Smoking

[Bloodsik]

I dont care what anyone has to say about it being bad, wrong, and whatnot, or saying I'm too weak to quit. I have no wish to quit.

I GREATLY enjoy my mentholated goodness.

[knuckles]

I'm going to start off with a few things. First off smoking is bad for your health. Scientifically proven it kills. Now what bugs me is these stupid smoking commercials that say, "Smoking isn't cool!" That's just as bad as saying it is cool. They should reconsider their wording.

Drinking alcohol is also proven to kill. Destroys your kidneys and impairs thinking. We don't go around making commercials saying "Drinking is bad so stop lol." Instead we have commercials saying how good it tastes. Saying cigarettes taste good and get you women is pretty much like the guys on beer commercials surrounded in women drinking beer.

Basically, I think, there should not be any alcohol advertisement on tv. If kids can think smoking makes you look cool, what keeps them from thinking that drinking alcohol does too?

Sorry for the off topic-ness but I had to get that off my chest.

Ah jesus, the alcohol-cigarette comparison was a bad example. (counter argument) Alcoholism gets you temporarily drunk while cigarettes get you hooked. I tried.

[GuidoHunter]

Originally Posted by JesusWaffle

That is a lie. It has nothing to do with willpower. An addiction takes over your brain and gives you a dependency on the substance in question. You become miserable and stressed and can also suffer virulent withdrawal symptoms if you don't get a steady supply of the substance. It alters your behavior. You can't just will it away. I know what I'm talking about here.

I'm aware of what withdrawal is, and the physiological effects of an addictive substance, and neither of those things are impossible to overcome with the right amount of willpower (and a sound mind, of course, but nicotine DEFINITELY doesn't rob you of that). Nobody ever suggested that quitting would be easy.

You know what you're talking about here, huh? I'm going to assume that means that you understand addiction and withdrawal firsthand. How does that help your argument? Well, because of the side you're on, anecdotal evidence doesn't prove anything. However, knowing people who come out of multiple decades-long addictions without any help? That shows that you only need willpower. Anyone that says they can't do it is just too weak to try harder, because anyone can kick the habit.

@Bloodsik: Nobody's suggesting you're weak. In fact, people like you don't even factor in to this debate. You like to smoke? That's cool; rock on (even though I hate smoking, you still have EVERY right to smoke and like smoking). But once you say that you physically cannot quit, I'll jump in and call bullshit.

On that note, I'd like to address lildevil and ask why a good (capitalist) economy isn't more important than healthy population. If people want to poison themselves and get sick, that's their perogative, and nobody should care. A bad economy means those people can't do what they want, and that's a really bad thing.

knuckles, it's not the commercials' fault if kids start to smoke. It's the kids' fault and/or the parents' fault. Nobody should tell the networks what they can and can't air; they're private organizations.

Hmm, sorry about the late reply, but I completely forgot I posted in this thread.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[knuckles]

I'm fully aware that it's mostly the parents/childs fault, but if smoking is bad enough to be taken from tv, shouldn't alcohol be as well?

To post something actually on topic, here is something I've heard.

"The price for cigarettes isn't high enough." They should raise the price for cigarettes so the richer people can continually buy, while the people who cannnot afford them will either cut down or quit all together. It sort of evens out. Or, it could possibly backfire and increase insanity and crime. You know how hard up people are for some drugs. They're willing to go to the extremes to get their high.

That opinion I do not stand by 100%, just echoing thoughts I've heard from other people that sound semi-reasonable.

And now back to the alcohol advertisement issues... I'm sort of in the 3rd grade mentality that two wrongs make a right, aren't I?

[DracIV]

Smoking goes under freedom of choice, and put simply you have no right to ban it flat out. Advertising for smoking can be removed from TV by the choice of the networks or laws, but the actual event of smoking is all freedom of choice.

[Squeek]

Since the average user is under the legal age (pshhh... way under) of 18, I thought I'd give you an insight to what you'll be seeing in the future when you head off to college.

EVERYBODY in college smokes. If you think it's bad in high school when the kids do it secretly outside the gym, wait until you have to walk around outside everyday only to be hit in the face with a puff of wayward smoke.

Not only that, their clothes smell like total crap and they fill the ambient air in the room with the wretched stench.

I can legally smoke and have chosen not to for many reasons. Yea, we've been told for years now how bad it is and how it will "mess you up". But seriously, that stuff just smells really god-awful. If I wanted to stink for a long while, I'd go fishing and gut all the catches in my regular clothes and never change again. This would also heighten the beautiful aroma emitted from my underarm from working on the boat all day.

Now, imagining that, you kinda feel disgusted to imagine sitting next to me in class. Well, that's what I consider a perfect analogy for sitting next to smokers in college.

I'll never understand the mindset required to begin this money-wasting lung-degrading habit. So, wait. I have to pay upwards of 5 bucks a pack for these little sticks filled with various toxins that I can inhale into my system only to become addicted to them and require them in order to "relax"? SIGN ME THE FRIK UP.

~Squeek

[thisisnotporn]

Yes smoking is straight up retarded, I agree, anyone who does smoke does deserve to get slapped twice from someone, but it should be their choice if they want to die or not. No one has control over anyone so if someone chooses to smoke or not smoke it's their choice and freedom. Here goes another problem though, what if the person that was exposed to second hand smoking doesn't want to die? Why should they have to breathe in the hazerdous chemicals that someone decides to put in their body? I am for anti-smoking.


Stop intertwining smoking with obiesity, it's not the subject.

[GuidoHunter]

Originally Posted by thisisnotporn

what if the person that was exposed to second hand smoking doesn't want to die?

