Why can't we make smoking illegal?

[Ric1]

I think it is so immoral that government takes advantage of an addiction to boost their revenue when they know it is so bad for health.

I'm not joking when i say i am finding it so tough to give up, i've tried everything bar drugs to stop and the first real dose of stress and my cravings win.
I've heard about a drug called Champix that supposed to work miracles but has side effects which include suicidal tendencies, having been so low with depression before i know that i don't want to put myself in a situation where i might not be thinking straight.

Yes, I give the letters out for that for the doctors, if you want contact your local PCT and get them to put you in touch with the core team of stop smoking advisors given your history of depression (quitting can further increase it anyway) as they have had the training and experince needed to ensure that your quit attempt goes as smoothly as it can be.

 

[B_jeepguy2]

I am fed up with the way in which government is spending shed loads of money on anti-smoking campaigns. Why can't they just make it illegal?

I AM a smoker and i have been trying to quit for the past two years. I know plenty of people who have given up with great ease but for me i just find it so difficult. I want to quit and over half of all smokers do so surely if we had a vote on it there would be no worthy reason not to ban it completely.

If i had a craving it won't matter then how weak my willpower is or how stressed i got because i would'nt be able to get any. Guaranteed success!

Dude, have you tried Zyban? I have heard that it really helps with the cravings. I have never smoked but it is gotta suck to be hooked on cigarettes.

Banning tobacco won't help, pot is illegal and there is no problem getting that!

 

[vince]

I get so annoyed that people treat this ADDICTION so flippantly, it's not a simple case of if you want to quit you will, the cost is not the dominant factor, it's stress and it's so hard to do.

I'm not being flippant. To prove it, I'm going to take the time to write a couple paragraphs. Just for you. :smile:

I've quit twice... once for 12 years. It's a powerful addiction and one you are never over. But you will never quit until you really want to. You may think you do, but when you reach the point where you do quit, it's different and you'll know it. maybe you are already there. It's not easy, but it's not as hard as you think. It can be done. When you really, really want to quit, it becomes much easier.

After a few days, the urge to smoke doesn't last any longer than it takes to get one out of the pack and light it. You soon forget about smokes for long stretches of time. Pretty soon, you don't even think about it after a meal.

If you get stressed I recommend-
Hypnosis, NLP, Stop Smoking, Hypnotherapy London, Hypnosis Downloads

^It really works. For about the cost of just a couple of packets, you can become smoke free. And it's recommended by that sexy Ewan McGregor :wink:

 

[mitchymo]

Yes, I give the letters out for that for the doctors, if you want contact your local PCT and get them to put you in touch with the core team of stop smoking advisors given your history of depression (quitting can further increase it anyway) as they have had the training and experince needed to ensure that your quit attempt goes as smoothly as it can be.

Dude, have you tried Zyban? I have heard that it really helps with the cravings. I have never smoked but it is gotta suck to be hooked on cigarettes.

Banning tobacco won't help, pot is illegal and there is no problem getting that!

I'm going to talk with my doctor about both Champix and Zyban around April.
This is to coincide with my target quit date which will be my 31st birthday. I am taking 3 weeks off work to take away a significant source of stress in order to help boost my chances. I have already recieved the NHS quit kit which i asked for so that is ready when it comes time. In the meantime i am trying to just cut down.

 

[mitchymo]

I'm not being flippant. To prove it, I'm going to take the time to write a couple paragraphs. Just for you. :smile:

I've quit twice... once for 12 years. It's a powerful addiction and one you are never over. But you will never quit until you really want to. You may think you do, but when you reach the point where you do quit, it's different and you'll know it. maybe you are already there. It's not easy, but it's not as hard as you think. It can be done. When you really, really want to quit, it becomes much easier.

After a few days, the urge to smoke doesn't last any longer than it takes to get one out of the pack and light it. You soon forget about smokes for long stretches of time. Pretty soon, you don't even think about it after a meal.

If you get stressed I recommend-
Hypnosis, NLP, Stop Smoking, Hypnotherapy London, Hypnosis Downloads

^It really works. For about the cost of just a couple of packets, you can become smoke free. And it's recommended by that sexy Ewan McGregor :wink:

Thank you! I have noted the URL for that so i can visit in a few months.

 

[B_jeepguy2]

I'm going to talk with my doctor about both Champix and Zyban around April.
This is to coincide with my target quit date which will be my 31st birthday. I am taking 3 weeks off work to take away a significant source of stress in order to help boost my chances. I have already recieved the NHS quit kit which i asked for so that is ready when it comes time. In the meantime i am trying to just cut down.

