Poll: Ye olde Cancer Sticks

[TomLikesGuitar]

I more hate the fact that they are the gateway drug than anything else. That's how my dad got started and he's no longer with us. Needless to say I will never smoke the damn things and try to avoid them on account of my asthma. I don't think less of people who do smoke but it is annoying how people can always tell that you've smoked or been near people who have just by the smell of your clothes.

Noo, coffee is a gateway drug... No wait... sugar is a gateway drug...

Or we can just admit that people are prone to addiction no matter what they've done in the past.

The only reason some "hard" drugs are "gateways" is because of the crowd involved with that drug. "Potheads" end up hanging with cokeheads and dope fiends ONLY because the world puts them in the same group. If weed was legal, it wouldn't be a gateway drug.

Shit, I forgot this was about cigarettes...

 

[Private Custard]

I have to admit, OP has given me second thoughts on smokers. I'll admit I do not like it when I am near someone who is smoking and I can smell it, and I don't like the thought that people are killing themselves, but OP is right, I guess it is your choice as long as you do not negate anyone else's freedom of being able to breathe freely.

However, here in England, we have the NHS, so it does cost the taxpayer if they have to go on life support machines or if a tumour has to be destroyed.

Dammit, do I have to say this to yet another person.

IT COSTS THE NON SMOKERS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Stats from last year.

Tax revenue from tobacco - £10bn

Cost of smoking to the NHS - £5bn

I'll let you work out the rest.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

My father and brother have smoked all my life and while I understand that it is perfectly fine and a great way to get calmed down, most smokers DO need to be more considerate about where they light up and who is around. Now, I am not saying you do it, but many smokers I have met just don't get how big the radius of second hand smoke is, and how obnoxious it is for many non-smokers.

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

I tried to dissuade my friends from smoking but people will do what they want to do and not a lot I managed to say delayed what seemed like the inevitable. Either way, I try to avoid smokers when they're smoking, which got very difficult at college, the whole road was 200m of cigarette smoke at any given break. I don't like smoking, not that I haven't been tempted before, stress and all, but as a student of biology I know where it would end. I don't want to have to rely on drugs to feel normal before I'm 60.

I suppose I'd say I'm anti-smoking but I don't say anything to anyone about it anymore, now they've started and all, they didn't listen then why would they now?

Should note I've done a couple of joints in the past which were rolled with tobacco at parties, which might have some factor in my brain looking at it as a potential release to the recent stress, doubtful given the very few times I've done it. Alcohol however...

 

[cheese_wizington]

Do I want my clothes smelling like pig shit rolled in lawn clippings?

No.

 

[Mordereth]

Not to get off track here from everyone's "it's a rather small radius" band-wagon, but I had asthma as a baby. I don't know if this affects it or anything, but if I get near A.) mold or B.) lit smokes I start to feel my lungs tense and it does become hard to breath. I also notice it only matters a little if I get right next to them. Light a smoke on a bus, and I'll be doing my best to be polite.

So just so you know, not everybody is being a douche bag when that happens. I know people who smoke weed/cigarettes, and I don't judge them. I just don't stick around for the smoking.

 

[ICanBreakTheseCuffs]

well if smoking makes people understand the meaning of life I'm all for it

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Nope. Tried it twice, not a fan. And not because it bad for you, because it really is like sucking on garbage and the smell is fucking HORRIBLE.

 

[DiMono]

The other day I was having a smoke and a small child (who never got anywhere near close enough to me to breathe in any secondhand smoke) felt entitled to look over at me and begin melodramatically gagging coughing and so on. Now personally, I find this very offensive; I'm being made fun of and alienated for a lifestyle choice.

I've already voiced my opinion on smoking in this thread once, but I reread the first post and something occurred to me in the portion I've quoted here: you're being made fun of and alienated for a lifestyle choice. More accurately, you're being made fun of an alienated for a life-shortening choice. You've chosen to voluntarily kill yourself slowly. Why shouldn't the kid make fun of you for that choice? It's a hell of a lot better than being mocked and made fun of for something you have no control over, like sexual orientation.

Smoking and obesity are the two leading killers in America. If you're voluntarily choosing one, you deserve all the ridicule you get.

 

[Ambi]

Am I the only non-smoker that actually kind of likes the smell in a way? I just like the smell of it wafting through my window at night along with a cool breeze. Maybe it reminds me of going places.

However, it's not a habit I want to get into. It's an unhealthy waste of money, like some other things.

I think young children might be more sensitive to the smell of cigarettes. I disliked my uncle when I was very young because "he's a hippy and he smokes". I just really hated the smell, so I hated whenever he stayed with us, even though he was a nice guy.

 

[HellspawnCandy]

Yeah, in Florida they're spamming commercials that are very graphic showing surgeons operating on a beating heart basically saying this is you if you smoke so stop. I just find it kinda silly, things taken in moderation aren't so bad. I'm 100% sure the people who smoke are quite aware of the health risks but there's other reasons why they smoke besides to look cool/fit it/all that non-sense. It's really just idiotic though, people are going to die, who wants to live at the tender age of 80 anyways?

 

[General_Potatoes]

Im fine with you smoking as long as it isn't near me.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I don't dislike the smokers themselves, just the act of smoking in an area in which another person has to deal with it. I, myself will never smoke.

 

[blankedboy]

I don't smoke, and I never will.
As far as other people go, smoke around me if you REALLY need to, as long as it's legal and not in my house.

 

[Purple Shrimp]

I answered "Not Cigarettes *winkyface*" because I smoke cigars, in fact I run a specialist cigar store. In my job I have had to deal with some of the worst of the preachy asshats out there. I remember one particular instance where a woman went out of her way to come in to my store to reprimand me for "selling death, like the devil". I kid you not.
I hate being villanised for what I enjoy but 75% of the time it is a lack of understanding that drives this.
That and, being a cigar smoker, I don't really walk around smoking or nip out in to the street for a smoke so when I am smoking it is usually around people who appreciate it.

And for the record I think cigarettes are vile. But it's their choice.

that's a pretty rad job

 

[Lance Arrow]

well if smoking makes people understand the meaning of life I'm all for it

Well shit, he's got life all figured out, doesn't he?

But onto the OT, I smoke regularly and have never been discriminated against or alienated for it, but that's mostly because I watch where I light one up and people in Holland don't tend to give two shits.

 

[EmzOLV]

I don't smoke, and I've never tried. I don't really mind other people doing it, but sometimes I find standing in areas with a lot of smoke to really tickle my throat and lungs so I end up with coughing fits. Dunno how you smokers manage haha.

But yeah, I wouldn't really rant at anyone for smoking, and that part doesn't really bother it - unless they hide it. Because that's just stupid.

 

[Knusper]

I have to admit, OP has given me second thoughts on smokers. I'll admit I do not like it when I am near someone who is smoking and I can smell it, and I don't like the thought that people are killing themselves, but OP is right, I guess it is your choice as long as you do not negate anyone else's freedom of being able to breathe freely.

However, here in England, we have the NHS, so it does cost the taxpayer if they have to go on life support machines or if a tumour has to be destroyed.

Dammit, do I have to say this to yet another person.

IT COSTS THE NON SMOKERS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Stats from last year.

Tax revenue from tobacco - £10bn

Cost of smoking to the NHS - £5bn

I'll let you work out the rest.

Touché, point accepted. I forgot about the amount of tax we get out of it.

 

[superbatranger]

If you want to smoke, then smoke. If you don't want to smoke, then don't.