to be really bloody tired of people getting on their high horses about smoking, whilst drinking their 3rd glass of wine?

[Mimstar]

I get it - smoking isn't a great habit. But neither is drinking, drinking alcohol has plenty of harmful consequences - not just long term health problems, but instant in some cases - i.e people often make bad choices when they are drunk, drunk people are unpleasant to be around.

Disclaimers -

For those of you who will say 'I only drink half a thumble of wine a night, so it's not the same' - One cigarette a night, or a couple at a weekend - unlikely to do much harm.

For those of you who will say that you have lost somebody to a smoking related illness, I do appreciate how awful that is and I'm sorry for your loss. However, I have lost two family members to drinking related matters, and I do not constantly lecture people who are buying a bottle of wine.

I am not saying it's okay to smoke around children, or to smoke all over people who don't smoke.

I don't have a problem with smoking or drinking, but I find people who judge smokers who have no problem with getting drunk very infuriating.

Okay, so now I'll be flamed.

I smoke. I don't smoke at my friend's houses, either inside or outside. I don't smoke near my son. I might have a fag walking between pubs on a night out. I don't leave my friends in the pub whilst I smoke.

My dad died of diabetes (carried on drinking heavily when diagnosed and ended up with blood poisoning and having his feet amputated).

My brother died this year of a drink related illness. Liver failure in fact.

My younger brother is an alcoholic. I cannot tell you how many family occasions have been utterly ruining by his aggression when he is drinking. He is now having seizures when he stops drinking, which could kill him.

My ex-husband became extremely violent when he had had too much to drink.

I still do not feel the need to lecture people about when and how much they drink.

The fact that I smoke does not ruin my relationships with my family or friends, it doesn't prevent me from working and being a good parent. It doesn't change my personality and make me violent. It doesn't stop me driving my car or being a fully functioning member of society.

I appreciate that some smokers are rude, but then some people are just rude. Some drinkers are moderate, some are not. It's the lumping together of people who smoke that pisses me right off. It's something that I do, it's not who I am and as long as I am not affecting anyone else, it's no one else's business.

The bottom line is that if a person drinks a couple of glasses of wine they have no impact at all on the around them. If you don't like the taste or smell of wine, then me drinking next to you is not going to force you to taste or smell it. If you smoke a cigarette next to me I not only smell and taste it, but my clothes and hair smell of it until I have the opportunity to wash it out.
Arguing about the health effects, positive or negative, is a red herring.

As is the perfume thing. Spraying strong perfume around in a public place is anti social too, and I would have no hesitation in asking anyone doing it to stop.

Justfloating, the perfume soaked people I'm talking 9 out of 10 times have committed the crime within their own homes before inflicting the perfume of "their" choice on everyone else.

Do you know what I do, I move if it's bothering me that much.

The other thing that is interesting here is how smoking is viewed generally and how it used to be seen. It has only been in the last decade or so that this attitude towards smokers has existed.

It will be very interesting to see, in the future, how the media and the government targets drinking. It has already started to a small degree, warnings on bottles, news reports on binge drinking, talk about banning cheap drinks in supermarkets. Drinking is sociably acceptable now, in 2012, but what about ten years from now?

And if drinking does become as anti social and unacceptable as smoking, what will be the next thing to be deemed by society as 'wrong'?

It's the smokers now but who will it be next?

Well now let's see how hated I am after this!!

I am a smoker, always outside not round kids etc. with ds I unwittingly smoked whilst pregnant as didn't find out till nearly 20 weeks. When I stopped my blood pressure was so high mw recommended I
I started again in moderation because that would be less harmful to me and bump!

I hate all this anti smoking bollocks I don't knowingly bother anyone by smoking and I earn money to buy them so I don't see why it's anyone's business really.

Drinking will never be viewed as socially unacceptable, there is nothing wrong with alcohol when drunk responsibly, alcohol abuse is and will continued to be viewed as a bad thing.

