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've never known anyone become violent after three glasses of wine or feel out of it after one glass- what are you lot drinking?

However, the first puff of a cigarette from the person next to me would make me ill. Dh's asthma has virtually disappeared after the smoking ban- he hasn't had a bad attack in years- and he used to be ill a LOT.

My name is frownie, I am 27 years old, and I smoke. I smoke just under 10 per day down from the 20 a day habit I had in my early 20's. I am not a leper, I am not disgusting, I am not vile. I am a human being who smokes.

It is my choice and I do try to not smoke around people, for instance I will not smoke in my town center, or at bus stops, or in doorways. I no longer go to pubs/clubs because of the ban that and I can buy a bottle of wine for the price of a glass

The vilification of smokes is beyond a joke and to some people as one poster has already said they are up there with murderers and pedophiles on peoples moral compass.

I understand that smoking is bad for me and it is my intention to eventually give up. However not yet, I don't want to.

Drinking is bad and can effect other people due to the losing of inhibitions. Drink driving.

What about grossly overweight people, they affect me when I am sat on the bus and they squeeze their ginormous arses in the seat next to me, forcing me into the window. But I cant say that can I?

Have a few facts for good measure: all 2010/11

In 2010/11, there were 1,168,300 alcohol related admissions to hospital based on the broad measure (primary and secondary diagnoses). This is an increase of 11 per cent on the 2009/10 figure (1,056,900) and more than twice as many as in 2002/03 (510,700).

460,000 admissions were estimated as being due to smoking; which has remained broadly similar since 2006/07 (445,000). Of these:
126,200 had a primary diagnosis of respiratory diseases (26 per cent of all respiratory disease admissions);
135,400 had a primary diagnosis of circulatory diseases (15 per cent of all circulatory disease admissions);
160,300 had a primary diagnosis of cancer (11 per cent of all cancer admissions).

I am in no way saying that smoking is OK because it isn't, however alcohol does have a major impact to people and the NHS.

Half a million smoking related admissions. That's worse than I thought.

Bottom line, everything's bad for you, not sure there's any moral high ground when it comes to poisoning yourself. Just try not to impact negatively on those around you, whether that be with foul smells or lairy behaviour.

And those non-drivers moaning about drivers polluting the air; do you ever get things delivered? buy from shops (how do you think the stock gets there)? have posties/ refuse collectors? etc.

I think people on high horses are annoying no matter what their topic.

I loathe the cynicism of both industries, working tirelessly to suck vulnerable teens into a lifetime of addiction.

I don't think either of them would win a healthy heart award - nicotine is more addictive than crack. And the collateral damage of alcohol (addiction, alcohol-fuelled violence, drunk driving, medical care, emotional harm, sick days etc) consumption is greater than of any other "substance"

I do think that if you inflict smokey breath on others you can expect them to feel a bit put out, just as if you inflict drunkenness on others.

But what will you tell your DC I wonder?

I will tell mine that it is fine to drink alcohol responsibly. I will however tell them not even to try a cigarette as it is highly addictive and almost impossible to keep under control.

Yabu. Smoking is minging. I would ban it tomorrow if I got into power. Being caught with cigarettes would carry a death penalty. Oh wait, it already does....

I honestly don't care what people of smoking.

I smoke as its my choice too. I'm not forcing anyone else to smoke so don't get what the issue is.

But that's the point floating if you smoke around other people you are forcing them to smoke.
If you go outside and away from people fair enough, it's your decision. But even smoking walking down the street or outside the door of the pub is forcing other people to inhale lungfuls of your second hand smoke, which is really really unpleasant.
If I'm having a glass of wine I'm not forcing the person beside me to have a gulp as well.

I meant to say Fanjo not floating. Jaysus, I need a drink.

Since smoking has been banned from pubs etc wouldn't we expect there to be a sharp drop in smoking related hospital admissions? If a sparrow's fart of smoke kills, the volume of people previously trapped in the room with killer smoke exposed to regular second hand smoke must have reduced drastically.

