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 have a medical degree and I can tell you one cigarette a night or a couple at weekend can significantly increase your risk of cancer and heart disease.

Why are you trying to make it a competition. "What is worse smoking or drinking?" They are both harmful!

But being overweight can increase your risk of health problems, as can drinking more than your recommended units per week.

I'm not saying it is good to smoke, but it's not worse to me than the other ways in which people can damage themselves. It's just the fashionable thing to be outraged about.

aab3 i'm not, i just don't like unwelcome lectures from people who also have less than ideal habits.

Drinkers cost every council hundreds of thousands a year - cleaning up vomit, police call outs, fire brigade call outs, ambulance call outs, windows being smashed in the high street etc etc. It literally creates monsters. You can spend your life living with regret after deciding on a course of action after a few drinks.
If you counted the number of drinks someone who is hammered had and matched them for cigs it's not hard to see which one would seem more of a drug.

I have 4 cigs a day and smoke outside, never indoors. I have even recently taken to rolling them, because I hate the cost and the smell. I find rolled cigs don't smell as much and usually are faster to smoke, whilst still giving me the tobacco and nicotine kick. Now pre-rolled ones taste really chemically, which I noticed after only a couple of days and was quite surprised about. Only trouble is the yellow middle finger. As if I didn't feel skanky enough rolling! note to self to get lemons out later But I suppose I can use it to stick up at the preachy non-smokers

I have little desire to give up. It is one of the few times a day I get to take 2 mins to myself. I completely believe it has saved my sanity on many occasion

Non-smoker here. When looking into the effects of smoking a while ago now, I'm sure I read there was some evidence that smoking helped with alzheimer's? Not highly publicised of course. Not that I want to encourage people to take up the fag either...but I'm pointing to this as rarely are things in life black and white.

MadameC your post is so true.
Drink ruins some people and their families.

So even if your lifestyle causes bucket loads of air pollution, it's OK to tell other people not to smoke because, on average, smokers cause more air pollution than non smokers?

It does, Prudence.

I lost my cousin, when he was hit by a drink driver. I lost my beloved uncle, as he became an alcoholic and died within a year of developing a drinking problem, he was 31. When I was a child, my mum was beaten by a man who became vicious after a couple of drinks.

All of this, yet I don't say to people 'Hey, don't drink!' You have to leave people to make their own personal choices.

Both of my Great-Grandmothers, smoked 20 a day from being in their teens, both barely ate and survived on tea and cigarettes. One died 5 years ago at the age of 87 from an unrelated illness, another died last year at 92 from an unrelated illness.

Am I saying that smoking doesn't kill? No But it doesn't always.

Am I saying that drinking is always responsible for tragedy and horrific behaviour? No But sometimes it does.

Again, it comes down to personal choice.

I think one of the massive differences between smoking and drinking is that lots of people can keep drinking to an acceptable non-harmful level.

But smoking is very difficult to keep to that level. The addictive nature of nicotine is very different to the addictive nature of alcohol.

I have to disagree there wordfactory I know plenty of people who would find it very difficult to give up their daily/weekly bottle of wine or vodka. Alcohol is extremely addictive.

I smoke, but I also can easily not smoke if it's not convenient or if I'm full of a cold I simply don't do it.

Don't think you can compare half a thimble to a cigarette, all the same

Just because you disagree doesn't mean it's not true. Smoking is ALWAYS bad for your health, a glass of wine isn't. That is an indisputable fact.

LeBFG

You are right. It can also cut the risk of Parkinson's

I'd like to drink smoke and have a couple of lines of cock.

Alcohol is nowhere near as addictive as nicotine. Good grief. It takes years to become addicted to alcohol, days to become addicted to nicotine

'...a couple of lines of cock'

God, I wish I had the energy

I'm not talking about people who occasionally have one glass/thimble of wine!

Those of you who never go over your recommended units, eat too much crap or no other harmful habits. Judge away, that is fair enough.

I smoke and drink, don't have cravings for either (maybe I'm just kidding myself about the first, but I doubt it). I have a friend who drinks......a lot but doesn't smoke. Like a bottle of rum in an hour. He doesn't preach, I don't preach. Yeah, we're just perfect that way. I have another friend who doesn't mind cigs but thinks alcohol is the devil's drink- she's normally very sane about these things but thinks that cigs are fine because they're a crutch and people need an escape, but she thinks that any alcohol ruins people. She's 25, that might say something.

What on earth is all the guff about air pollution!? FFS, methane from cows farting is meant to be disastrous to the ozone.
I don't drive and never have done. So you can add up all of my 31 years as a non driver and that can count towards my air pollution 'allowance'.
I do like beans though

Both are legal drugs, one is no better than the other but they are fine really since the government gets so much tax from both.

Ivor made me laugh out loud during Hotel California, there's something that hasn't happened before

I doubt the government will ever properly ban smoking, too much money in it for them.

mimstar it is simply fact that nicotine is more addictive than alcohol.

Sure you may have anecdotal evidence of people for whom that is not true, but the fact remains...

Most drinkers do not drink if the situation is difficult. Most smokers find ways to smoke.

Last night I was at A&E. It was lashing it down outside. No matter, the smokers hopped/hobbled their way outside to get soaked in the process.

It is just is a more difficult addiction for the vast majority of people.