Seeker - I'm sorry but if my brother sat next to you and drank even two glasses of wine, it would affect you. He becomes very aggressive after only one or two drinks. And he could start a fight in an empty phone box. I have seen him do it many, many times, to complete strangers.

As my grandmother used to say 'No man goes home from work after smoking 20 cigerattes and beats his wife'.

Ok, orange. "If most people sat next to me and drank a 3rd glass of wine......"

If I drink three glasses of wine, it won't make my companion's clothes and hair smell awful; it won't put them at risk of developing a large number of cancers; it won't make them wheeze when running (as passive smoking did to me as a child); it won't stain the curtains and paintwork; it won't cause a fire risk if I fall asleep holding the glass.

I realise some smokers can feel as though they're under attack, I agree with them to some extent. The amount of tax revenue the government makes from smoking is something like £10bn and the amount of money that the NHS spends on treating smoking related illnesses is (ready to be corrected on these figures) around £2bn. So the government needs to be seen to be anti smoking whilst at the same time making a huge profit from it.

Nevertheless it is becoming more and more socially unacceptable and in a couple of decades the UK will be largely smoke free zone I'd imagine.

I just don't think a cigarette and a glass of wine are comparable.

Oh and as for the smell, If a colleague nips out for a crafty fag, yes, I can smell it for, what, a few seconds. The one soaked in perfume can be constantly smelt unless either one of us moves away.

In some ways drinkers are judged more than smokers, if a smoker dies of cancer they seem to be viewed more sympathetically than someone whose liver packs in because of heavy drinking.

White musk is a small that instantly makes me think 'cigarettes'. We used to drench ourselves in it after having an illicit fag behind the hockey fields.

I've just had a smokers dream moment!

I thought I'd have to go to the shop.for.cigs. I got dressed. Looked in my bag and there's only a ten deck with 8 inside it!

Oh sp lucky you! I have 2 left but can't go shop as dd ill. Reading this thread is making me want one as well!

Worse then drinkers and smokers are people who sot on their phone all night!

They should be getting judged!

Some people just bloody love to be on their high horse about something - me included sometimes! Smoking is an easy target because everyone knows it doesn't do you any good and you're better off without it, and it can be hard to keep to yourself (smell does travel). But people who get hysterical about the potential health damage go all quiet when you mention traffic pollution etc. A colleague told me recently that there is a theory about high rates of asthma in young children, linking it to being pushed in a buggy near busy roads, so the child spends lots of time at the same level as car and bus exhaust pipes and are more directly exposed to fumes than adults are. No idea how much truth is in it but if you're petrified about third hand smoke, wouldn't you be petrified about taking your child out of the house ever?

That's my favourite dance move ever

I haven't read any of the replies. There is one huge difference between a smoker and a drinker. Smoke effects the health of those around through passive smoke. You cannot passive drink. This is why I get annoyed with smokers. You all seem to think that if it's outside it's fine but I get a lung full of smoke EVERY time I walk through town. It's horrible and vile.

I loath exhaust fumes too. Particularly buses. Yuck

I've had randoms approach me and have a go about smoking when I've been sat outside a pub on a rare night out having a jolly time. Usually they're overweight. I'd love to see how they reacted if I stuck my head into McDonald's and hectored at them for shoving yet another burger down their throat.

"But people who get hysterical about the potential health damage go all quiet when you mention traffic pollution etc"

Not half as quiet as smokers go when you say that it's not potential health damage you are talking about, but the fact that being next to a smoker makes your hair and clothes smell disgusting and that's why you don't like it.

But it's been ages since my clothes/hair have been polluted by cigarettes smoke. Since the ban, which in the UK was when? 2006? It was 2002 here in Italy.

I have lots of friends who still smoke and I don't mind the occasional cigarette when I go out, but it is virtually impossible to ho home reeking of smoke, since we all have to smoke outside.

I'm going for a cig now while wait for toddlers grandma to collect him for the night.

I preferred it when you could smoke in pubs as all you smell now is stale b.o and piss. Rather smell cig smoke