But floatin, what about people driving down the road in their cars, belching their exhaust fumes into my face when they could probably get off their fat lazy arses and cycle or walk? Is that any better than a bit of smoke wafting in your face when you walk down the street? Have you ever noticed how much busy roads stink?

YouMakeMeWannaLaLa Fri 19-Oct-12 09:49:13

Half a million smoking related admissions. That's worse than I thought.

What? Worse than the

In 2010/11, there were 1,168,300 alcohol related admissions to hospital based on the broad measure (primary and secondary diagnoses).

statistic taken from the same post? Or did you not see tha bit?

Not ideal I know funBag and I'm all for measures to reduce emissions and to encourage people to use public transport or walk if possible. However, cars do serve a useful purpose, particularly the way towns, cities and villages are structured and organised nowadays. Many people don't live within walking distance of schools, bus stops, shops etc. Many people have to commute long distances to work. Local shops are closing down forcing people to go to out of town supermarkets and do big heavy shops in one go. I honestly don't see how we could get along without cars but do agree that more could be done to try and reduce our dependency on them to some degree.

Now that catalytic converters remove CO from exhaust fumes, you get far more carbon monoxide from smoking than you do from traffic.

And admissions to hospital from smoking related illness isn't the best way to assess disease prevalence now - given that a primary aim of most PCTs is admission avoidance and they are spending millions on schemes to avoid this, it skews the data. If you want to assess the impact of smoking looking at the mortality and morbidity data from COPD and heart disease.

I .drink and smoke .....I'm a lush

I do agree though trying to get hold of cigarettes is a bit weird theses days

I just don't see the point in the moral outrage over smoking. Herion addicts seem to get more sympathy than smokers these days. I used to smoke, have stopped and started a few times and I don't like it, but I've never seen what the big fuss is about when we've got people living totally unsustainable lifestyles that cost more in terms of the environment and people's health than smoking ever could.

kelper I feel like I'm buying drugs these days with them all hidden away. Alcohol should be hid the same!

Prices need to stop going up too!

To be honest Funbag I think its just an exasperation and annoyance that's been building up for years. When the law was on the side of smokers a lot of them behaved with little or no consideration for non smokers: lighting up cigarette after cigarette on nights out with a constant cloud of smoke blowing into their companions' faces; holding their cigarette away from themselves and out over adjacent tables in restaurants; smoking all day in confined workplaces regardless of their colleagues; lighting up as soon as they were finished dinner even though others at the table were still eating; insisting that everyone sat in the smoking area of restaurants and pubs to facilitate them; and so on and so on.
Smokers can quote all the facts and figures they like about drink and exhaust fumes but a lot of non smokers are just delighted to no longer have to put up with people blowing smoke all over them while they bite their tongue or smile and say 'of course not' through gritted teeth when people ask the annoying question 'do you mind if I smoke?', and cannot find it in their hearts to find much sympathy for smokers nasty cows that we are

Actually local shops are closing fast because people drive everywhere, and if a shop is on a road where you can't park, they drive on by.
And public transport is dying because people won't use it as it means sitting next to strangers eeeewww

But anyway, yes I get stuff delivered once a fortnight, when the Asda van is in my area anyway usually. The rest of the time it's shanks pony.
I know people have to drive sometimes, and that's fine. If I had a car it would be nice to use it go go places that we can't access by public transport, sure it would.
But in my town the roads are clogged morning to night, and yes, the pollution we inhale crossing two major roads on the way to school worries me more than Nanna's fag does.
Especially as most of the people I know who drive, drive distances every day that they could easily walk.

Smoking is a very serious addiction, and I agree with Xici, in that people struggle with smoking just as they do with obesity or Heroin, and are deserving of pity.
Trust me, nobody wants to be standing outside a pub in the pissing rain.

Jusfloatingby I'm no fan of cigarettes. I know how addictive they are and have fallen off the wagon a few times since I stopped. I don't recall anyone smoking at work or anything like that. Fwiw both of my parents smoked and the house was full of smoke, it used to make me feel sick.

IfNotNowThenWhen I like to go running, but NEVER along roads.