Good luck buddy I am sure you CAN do this!

You need a hot nonsmoking dude to hang with you for those three weeks to make sure you don't smoke and give you some luvin when you start getting stressed out and craving a smoke...just a thought.:biggrin1:

 

[Viking_UK]

I'm not being flippant. To prove it, I'm going to take the time to write a couple paragraphs. Just for you. :smile:

I've quit twice... once for 12 years. It's a powerful addiction and one you are never over. But you will never quit until you really want to. You may think you do, but when you reach the point where you do quit, it's different and you'll know it. maybe you are already there. It's not easy, but it's not as hard as you think. It can be done. When you really, really want to quit, it becomes much easier.

After a few days, the urge to smoke doesn't last any longer than it takes to get one out of the pack and light it. You soon forget about smokes for long stretches of time. Pretty soon, you don't even think about it after a meal.

That's so true. I stopped quite a few times in the past, but always started up again, once after six years. I haven't had a smoke now since February 2001 and don't miss them at all. I haven't even had a craving since a few weeks after I stopped.

A lot of it is about your attitude. If you're just stopping because you feel like you should, it never seems to work. You've got to want to stop.

It helps if you can tag it onto other life changes as well. For me, it was moving house. I'd bought a brand new car a few months earlier and had designated that as a no-smoking zone because I knew I was planning to stop and felt it was important to work up to it gradually. Every now and then, I'd add another place where I wouldn't smoke to the list. Eventually, all that was left was the house and outside.

I started using an inhalator - you know the things, a mouthpiece that you put a nictine cartridge into and suck air through. I smoked about 40 a day when I started using it, and according to the blurb in the box, I should have been using 3-4 cartridges a day. I never used more than one. I'd tried the gum before, but that made me nauseous and I'm allergic to the adhesive on the patches so at that time, the inhalator was the only viable option for me and it worked really well. It also avoided having to go out in the pissing rain to huddle under the overhang at the office door.

For me, it was as much about the ritual of smoking as the addiction and the inhalator helped with both. It gave me something to do with my hands and satisfied the craving. The cigarettes I found hardest to give up were the first one in the morning and the one after a meal, but I got there in the end.

Good luck with quitting.

 

[Pendlum]

mitchy, if you are so disgusted by the government making money from cigarettes, why not try and get the tax removed instead of banning them? Not only does that keep an industry alive (possibly, I'd assume so but, I'm no economist), but it has the same effect of ridding this dirty money from the government. The downside is of course the ease of price gouging afterward since consumers are so used to paying such outrages prices, though I think it would regulate itself fairly quickly. Tobacco farmers keep their farms (though I'd prefer that land be used for something more useful like food production if possible), the very large cigarette industry keeps their employees, so on so forth. And the only ones who lose out is the government. I mean the only use that money for various things like raising the awareness of smoking, especially when pregnant I'd hope. Come to think of it, that is the one thing I never see in anti-smoking commercials. Anyway, maybe roads, who knows.

Just some thoughts.

 

[mitchymo]

mitchy, if you are so disgusted by the government making money from cigarettes, why not try and get the tax removed instead of banning them? Not only does that keep an industry alive (possibly, I'd assume so but, I'm no economist), but it has the same effect of ridding this dirty money from the government. The downside is of course the ease of price gouging afterward since consumers are so used to paying such outrages prices, though I think it would regulate itself fairly quickly. Tobacco farmers keep their farms (though I'd prefer that land be used for something more useful like food production if possible), the very large cigarette industry keeps their employees, so on so forth. And the only ones who lose out is the government. I mean the only use that money for various things like raising the awareness of smoking, especially when pregnant I'd hope. Come to think of it, that is the one thing I never see in anti-smoking commercials. Anyway, maybe roads, who knows.

Just some thoughts.

You are quite right, it is the cost of the habit that infuriates me most knowing the government takes a huge cut of something that should rightfully be as cheap as chocolate.

 

[Pendlum]

I understand. You could almost view them as part of a group of drug dealers. I mean I don't, but you can make the connection.

