Should smoking be......

[tinkerbee]

Hasn't this been done to death?

 

[shatzjsl]

Consistent behavior that puts another's health in danger creates room for doubt. What if your parents drove you around a little tipsy... probably nothing will ever happen... what about your daughter?

I think it's the willingness to take the chance that creates doubt for PatriciaH.

Sorry but nobody on this Earth has the right to tell me that my parents did not love me or love my daughter! My parents are very loving people and I WILL NOT have anyone say anything different so please mind your own business. I'm sorry that they are not as perfect as some of you non-smokers seem to be. I'm sure that you do not have one bad habit.

 

[poohandwendy]

Consistent behavior that puts another's health in danger creates room for doubt. What if your parents drove you around a little tipsy... probably nothing will ever happen... what about your daughter?

So, i guess we could apply that same logic to mothers who raise their children on high fat/sugar diets? That they do not love them?

I dunno, I thinking smoking is way bad, but I think it is over the top to make a statement about who does and does not love their children in the way it was made here. JMHO. (we all have a right to our opinions, I just found that comment distasteful...not that it really matters, LOL)

 

[C.Ann]

So, i guess we could apply that same logic to mothers who raise their children on high fat/sugar diets? That they do not love them?

I dunno, I thinking smoking is way bad, but I think it is over the top to make a statement about who does and does not love their children in the way it was made here. JMHO. (we all have a right to our opinions, I just found that comment distasteful...not that it really matters, LOL)

----------------------

I agree.. It would be like saying that all of the parents who own SUV's and allow their children to ride in them "don't love their kids" because there's a higher risk of rollovers.. Ditto for the parent who doesn't buy their child his or her own seat on the airplane, preferring to keep them on their lap.. Or how about parents who have woodstoves in their homes, thereby increasing the danger of a house fire? What about the parents who own very large dogs of a breed consistent with attacking children? The list is endless and I don't blame shatzjsl one bit for being highly offended..

 

[totalia]

You know what? People can hurt themselves if they want. its their lives.

But when it comes to hurting others, it's a problem. And second hand smoke DOES hurt other people.

I watched my mother die. Slowly and painfully. A lump the size of a grown man's fist grew in her right lung from Cigarette smoking. It spread to her esophagus and her other lung.

I watched as she couldn't eat and would beg for help. I had to listen as she cried and begged someone to help her.

I used to wake up in the middle of the night to my mother wailing because she had gotten up in the night to go to the bathroom and fell down. She couldn't get back up again without help.

I watched my mother go from 120 lbs to 50 lbs because the cnacer was eating her alive.

It got to the point where she couldn't stand up. She couldn't even feed herself. We finally had to put her in a nursing fascility because we couldn't care for her any longer.

My sister had to advance her wedding. They were married in the chapel in the nursing home because we KNEW that my mother would never make it to my sister's wedding date. And then she started crying for no reason and screaming about nothing. She'd babble like a baby.

All from cigarette smoking.

Unless you have lived this you cannot know what it was like. And all because of cigarettes.

You know what? Yes, make it illegal. I'd rather die than end up like my mother did. Some things are worse than death and what she suffered was. I was glad when she finally died because it stopped hurting her and everyone around her.

I've seen what cigarettes do to people. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it should be. Cigarettes are one of those things.

If I am to die, then let me be hit by a car. Let a nuclear bomb hit me. But please don't let my family go through the pain I experienced with my mom just because she wanted to poison herself.

The trauma of what happened to her has changed me and the rest of my family forever.

Make the bloody things illegal. Its kinder.

 

[poohandwendy]

You know what I would like to see? The current laws being upheld. If it is illegal to buy cigarettes under the age of 18, why do I see young people smoking openly on the streets, in smoking sections of restaurants etc? If young people were drinking alcohol on the corner of a street the police would arrest them. Why not cigarettes?

The key to combatting the problem of smoking, for the future, is to stop young people from forming the habit. I just don't see anyone doing anything about the illegal consumption amongst the young. I think that would be a good place to start.

 

[totalia]

I agree with you poohandwendy. The problem (at least in canada) is not that store owners are not upholding the law. Its that people who are adults are willing to go in to buy them cigarettes just like they are willing to buy them alcohol.