They can get out of the smoke. It'd be their choice to remain around it. I agree that it's not completely fair, but I think that's the way it should be.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[harrisonsaid]

um, i smoke because i enjoy smoking. i know it will kill me. you dont have to tell me that. i dont smoke around nonsmokers, so dont give me the second hand smoke crap. it affects me and only me. isnt that why american is so great? freedom of choice?





(by the way, if you think smoking is bad because of second hand smoke, think about DUI. you dont even have to around them or know them, and you can die instantly. attack that)

[Jello]

The Q is a moron.

gg for getting your facts from "Supersize me" moron. Anyone who saw that movie can tell you that fact.

go try and sound intelligent somewhere else fucknut.

[The_Q]

What's Supersize Me? And why am I wrong?

Q

[AniamL]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/


Apparently it's a pretty good documentary.

[themanwithsauce]

To back up the fact that smokers can quit with willpower, ill give an example-

my dad smoked for over 20 years and actually enjoyed it for a while. But when I was born my mom tried to get him to quit for my own health so I wouldnt pick up on the bad habit (and to avoid second hand smoke because hes my dad so i was going to be around him quite often).

he failed but then again, he didnt really want to quit that badly. When my brother was born about 7 years later, he decided that he had to quit then or risk suffering more serious health problems than the shortage of breath and occasional bad cough. He made an actual effort this time and with support from all of his family and friends and some help from niccorette finally quit and he didnt have severe withdrawls like some people do. he was really quite lucky on that part but what's important is that he quit.

Keep in mind: he's an average joe working as an auto mechanic, not rich, smoked about half a pack a day, all of hids friends at work smoked, and most of his 10 brothers smoked as well. Despite these many influences he still quit and actually caused some of the others in his workplace to quit as well.

I just figured this thread needed a little positive encourage ment to any smokers that WANT to quit. Those who don't will never quit and others can't make them. End of story

[JurseyRider734]

hund says...

Also, weed? COME ON, half of you guys smoke weed. There is nothing wrong with it, sh*t, no has died from weed, so why is it bad? exactly.

So I guess that doesn't count all of the people who drive while high on marijuana, and crash into people killing themselves AND the others? Good job buddy, you're a first class idiot.


Anyways, there's this place called "Smoker's Corner" at our high school and it really pisses me off. I mean seriously, and they do it right infront of a cop car to piss him off. I'm straight edge, i've never touched a drug and i have never dranken alcohol, so when i see these young kids there smoking cigarettes before school, at lunch, and after school, it really really pisses me off. Seriously, these kids get off to a bad start and will end up regretting it. Why can't they just make the right choices?


What @#)*$&@#$ idiots.

[The_Q]

Ok, I know I just promoted smoking as an economy booster (the taxes on it do jack sh*t, folks, especially when you know where the money goes). I guess I can also explain why people shouldn't smoke as an individual choice.

Basically, the same reasons there are to smoke are the reasons not to. The money that goes all over to aid the smokers health comes from somewhere, normally the smoker. I, personally, am cheap. I don't want to spend time and money smoking and trying to stay healthy. Then if it's MJ you have to spend time and money to avoid cops, keep the smell down, not look too stupid...

Basically, the costs outweigh the benefits. Why do people do it then? If not doing it was better than doing it, no one would even bother smoking. But I guess the benefits are always equal or more plentiful than the costs in some peoples eyes. I'll never know and I don't think I'll ever know firsthand. I'll just keep my theory about cost-benefit and be happy.

Q

[jewpinthethird]

Originally Posted by JurseyRider734

So I guess that doesn't count all of the people who drive while high on marijuana, and crash into people killing themselves AND the others? Good job buddy, you're a first class idiot.

Yes, people have been under the influence and crashed their cars and whatnot up all good, but it is the same story for those who drink and drive. Alcohol is just as bad, if not worse since drinking is basically poisoning your body. But the fact is marijuana, by itself, has never killed anyone.

[zildjian133]

Actually the number of people that smoked marijuana and drove and crashed and killed someone is 1/150th the number of people who drink and drive and kill 2 or more people. I forgot where I got that fact but I'll find it again and put it here. Anyway theres like so many people who die because of alcohol, tobacco, and LEGAL Drugs its stupid. And theres like so little deaths with illegal drugs and marijuana I don't really know what the government is fighting in the drugs against war. Drugs have taught an entire generation of kids the metric system.

EDIT: Oh yeah smoking is stupid especially tobacco, actually tobacco is just stupid.

[Cenright]

If someone smoked marijuana as much as other people smoked regular cigarettes, you see that they would have the same problem. They would also have extra liver problems because of the liver having to work harder to clean contaminants. The same is with alcohol. It it isn't truely bad, but when combined with the loss of judgement that comes with it when drunk in excess, it becomes a problem. Over time though, too much liquor ruins the liver.

[jewpinthethird]

With a cigarette, one smokes about 4 grams of tobacco. When someone wants to get high, they usually smoking much less. And some of the smartest people I have met smoke marijuana. So, idiots who smoke marijuana were idiots way before they started.

[Kilgamayan]

Exerpt from a problem set recently assigned in my Mechanics class:

"A helicopter that commutes between an airport and city is ascending with a velocity of 19.6 m/s and is 58.8 m above the ground. Because federal regulations prohibit smoking on the aircraft, one of the passengers decides at that instant to step outside for a smoke. How long will it take for the passenger to hit the ground?"

Irrefutable proof that smoking kills.

For the record, the guy lasted 6 seconds before he went splat against the pavement. And he was 58.8 m in the air. Odds are you're touching the ground right now, or are at least really close to it - imagine how fast you would die.