Poll: Should smoking be made illegal?

[The Lost Big Boss]

We the government have found that it is in your best interest to get a flu shot, so we are now making it mandatory to the entire populace to get one. Why would you care? Its for your own well being.

 

[Private Custard]

Smokers who read this, there is only one thing I ask, nay, beg of you. I won't ask you to stop smoking, but just... stamp them out when you toss them. It's as easy as putting your foot down. Please?

Always do. And, if possible, I put the butt down a drain. I don't put them in bins as bins catch fire!

 

[Always_Remain]

1:'We had a discussion on facebook' - i loled

2: you are 12 and what is this

You smell of 4chan, my friend. I like it.

OT: No, I don't think it should be banned. Why? Because why not? If people are considerate and don't smoke around other people then I see no problem with them smoking. But in a thread as huge as this my own opinion has probably been said by many others.

 

[Kair]

Nicotine is a heavier narcotic than THC, so is ethanol. It does not make sense to keep nicotine legal and THC illegal.

Here's a metaphor.
Say there's a really annoying guy living in your house, and you would really like to get rid of him. However, you can't get rid of him, because he - for example - is your cousin. Forcing him to leave would create a lot of trouble for you. However, the fact that you have to put up with him doesn't mean you will go ahead and invite every annoying dickhead you meet into your house.

Nicotine is heavily rooted in our culture, so we can't easily ban it, but that doesn't mean we should legalize all other drugs that have similar effects.

It will not be easy to ban it, but the effort needed to be put into change does not make the argument of change any less valid.
A change that will benefit humans for hundreds of years far outweighs the effort put into it over much less time.
It is the optimal we are after, not the compromise.

You can look back at prohibition times, and see how well it went the last time we tried banning a drug.

Drugs need to be faded out from our culture, because if we try to remove it immedeately, we will most likely face an uprising, and then the drugs will return in a matter of years.

Of course.

Then we have consensus. I thought you meant it should be banned immedeately.

There is good reason to counteract any addictive narcotic, especially one as harmful as nicotine, though a ban is not the best way to counteract this narcotic.

 

[interspark]

smoking is a way of forcing people to slowly and painfully kill themselves while dropping money into the governers and politicians pockets, while at the same time, hurting those around them

OF COURSE IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!

this is one of those questions with the blaitently obvious answer that people just turn a blind eye to..... alright, go ahead, quote me and insult my intellegance and judgement, those are my opinions and i plan to stick with them

 

[Blue_vision]

Here in the UK, in 2009, the tax revenue from tobacco sales was approximately double that of the cost to the NHS to treat smoking related illnesses. Yes, it's a case of simple economics!

Jesus, how many times does this have to be pointed out before people listen??

Though how many of those people you're treating are actually living through it? Either way, all of them are suffering. You're essentially trading money for lives and well-being.
I'd far rather be subsidizing that half of medicare costs than having people suffering and dying terrible and preventable deaths.

 

[Zenn3k]

How do you expect me to slowly kill myself without cigs?

BTW - its already taxed enough, cigs cost a fortune.

 

[Bullfrog1983]

I'd argue that smoking cigarettes should be just as legal as smoking pot. So either legalize them both (with the same rules for both, i.e. no smoking near children, while pregnant, etc.) or make them both illegal.

Cigarettes are more addictive, just as dangerous, and sell for about as much as pot (at least where I live) - because of this I think pot should be legalized to regulate the product, to reduce the damaging quality of the product, gain huge amounts of profit for the government to tax, reduce the amount of police needed to prosecute dealers, and to stimulate the economy.

In my opinion the tax governments get from cigarettes is the biggest reason that it is still legal, because I don't see any moral difference between the two.

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

It shouldn't. It's a choice, and people know full well what they get into, and most are fine with it.

 

[TheWwwizard]

No, because prohibition doesn't work. Making smoking illegal would be the same as making drinking illegal in the 20s, or making marijuana illegal. All you end up with is more crime, and more people clogging up the criminal justice system with petty offenses.

This pretty much sums up what I was going to say. Making something illegal that people are going to acquire anyways just creates crime where there would otherwise be none, the whole drug cartel problem in Mexico would go away if we just legalized all their exports.

 

[Captain Bobbossa]

the fact is that smoking harms the smoker and those around them, the amount affected shouldn't matter
smoking causes damage and has no health benifits.
yet, marajawana has little to no negative side affects for adults and can be used to treat glaucoma and it is illeagal.
what possitive side effects can come from smoking that you can't get from something else?

First of, read mine again.

Secondly, I take it you smoke pot then seen as one of the side effects of smoking it is denial. Seriously I'm getting sick of pot heads saying "Pot does nothing wrong, infact it magicaly heals everything"
This is complete and utter bolloks. A few side effects of pot include adiction (and yes it is addictive not through it's chemicals but through the effects, basically you become addicted to smoking pot and getting high not any particular chemical), anxiety attacks, becoming a complete wanker and depression. How many of you know someone who has depression and has done for a while (more than 4 months)? Now do they smoke pot? I bet you 9 out of 10 times the answer is yes. Taking anti-depressants is a 3 month course to help you get over the depression. If you have it because you smoke pot then the only that's going to solve the problem is to stop.