 

[breeze]

I don't exactly remember what i've read about smoking over the years but its probably in the ballpark.
The number of deaths or the number of people who've had their lives shorten depending on your viewpoint is approaching or has pasted 1 billion. There hasn't been anything like it.
I believe that documents released have shown that the scientists who worked for these companies , for years , tried to make them as addictive as possible. Of the 100 or so ingredients in cigarettes i believe 2 of them are sort of poison.
I don't know if smoking is declining in the United States but i believe that cigarette companies are counting on overseas markets like china where everyone smokes.
We're talking about something on an unprecedented scale where billions may die making any comparsions pale in comparsion. But the interest and will to ban smoking isn't there for a number of reasons.
I have seen people die of cancer { though not lung cancer }. It is an extremely ugly and painful way to die. No one should have to go through something like that.
We {the world } should ban smoking regardless of black markets or cartels or whatever. But it seems like something we don't give a second thought about. It's like its part of life. It does provide jobs but nothing like gm and the auto industry. We probably don't really need whatever taxes they pay.

 

[mitchymo]

I don't exactly remember what i've read about smoking over the years but its probably in the ballpark.
The number of deaths or the number of people who've had their lives shorten depending on your viewpoint is approaching or has pasted 1 billion. There hasn't been anything like it.
I believe that documents released have shown that the scientists who worked for these companies , for years , tried to make them as addictive as possible. Of the 100 or so ingredients in cigarettes i believe 2 of them are sort of poison.
I don't know if smoking is declining in the United States but i believe that cigarette companies are counting on overseas markets like china where everyone smokes.
We're talking about something on an unprecedented scale where billions may die making any comparsions pale in comparsion. But the interest and will to ban smoking isn't there for a number of reasons.


I have seen people die of cancer { though not lung cancer }. It is an extremely ugly and painful way to die. No one should have to go through something like that.
We {the world } should ban smoking regardless of black markets or cartels or whatever. But it seems like something we don't give a second thought about. It's like its part of life. It does provide jobs but nothing like gm and the auto industry. We probably don't really need whatever taxes they pay.

In the UK the high taxes help to fund treatment for smoking related illnesses on the NHS and justify it by citing evidence that smoking related illnesses eat up a huge chunk of the healthcare budget. It would occur to me that if they banned smoking then the number of smoking related illnesses would decrease significantly. But as other posters have said, it would'nt really be fair on those who smoke happily. (i would be happy with it being banned obviously tho but i probably would'nt care eitherway if i go smoke free which i intend to do in just a few months)

 

[mountbatten]

I've taken Zyban and Champix, quit for as long as I took the tablets but started straight away when off the drugs, I guess I didn't really want to stop smoking in the first place...In some respects it was too easy to quit with the medication. Didn't have any side effects although I'd strongly recommend not getting drunk while taking Zyban, worst hangover of my life. They do warn you, I didn't believe them!

I think if you really want to quit, you will regardless of how you do it. I'm smoking heavily, I like smoking cigarettes but would like to stop - main reason, I'd be more than £250/month better off!

Right, best be off for a ciggie...

 

[AlteredEgo]

That says a lot about your aquaintances rather than prove a point! No Offence

I'm confident that I'm street savy enough to go into any major city in the world where English or Spanish is spoken and be able to buy any quantity of marijuana. This includes many, many cities where I have no acquaintances at all. Give me three days and I can deliver an ounce, though I may not get the best price.

The point was that your addiction is your issue. It is not Joe Schmo's issue. Therefore, if Joe would like to have a cigar to celebrate his favorite team's victory, or a puff on a hookah at a restaurant, or a cigarette with his whiskey at a friend's house, your weaknesses should not become his prevention.

Moreover, whenever you make a substance illegal, it just becomes a black market item. At the first sign of stress, you'd be at the cigarette dealer's door, paying instead of $5 an ounce for good tobacco, $50 an ounce for shake, and it'll probably have some kind of filler in it.

Learn from history.

As a side note, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time quitting. Have you tried support groups?

and shit, there's already a black market for cigarettes in New York because the price is so high...ya, let's increase the crime rate...because that's exactly what prohibition does

Exactly. You can't get two blocks in any borough without someone offering to sell you Newports under their breath.

 

[Rikter8]

In April 2010 all Smoking activities will be banned from businesses in the Saginaw Twp area of Michigan.

That means no businesses can allow indoor smoking - if they do, they risk loosing their business license and heafty fines.

Here's the link to the early article. This passed and is happening this year.

Saginaw County Health Department, Tri-City businesses prepare for smoking ban | Saginaw Business Archives - - Saginaw, Michigan Business News - The Saginaw News – MLive.com

Don't really get the idea of banning cigarettes... I'm a smoker and love smoking! Yes, I know it will kill me at some point, but at least it's me who decides, not anybody else.

Can I smoke your cigar while your still around?