Hawaii considers ban on cigarette sales

[spookyturtle 9,466]

31 minutes ago, Randyandyuni said:

there are lots of common behaviors that offends me ... does not afford me the opportunity to deny you your right to enjoy them, however smoking is one that no one defends, I am glad I no longer smoke but believe what people do in their homes is their business 

And I’ve always believed that what a man does in the privacy of his closet is his business and only his business. Take that time I was...... never mind. 

[OriZ 3,157]

4 hours ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

So you dont think someone has the right to engage in a legal activity in their own home. I agree smoking is a filthy un unhealthy habit .

Of course they have the right to,  that's not even what any of this is about. The question is should it be legal? And if it is legal how expensive should it be to engage in.

[millefleur 5,047]

Not sure how reliable this is but wanted to throw out some stats:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cigarette_consumption_per_capita

 

USA is number 69 by cigarette consumption, right above North Korea, lol....Saudi Arabia is number 50? I thought cigs were haram in Islam? Congrats to Ecuador coming in at number 175, one of the lowest for New World countries! What's up with Luxembourg coming in at number 2?? One of the richest countries on Earth and apparently one of the most smokery? Strange...same thing with Andorra at number 1, what's the deal with these microstates and smoking? Tax havens AND smoker's paradise apparently.

Edited February 7, 2019 by millefleur

[OriZ 3,157]

4 hours ago, fascinating123 said:

Is there theoretically anywhere one could smoke in your view? Like, if someone were to terraform Mars or Venus, or found a habitable moon somewhere, could they go smoke there? Or is the pollution being put into the galaxy too close for comfort?

 No, in an Ideal world I would want smoking to be completely gone. However as I mentioned before I do understand that an outright government ban is probably not the best way to go about it. I just think it should be made such an expensive habit that it would decrease significantly in both commonality and frequency. I wasn't joking when I said $50 a pack

[OriZ 3,157]

4 hours ago, yuna628 said:

Which is inherently why I said that smoking infringes upon the life of others and carelessly damages those lives - being their heath and their genes they pass to offspring for generations. Ideally a smoker should have the liberty to smoke in their own home, however if others are in the home that will, as you say cause harm. Ultimately a smoker chooses not to care about how their actions affect themselves and others, generally like many addicts.

Indeed, addiction is blinding

[millefleur 5,047]

3 minutes ago, OriZ said:

 No, in an Ideal world I would want smoking to be completely gone. However as I mentioned before I do understand that an outright government ban is probably not the best way to go about it. I just think it should be made such an expensive habit that it would decrease significantly in both commonality and frequency. I wasn't joking when I said $50 a pack

For me, I would love to live in a world where smoking was not considered "cool" anymore. One of my classmates in college told me he specifically started smoking because she wanted to look like the Marlboro man, and he was a Millennial, so grew up in an age where there was hardly any cigarette ads and yet it still left an impact on him. The overwhelming majority of people I knew in college smoked because of the "cool" factor (at least that's why they started, then I met some who continued because they admitted to being addicted).

 

I have more sympathy for smokers who work in high stress jobs and use it as a form of stress relief. Still find it awful and disgusting, but at least I can sort of see where they are coming from if it is a crutch and a coping mechanism for being under pressure. People who start because it's "cool" are just useful idiots for Big Tobacco. Thanks to vaping the numbers seem to be going down for better or for worse, but suckers are born every generation.

 

I'm still skeptical of vaping but I can admit it smells less awful than having cig smoke blown in one's face when having the misfortune of walking behind a smoker on the street.

[OriZ 3,157]

14 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Not sure how reliable this is but wanted to throw out some stats:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cigarette_consumption_per_capita

 

USA is number 69 by cigarette consumption, right above North Korea, lol....Saudi Arabia is number 50? I thought cigs were haram in Islam? Congrats to Ecuador coming in at number 175, one of the lowest for New World countries! What's up with Luxembourg coming in at number 2?? One of the richest countries on Earth and apparently one of the most smokery? Strange...same thing with Andorra at number 1, what's the deal with these microstates and smoking? Tax havens AND smoker's paradise apparently.

