Why Does Our Government Allow Us To Buy Poison?

[slickinfinit]

I am a non-smoker who cant understand why people willingly inhale smoke? Alcohol I can see in moderation cause it does no serious harm if not abused, but how can even 1 cigarette be anything but bad? From what studies show it is a addictive toxic drug (nicotine) and can kill if enough get in your body. I even read that smoking has a negetive effect on your genes inside your organs not letting them grow and heal properly and it simply is a quicker way to die and bad health. I know some people smoke and say its their right but it is the provider (tobaco comany) that is at fault, they are responsible for countless early deaths and the only punishment they get is some of their billions taken away why? Who knows why wont the government take action to save lives, they regulate, tax and also profit from it though using a modest anti-smoking campaign aimed at stopping kids from smoking. My mom smokes and she cant quit and I guess there are millions more in north america alone who cant stop buying the poison the government allows to be sold is it moral or should it be stopped? Plus people who are addicted will always logicly defend their action because they will have to go through withdrawl which is a sickness and so most people keep smoking even with a picture of a lung tumor on the pack with a death warning ?

[Aardvark]

Yes, smokng is unreservedly bad for the health.

 

However, that on its own does not justify banning it. If a person choses of their own free will to do something which they know is bad for them that is their right.

 

We own our bodies, not the government, we are responsible for our bodies, not the government. If we chose to damage them, through smoking, or eating too much, or any one of thousands of ways, that's up to us.

 

The only valid area of government intervention is to protect non smokers from the activities of smokers by cracking down on so called 'passive smoking'.

 

Yes, nicotine is addictive, but no one physcally 'can't' stop smoking. It's a matter of self responsibility, everyone can stop if they really want too. People just need to take responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming others for their own mistakes.

[psi20]

I think the government once did try to ban alcohol, right? There'd probably be a similar reaction.

 

I agree, however, that all drugs that directly affect more than one person should be banned. I hate sitting next to someone who smokes. When I was a kid, I used to inhale smoke from my dad since I didn't know it could kill me. It's pretty bad to know you're kids might get addicted like you, or someone else's kid, etc.

[YT2095]

I think the government once did try to ban alcohol' date=' right? There'd probably be a similar reaction.

[/quote']

yeah, Prohibition in the 1930s. it actualy killed more people than just leaving it legal, they were making and drinking all sorts of toxic coctails including Meths

[slickinfinit]

I dont think alcohol is bad if u dont abuse it but i hate smoking and cant see why they are sold but if they were illegal crime would profit from their sale. I think that is a lazy way of dealing with the serious health issue cause they migth as well make heroin legal so crime dont profit from that. Canada's government is working slow in making it's anti smoking program but at least we are trying.I want to see a day where smoking is a scientific study on anthropological society lol

[DandyGurl]

I think you should be allowed to drink tolulene if you want to. Who is the government to say what I can and can't put into my own body?

 

Side note: I dont smoke or do drugs...

[c dawg]

i don't get why it's illegal for teens to buy tobacco but it's not illegal to use them. it's not like alchohol where you can't buy it or drink it when your a minor. why don't they just do the same thing with cigarretes

[john5746]

I think you should be allowed to drink tolulene if you want to. Who is the government to say what I can and can't put into my own body?

 

Side note: I dont smoke or do drugs...

 

Well, insurance premiums go up for everyone. In the case of smoking, it pollutes the air that I breath. If it weren't legal, I would be against making it legal. Since it is already legal and we have many addicts, I think we should start with 10 year olds and tell them if they start smoking, they will not be able to have health insurance. Hit them in the pocket. Raise the taxes on cigarettes and use it to get people off of them. People choose to start smoking, usually when they are young. They get addicted and find it very difficult to quit. It isn't that much of a choice.

[bloodhound]

how old do u have to be to legally drink alco in the US of A

[Bald Wonder]

Since it is already legal and we have many addicts, I think we should start with 10 year olds and tell them if they start smoking, they will not be able to have health insurance. Hit them in the pocket.

C'mon!!! What 10 year old do you know that actually understands what health insurance is, much less gives a fat baby's a$$ if you tell them they won't be able to get it?

 

Smoking, like everything else in life, is a choice made based on risk vs. benefit. In this day and age, most people know the risks associated with smoking. Every person that smokes continues to do so because they are willing to accept the risks to receive the pleasure derived from smoking.

 

It's just like speeding. I know speeding is illegal. I know the risks - injury to myself, injury to others. I know there is a chance I will receive a ticket. However, there are times when I am willing to accept those risks in order to get somewhere on time, so I make a conscious decision to speed. If any of the aforementioned consequences occur as a result of my speeding, I must take full responsibility for my decision.

 

Same with eating fast food, drinking, drugs, risky sex ... fill in the blank with whatever your favorite vice may be.

[john5746]

Yeah, you are correct about the 10 year old, no doubt! I said that tongue-in-cheek. Anyway, speeding isn't a good comparison. Sex might be a good one, except everyone can live very well without smoking.

 

I think most people who smoke would quit if it were easy to quit. Same with alcoholics.

[Mokele]

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right."

--Gandhi

[john5746]

Was that quote from a MADD(Mothers Against Drunk Driving) conference?

[DandyGurl]

C'mon!!! What 10 year old do you know that actually understands what health insurance is' date=' much less gives a fat baby's a$$ if you tell them they won't be able to get it?