For the record, I REFUSE to do that for anyone. Buying anyone cigarettes and alcohol I mean. I won't even buy it for adults. As far as I'm concerned, no one should be doing any of it anyway. If people don't like me for that, its not my problem.

 

[poohandwendy]

I agree with you poohandwendy. The problem (at least in canada) is not that store owners are not upholding the law. Its that people who are adults are willing to go in to buy them cigarettes just like they are willing to buy them alcohol.

Oh, I agree...but I am not talking about store owners (or even the idiots who would buy cigarettes for minors). there are laws being upheld for that (as much as they can be). It's the public consumption of tobacco by minors that noone does a damned thing about...the police turn a totally blind eye to it.

God help you if you are a store owner or employee and you are caught selling tobacco products to a minor, HUGE fine, loss of employment, etc.. (which I agree with) But where are the consequences for consuming it underage? There are none. It just doesn't make any sense to ban the purchase, but allow the consumption...

 

[totalia]

Mm, good point. I have to agree with you.

 

[lilallybean]

I have asked the following questions several times to people I know who smoke. I have yet to be given an answer that I can understand so let me ask here....

Is there a GOOD reason to smoke? If you could go back to the very first time you stuck a stink stick in your mouth would you do it again?

I do want to point out that I have asked my mentally ill clients this in our Health Living class and even THEY had to admit there is no logical reason to smoke.

I don't know that I would say parents who smoke don't love their kids, but I would say they don't value their health as much as those who wouldn't expose them to such toxic fumes. Maybe it is just a lack of knowledge...how sad. Time will tell the impact of the actions.

 

[totalia]

I won't say that parents who smoke don't love their children, but they do love their addiction more.

 

[SPAM]

i do not think that smoking should be illegal. at all. i do not smoke but know lots of people that do. smoke does not bother me, i am around it all the time. i feel that there are bigger things to worry about in life than if someone is smoking.
in response to it being banned, it recently was banned in my area in all public places (restaurants, bars, stores, etc.) i was completely against this ban and there are many people in outrage. I think if someone wants to smoke they should be allowed and if someone owns a restaurant or bar and wants to allow smoking, they should be allowed.

 

[poohandwendy]

I won't say that parents who smoke don't love their children, but they do love their addiction more.

Noone *loves* an addiction...

 

[totalia]

Ahh so the rest of us who don't smoke should be subjected to smoke that causes death just because a smoker wants to light up? Sorry, I don't agree and never will.

A smoker is HURTING people by smoking. And I think my life comes before I smokers desire to light up. And I shouldn't have to stay out of all public places because someone wants to light up. When one persons rights infringe on anothers, theres a problem. My right to life comes before anothers right to personal pleasure.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Not sure...but I'm very happy Florida is ALL NON SMOKING in restaraunts now!!!

 

[lilallybean]

Still waiting for an answer...see post #90

 

[totalia]

Not sure...but I'm very happy Florida is ALL NON SMOKING in restaraunts now!!!

I'm glad Alberta is too. Last I heard, the city council is talking about making it illegal to smoke in bars too.

All the companies complained when they made smoking in restaurants illegal. They thought that it would decrease their sales. They were completely wrong so the city council has good backup now.

lil, that's because they don't know the answer lol.

 

[poohandwendy]

Is there a GOOD reason to smoke? If you could go back to the very first time you stuck a stink stick in your mouth would you do it again?

I have asked the same question. I have not met one adult smoker who would not love to go back to that first cigarette and refuse it. Not sure if that answers it for you. No, IMO, there is no good reason to smoke.

 

[Immelman]

what about when I pull up to a stop light with my window down? I can smell smoke from other cars around me. if I can smell it, it's in MY lungs at that point. I guess I should have to drive around with my windows up. smokers are the most uncaring people in the world. they'll disregard rules to feed their addiction. watching people smoke in kid's areas in the parks makes me sick. nothing like standing in front of the castle and smelling smoke.

 

[totalia]

what about when I pull up to a stop light with my window down? I can smell smoke from other cars around me. if I can smell it, it's in MY lungs at that point. I guess I should have to drive around with my windows up. smokers are the most uncaring people in the world. they'll disregard rules to feed their addiction. watching people smoke in kid's areas in the parks makes me sick. nothing like standing in front of the castle and smelling smoke.

*nods emphatically*