Theyve got nothing better to do there, they're bored. Much of europe itself has a long history of cultural smoking, so honestly I don't find this to be very surprising

[Ban Hammer 13,501]

4 hours ago, yuna628 said:

Which is inherently why I said that smoking infringes upon the life of others and carelessly damages those lives - being their heath and their genes they pass to offspring for generations. Ideally a smoker should have the liberty to smoke in their own home, however if others are in the home that will, as you say cause harm. Ultimately a smoker chooses not to care about how their actions affect themselves and others, generally like many addicts.

uh what?  i am unaware of any study indicating that smoking affects one's genes and therefore, their offspring.

and even if it did, what happened to the mantra "my body, my choice"???

[OriZ 3,157]

10 minutes ago, millefleur said:

For me, I would love to live in a world where smoking was not considered "cool" anymore. One of my classmates in college told me he specifically started smoking because she wanted to look like the Marlboro man, and he was a Millennial, so grew up in an age where there was hardly any cigarette ads and yet it still left an impact on him. The overwhelming majority of people I knew in college smoked because of the "cool" factor (at least that's why they started, then I met some who continued because they admitted to being addicted).

 

I have more sympathy for smokers who work in high stress jobs and use it as a form of stress relief. Still find it awful and disgusting, but at least I can sort of see where they are coming from if it is a crutch and a coping mechanism for being under pressure. People who start because it's "cool" are just useful idiots for Big Tobacco. Thanks to vaping the numbers seem to be going down for better or for worse, but suckers are born every generation.

 

I'm still skeptical of vaping but I can admit it smells less awful than having cig smoke blown in one's face when having the misfortune of walking behind a smoker on the street.

I actually can't stand the stress excuse, because that's all it is, an excuse. We all deal with stress and yet we don't all smoke... It's like a damn placebo effect. Addicts will come up with any reason to keep their addiction going, and stress is just one of them. There are much better coping mechanisms

Edited February 7, 2019 by OriZ

[fascinating123 38]

I don't know, I only smoke cigars, and really only a few times a month when the weather is good. It's a nice experience. 

 

Cigarettes I can't speak to because I've never smoked one. 

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

51 minutes ago, OriZ said:

I actually can't stand the stress excuse, because that's all it is, an excuse. We all deal with stress and yet we don't all smoke... It's like a damn placebo effect. Addicts will come up with any reason to keep their addiction going, and stress is just one of them. There are much better coping mechanisms

One of the best excuses is the cigarette companies putting additives in their products to make it more addictive

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

52 minutes ago, fascinating123 said:

I don't know, I only smoke cigars, and really only a few times a month when the weather is good. It's a nice experience. 

 

Cigarettes I can't speak to because I've never smoked one. 

In your honor, I believe I will sit outside tonight as the ocean breeze blows, sipping Disarrano on the rocks and puffing on a Davidoff I recently purchased for just such an occasion.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

1 hour ago, Ban Hammer said:

uh what?  i am unaware of any study indicating that smoking affects one's genes and therefore, their offspring.

and even if it did, what happened to the mantra "my body, my choice"???

 

   https://www.nhs.uk/news/cancer/smoking-causes-hundreds-of-genetic-mutations/

[Steeleballz 7,550]

3 hours ago, millefleur said:

Yup, exactly. It's a compromise. It's impossible to make everyone happy all the time.

 

Another thing I forgot is New York City's "smoking police" - there's a hotline you can call or a website form to fill out to report any illegal workplace smoking. I used to work at a place where the owner liked to walk around the office smoking, at times coming into my desk area and hovering over me to observe my work while smoking. I reported the company to the "smoking police" anonymously and they did indeed show up and fine the business heavily. I was pretty impressed with that and the owner guy significantly reduced his amount of smoking in the office after that.

 

    We have signs here saying it's a $500 fine but people push the limit. I see people smoking where they shouldn't be outside of where I work. There is no number to call though, which is probably why the signs don't really work as a deterrent. I think people have to actually be caught first hand. So they hide under the stairs or in an alcove where no one can see, but everyone with 50 feet can smell the cigarette smoke. 

[millefleur 5,047]

6 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

We have signs here saying it's a $500 fine but people push the limit. I see people smoking where they shouldn't be outside of where I work. There is no number to call though, which is probably why the signs don't really work as a deterrent. I think people have to actually be caught first hand. So they hide under the stairs or in an alcove where no one can see, but everyone with 50 feet can smell the cigarette smoke. 

Yes, in the case where I reported, the person in question was caught red handed as the "smoking police" made an unannounced visit to the office and he was clearly breaking the law. I'm pretty sure such enforcement of the smoking ban might be an NYC only thing as far as I know but it seems to work really well.