 

Smoking, like everything else in life, is a choice made based on risk vs. benefit. In this day and age, most people know the risks associated with smoking. Every person that smokes continues to do so because they are willing to accept the risks to receive the pleasure derived from smoking.

 

It's just like speeding. I know speeding is illegal. I know the risks - injury to myself, injury to others. I know there is a chance I will receive a ticket. However, there are times when I am willing to accept those risks in order to get somewhere on time, so I make a conscious decision to speed. If any of the aforementioned consequences occur as a result of my speeding, I must take full responsibility for my decision.

 

Same with eating fast food, drinking, drugs, risky sex ... fill in the blank with whatever your favorite vice may be.[/quote']

 

 

RIGHT ON. If cigarettes were 10.00$ a pack people would still smoke. I remember when they were less then 2.00, now they are closer to 6.00, and this was over a 5 year period. Has any one stopped smoking because of it? Are tobacco sales down? No. People will take nicotine over food. This was shown in studies, with monkeys. Look at cocaine. Worth more then gold. A gram costs about $50 and gives you about one hours high. Cost is not an issue. And we do punish the people who do drugs through our health care system. Smokers pay higher rates and alcoholics can be deemed uninsurable, I know first hand, I have two different NC state Insurance License’s...

 

We need to be responsible for ourselves. Stop putting the blame on others. Its not the tobaccos company’s fault you have cancer from smoking, its your fault for smoking in the first place. For god’s sake they put a damn warning right on the side of the box. That would be like me suing BMW for receiving a speeding ticket, based on the fact that they make cars that go over 65 MPH. Ridiculous. The health ins. co. should sue the lung cancer patient for making every one’s rates go up. I think any one should be able to do any drug they want, BUT if you kill, or hurt some while on them you should be held responsible. “I was on drugs” can NOT be used as an excuse. My $0.02.

[psi20]

But is it alright to put drugs into someone else's body? Doesn't second-hand smoke kill a lot of people?

[Mokele]

But is it alright to put drugs into someone else's body? Doesn't second-hand smoke kill a lot of people?

 

Yes, but that's why in most places you have to go outside to smoke.

 

To be honest, the vaporous products are the only real gripe I have about cigs. Aside from the possible pollution of my air, there's no reason people shouldn't be allowed to poison themselves, if they wish.

 

Mokele

[john5746]

Direct medical costs associated with smoking are around $50 billion a year.1

 

Productivity and lost earnings because of smoking-related disease and premature deaths cost an additional $50 billion a year.2

 

It is estimated that Medicare will spend $800 billion over the next 20 years caring for people with smoking-related illnesses.3

 

The most recent analysis by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that in 1993 approximately $2.06 was spent on medical care attributable to smoking for each of the 24 billion packs of cigarettes sold.4

 

This is a big impact on society. I like live and let live myself, but unless smokers waive the "right" to healthcare, I am opposed to smoking. Marijuana would be less of a problem than tobacco - not as addictive.

[Sayonara]

But is it alright to put drugs into someone else's body? Doesn't second-hand smoke kill a lot of people?

That's not an argument against smoking, it's an argument for more careful smoking.

 

There are plenty of smokers - like myself - who go to extraordinary lengths to not expose non-smokers or unknowns to what is essentially a harmful side effect of their own adiction.

[swansont]

how old do u have to be to legally drink alco in the US of A

 

21, I think, in all states. Technically it's up to the states to decide, but there was a time that some states had it at 18, and there were many instances of people driving over state borders to drink, and that was a problem. As I recall it, the federal government eventually said (about 20 years ago), basically, that the states were free to choose, but if they didn't raise the drinking age to 21 they would lose federal funding for highways (lots of $$). So those states who weren't at 21 "chose" to raise the age.

[DandyGurl]

Direct medical costs associated with smoking are around $50 billion a year.1

 

Productivity and lost earnings because of smoking-related disease and premature deaths cost an additional $50 billion a year.2

 

It is estimated that Medicare will spend $800 billion over the next 20 years caring for people with smoking-related illnesses.3

 

The most recent analysis by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that in 1993 approximately $2.06 was spent on medical care attributable to smoking for each of the 24 billion packs of cigarettes sold.4

 

This is a big impact on society. I like live and let live myself' date=' but unless smokers waive the "right" to healthcare, I am opposed to smoking. Marijuana would be less of a problem than tobacco - not as addictive.[/quote']

 

 

Yes that is true but smokers pay more for insurance. Allmost all my rates are male/female and tobacco /nontobacco, so the smokers do pay, average is about $50 a month more. The ins. companies are smart...

 

Medicare gets ****ed how ever, every one pays the same rate...

[DandyGurl]

Woa this site is censored? That's unamerican....

[Sayonara]

Woa this site is censored? That's unamerican....

Welcome to the web love.

[DandyGurl]

Welcome to the web love.

The web is our one last "un" censored media outlet. TV, radio and the news papers are all censored. The FCC is tightening its grip on the balls of the freedom of speach...

[Sayonara]

I will ignore the arrogance of proclaiming the web, which is a British invention and an international forum, to be the Fifty-First State, and simply remind you that censorship has nothing to do with Free Speech.

[DandyGurl]

I will ignore the arrogance of proclaiming the web, which is a British invention[/url'] and an international forum, to be the Fifty-First State, and simply remind you that censorship has nothing to do with Free Speech.

Al Gore invented the intraweb. Hey we saved your ass in WWII.