Also thanks to long expossure to the substance I've developed anxiety attacks and social issues (I still have them after stopping).

But like i said the main problem with pot is denial, pot causes a serious amount of denial which is why you get so many pot smokers going "oh no, it's perfectly healthy for you honest, some scientist said so" or "some survey said so" show it to me? From a reliable source.

first, i don't smoke pot and i did not say it was a "magic cure" but it is often used to treat illnesses like glaucoma. and yes it is addictive, but so is smoking, in fact a lot of things are addictive. if it can be done it can be over-done. anti-depressants can also be addictive. and if you want a reliable source look at a medical site.

Well I never said that anti depresseants and smoking weren't adictive, I know this.

Why did you say that marjuwana has little to no side effects?

It isn't used to treat anything, it's used as a pain killer.

And if "alot of things are addictive" then why the smokers? why not fat people for instance?

little to no side effects FOR ADULTS. it is still dangerous for kids a teens. and the side effect i was talking about was brain damage.

then how is it different from any other pain killer as long as it is used how it is supposed to? people can get addicted to over the counter pain killers just as easiely as they would anything else.

and the difference between being addicted to smoking and being addicted to fatty foods and/or over-eating is that smoking effects you and the people around you, a donut caused heart-attack only affects the person eating the donut, no one else.

nope, even adults mate. And people don't use (offten) other painkillers in the way that they use pot.

And how does smoking affect others around you? people aren't still going on about this passive smoking crap are they?

 

[ezeroast]

i'm fine with people smoking weed, but cigarettes are disgusting and you shouldn't smoke them where people can see you. You should be too ashamed. But it is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally fun to cough at smokers when running by them

do you dance in front of people in wheelchairs too?

So I'm not the only one who thinks this argument can be completely summed up with a Bill Hicks routine.

well gotta say he knew what he was talking about

 

[instantbenz]

Fuck no that is retarded and your 'friends' need a cigarette in the eye. What would be next once said law is passed? No coffee (caffeine), sex or working out (ceratonin) and certainly no driving or any type of sports (adrenaline).

That attitude is straight wrong.

 

[Kurokami]

No, I like smoking. It's great at parties or when in a stressful mood.

Isn't that what drinking's for? Also doesn't make people cough like crazy when in closed spaces. (I very much dislike it when people smoke inside rooms)

 

[lettucethesallad]

1:'We had a discussion on facebook' - i loled

2: you are 12 and what is this

You smell of 4chan, my friend. I like it.

The cancer killed /b/ boys, your old memes are not exactly cool and edgy anymore.

 

[Kurokami]

Fuck no that is retarded and your 'friends' need a cigarette in the eye. What would be next once said law is passed? No coffee (caffeine), sex or working out (ceratonin) and certainly no driving or any type of sports (adrenaline).

That attitude is straight wrong.

I don't think that's a fair exageration, coffee is a drug, cigarettes are poison. Personally I don't see what the logic is in leaving marijuana banned while cigarettes are fine to smoke, not that I'm for banning either, provided people stop smoking inside and try to stay the fuck away from other people while they do it.

 

[mikespoff]

I think filtered cigarettes should be banned.

Harder to start smoking if you have to start on unfiltered, and the filters are a horrible litter problem.

Two problems solved at once!

 

[Nieroshai]

I've never heard of violent crimes committed over or because of cigarettes. Alcohol? Can cause very violent behavior due to its ability to lower inhibitions and cloud judgment. Marijuana? As much as people love to call it a wonder-drug of peace and love, people steal and kill to get it, and despite popular belief that being high doesn't make one violent, my dad was at his worst when he was high. Tobacco does almost nothing whatsoever to alter perception, aside from the calming effect of getting the nicotene fix.
As for damage to the body, yes it's harmful. That's where I take the stance that it's up to the person. I hold this stance on everything else as well. So unless you want it banned over the possibility of causing lung cancer, there's no reason to do so.
As for places smoking should be acceptible, I say in the home and in well-ventilated outdoor areas, unless the building/room one is in is meant for smoking.

But that's just my stance.

 

[Nieroshai]

smoking is a way of forcing people to slowly and painfully kill themselves while dropping money into the governers and politicians pockets, while at the same time, hurting those around them

OF COURSE IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!

this is one of those questions with the blaitently obvious answer that people just turn a blind eye to..... alright, go ahead, quote me and insult my intellegance and judgement, those are my opinions and i plan to stick with them

Forcing people? They know the risks. You almost can't walk five feet without hearing how evil and harmful cigarettes are. If you live in the civilized world, I GUARANTEE no one is being forced to smoke and EVERYONE knows the consequences.