they were in the last few decades, since more is commonly known about how harmful they are. Optomistically, the number of smokers will keep shrinking. :D

But I still say as long as people are considerate enough to stay out of my face when they smoke, (and most people are, guys. I see a lot of complaining about it, but at best you've had a different experience than I have had.) it makes no difference to me.

I've asked myself about whether I'm ok with smoking and drugs in internal debates, and come to the conclusion that because I drink alcohol socially, it would make me a hypocrite to condemn other drug consumption generally, the issue of second-hand smoke aside (because most smokers, to my experience, are cool about shifting to stand downwind from you).

Still, what you guys were saying up there about all the impurities in cigarettes and cut marijuana is true. I think that's more of a crime than smoking in public is.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I'm sure if they manufactured legalized marajuana cigarettes they would add all sorts of other stuff in there too, just like tobacco cigarettes.

I don't want to buy 'marajuana cigarettes', whatever they would be. I want to be able to buy the untouched leaves, or grow the plants myself, and roll my own. Hence my repeated stating of this point:


It'd be better if they made it legal and monitored it, so that it didn't get cut up and laced with who knows what

[Morgan Evanar]

Honestly I don't think banning something because it's harmful is the best thing. You can have my beer/wine when you pry it from my dead hand.

Because prohibition went really really well last time.

[Cat X]

I'm sure if they manufactured legalized marajuana cigarettes they would add all sorts of other stuff in there too, just like tobacco cigarettes.
I don't want to buy 'marajuana cigarettes', whatever they would be. I want to be able to buy the untouched leaves, or grow the plants myself, and roll my own. Hence my repeated stating of this point:


It'd be better if they made it legal and monitored it, so that it didn't get cut up and laced with who knows what

Personal cultivation may be illegal, but it's usually ignored. But frankly... why even use weed in the first place full stop? It's effects really are quite bad for you with little or no safe limits. Every puff really does make the inhaler literally dumber as the brain gets rewired, memory is trashed and your body goes into a state where it is far more suseptible to addiction, let alone that natural occuring endorpins that produce pleasure or joy are stopped being made. That last one is what causes real problems of addiction - if your body lowers the production of those, yor in trouble and you have little defence against addictions and withdrawl is much harder on you.

Drugs of any form are terrible things, weed certainly is not the "soft" drug proponents like to portray.

[Morgan Evanar]

Uh Mark could you please cite sources because most of my information says otherwise.

At least weed has medicinal uses.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Every puff really does make the inhaler literally dumber as the brain gets rewired

I suspect alcohol may have done this already, so no worries.

[Kraehe Branwen]

Thus why it's called the gateway drug right, Cat?

[Dasquian Belargic]

Oh totally. I love me some cocaine now, can't get enough of the stuff - and it's all thanks to marijuana.

:rolleyes

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

As far as addiction to pot, it all depends on the personality from what I've seen and in my own personal experiences. Did I use to get high in college? Massively so. And yeah, I enjoyed it very much. But on the other hand, I wasn't too keen on the smell, and it had this weird effect for me of making me lose my short term memory. So one day I just stopped. It didn't seem like enough trouble to go through to get it so I shrugged and that was that. Cigarettes? Not so much so. I've tried quitting more times than I can count now and the mental dependence more than anything kills me; not to mention the oral fixation. Ever wonder why people who quit smoking tend to balloon up in weight? It's cause they stopped putting a smoke to their lips and started putting food in their mouth.

This is a good study that compares deaths related to alcohol as opposed to weed, and includes sources:
http://www.safercolorado.org/safer-doc



Now, MDMA is a bit of a tougher issue. About all I can do is point you in the direction of Erowid's MDMA page (http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma.shtml) and let you decide. There's a lot of info on there, so take the time to read it if you wish to argue about ecstacy some more.

[Zem-El Vymes]

My whole argument about banning smoking in public is the possibility of adversely affecting the health of third parties who aren't coming onto private property. I don't give a damn if somebody wants to get as high or stoned or drunk as they can, as long as they do it without endangering other people.

I only drink, because drinking is the most metal drug out there.

[Morgan Evanar]

My whole argument about banning smoking in public is the possibility of adversely affecting the health of third parties who aren't coming onto private property. I don't give a damn if somebody wants to get as high or stoned or drunk as they can, as long as they do it without endangering other people.

I only drink, because drinking is the most metal drug out there.Pickled livers are brutal.

[Zem-El Vymes]

Blood puke, that is most metalest songs idea...oh wait we alreadys do it.

[Cat X]

Uh Mark could you please cite sources because most of my information says otherwise.

At least weed has medicinal uses.

If you go digging for the recent studies, it's quite correct, which when I have a few moment to go digging, I will, especially finding info from the Australian Medical Association, which I have access to the libraries.