What on Earth can I do with 460 cigarettes?

[wineoclockthanks]

They were my Mum's.

I think they're worth about about £250 so don't really want to just throw them away. I honestly don't know anyone who smokes. I've asked local women's refuge and food bank and they don't want them. Although they were bought in UK (and so have had tax paid on them), I don't know where to sell them.

I don't want to make a profit from them as my Mum died from a smoking related illness, so anything I do make I'd donate to Cancer Research or similar, but just don't have a clue what to do.

Any suggestions?

Bin

I've worked for decades in homelessness and I'd say giving them to a homeless weapon is fine. One pack per and only if you're bloody sure they're over the age.

I also think addicts should be given heroin if they are addicted to it. Harm reduction is a thing. If they're going to smoke/use I'd rather they didn't have to prostitute or get them from the floor because hepatitis isn't very nice. And nicotine can actually be helpful for some people with MH issues in the moment.

Not nice, but practical. We used to have a bloke who came to the shelter and sold single cigarettes from packs he bought. We loved him. And so did the residents.

People not weapons

Thanks Lying

My justification at the time was that he could use the money that he saved from not having to buy tobacco, to buy food/drink whatever.
I've been on my hunkers before and, as an ex smoker, I don't believe that having more cigarettes means smoking more cigarettes. When it was me, I made damn sure they lasted me, as I never knew when I'd next be able to afford tobacco.
Also, I'm all too aware of the health implications of smoking, but I'm really uncomfortable with people making decisions on behalf of homeless folk about what they should be doing about their health.
Oh, and no "raising awareness of anti-smoking" needed. I don't think there's anyone left who's unaware of the dangers.

Surely you aren’t making a decision about what a homeless person should do about his health in this instance but making a decision about what part you might be playing in his health? Isn’t that a different thing?

Sorry your mum passed
The kindest thing you can do is to soak them and then bin so no one gets their hands on them. I appreciate £250 is a lot of money but, better to bin.

How is not giving someone a load of harmful things making a decision about their health on their behalf.
No one gave me a kilo of chocolate at work today. Patronising bastards.

If someone came into your workplace with a kilo of chocolate that they'd happened to come by, Stealth then threw it in the bin because it would be bad for everyone, then that's exactly what they'd be doing. Their chocolate, their rules, of course, but in that position I'd advise taking the chocolate in and letting people make their own decision about whether t have any.

Not one person said Chuck these cigarettes away in front of people who have a smoking habit. Not one.

I would carry a couple of packets with me each time I went I to thrive them to someone who is on the streets. There are people out there begging for money to buy heroin and people upthread think we would be doing their health a favour by denying them 20 fags! There are young women walking the streets selling their bodies for a hit and people think it would benefit them in any way to not give them some free fags?

Honestly; I think you need to try and put yourself in there shoes. I can't believe anyone would grudge someone desperate and down on their luck a packet of cigarettes.

Yeah, they are not good for your health. Neither is sleeping rough.

How is that the same? Surely it's equivalent to someone deciding in their own home that chocolate is bad and choosing to throw it away before coming into work?!

You can't sell them without a licence. If you don't know anyone who smokes just bin them or if you really must give them away, just give them to the homeless on the streets.

No neither is sleeping rough. So why make a bad situation worse? Cigarettes harm health. Its not some sort of myth or supposition, it's a fact.
So let's take someone with a higher chance of much poorer health and actively help the get worse.
Madness!

I'm curious @StealthPolarBear are you also against schemes that give out drugs to addicts? Methadone but also schemes like Switzerland where they give medical grade heroin to people. To reduce risk but not necessarily use.

Medically planned and supervised schemes to help people wean off drug addiction isn’t the same as handing out heroin to homeless drug addicts because none of your mates use it and you don’t want to waste it.

Nope. But if I had a load of heroin I wouldn't personally go handing it out. Presumably the evidence is there that is reduces harm. Do we have that smae evidence for smokers?
If the op goes handing out her cigarettes to people, do you know they're not trying to quit or cut down? She'd just be waving temptation in front of their faces.

No, Freda but suppose it was a thread like the OP's?

"I've been given some boxes of posh chocolate that I know my work colleagues would appreciate. However, chocolate is unhealthy and can lead to obesity and tooth decay, so I don't think my colleagues should be having it. I hate chocolate myself so won't eat it. AIBU to throw the chocolate away?"

It reduces harm if done properly in a controlled way and presumably alongside help to cut down.
I assume.

No neither is sleeping rough. So why make a bad situation worse?

Giving a homeless person who is a smoker 20 fags as a one off isn't going to impact their situation and further than making them happy they got 20 fags for free.

Cigarettes harm health. Its not some sort of myth or supposition, it's a fact.

I am not disputing this fact.

Do we have that smae evidence for smokers?

Having seen what people do for cigarettes, I'd say it's obvious but then I've seen someone offer a blow job for a packet of crisps. She didn't go through with it, thank fuck.

Cigarettes and heroin are both addictive, yes, but cigarettes are legal, heroin is not. However much you may dislike it, smoking is a licit, government-sanctioned pastime.

Coming off heroin immediately is dangerous. Is that the case for cigarettes?

recycle bin (broken up) www.swale.gov.uk/food-waste/#!rc-cpage=262865
obviously it varies from area to area

If the op goes handing out her cigarettes to people, do you know they're not trying to quit or cut down?

These people do have voices, you know. They're not forced to be passive recipients of unwanted cigarettes. They can say 'no'.

Anyway, the OP could easily make sure of this by giving them to people who were smoking at the time she handed them out. If you think they might be 'cutting down' it's easier to control the amount you smoke using full cigarettes (which you can smoke in halves or thirds) than trying to estimate how much you're taking in from foraged tobacco.

That would be a mountain :)