Should Smoking Be Banned?

This is not specifically directed at the OP, but at the legions of mewling anti-smokers who seem to take great pleasure in being a pain in my ass.

Ban smoking? G'head - try it.

If the purpose of your exercise is to create a new criminal class, and throw even more people in jail for victimless crimes then, by all means, ban smoking.

The statistics you posted are EXTREMELY misleading.

What they should say is that 5.? million smokers a year die from cancer, heart disease, and emphysema. Of those deaths, there is NO WAY to know how many would not have occurred if the person had not smoked.

When a smoker dies from practically anything, it's a smoking-related death.

Why is it that when water-drinkers die from cancer, it's not a water-related death?

Because there aren't billions of dollars in play to try to get people to quit drinking water, that's why.

Did you know that nicotine speeds neuron response, prevents Alzheimer's, and has been proven to improve brain function? No wonder the government wants it banned - the last thing they need at this juncture is thinking citizens...

The cancer epidemic DOES NOT COINCIDE with the advent of smoking. It does coincide with the widespread adoption of plastic for use in food service and storage, and also the atomic testing of the cold war.

Funny...

I think the cancer rates have a lot more to do with Dow Chemical than they do with Philip Morris.

Lung cancer kills droves of non-smokers every year. So, do yourself a favor, and save us some grief in the process, by dispensing with the eternal life fantasy you use to justify your discriminatory and condescending behavior.

The non-smokers will say "someone must have smoked in the car with them once" or something equally stupid. Nevermind the fact that one forest fire throws up more carcinogens and harmful particulate than every smoker in the history of man; nevermind the fact that the EPA 'safe levels' for mercury and other toxins in our air are enough to cause permanent harm; nevermind the link between bacterial imbalance and the overuse/misuse of antibiotics and heart disease. Nevermind our toxic diet.

It's all the fault of the filthy smokers.



You want to reduce the rates of chronic illness in this country and around the world? Ban corporate greed, individual gluttony and stupidity, and natural causes. I'd bet my lungs that those three factors contribute more bodies to the ground than the humble cigarettes.

Get it - I'm betting my lungs.

That's the final nail in the coffin, excusing the pun. It's a personal choice. Once more - personal choice.

How twisted do your priorities have to be when you care more about what another person is doing to their own body than you care about what you yourself are doing to the ideals upon which this country was founded - freedom, justice, liberty, self-determination. Stop worrying about what I'M doing to my body, and start worrying about what YOU'RE doing to our country.

You want to entertain the illusion that our shopping malls and bars and restaurants will be healthy once all the smokers are gone, knock yourself out, but for God's sake, leave the policy-making to people with active, firing neurons.