Why does MN hate smokers so much?

[PalmTreesPurple]

Not all of MN of course but I’ve seen a lot of negativity about it. I understand not liking smoking yourself because of the health issues, I’m a smoker after giving up for nearly a year and I was stupid to start again but it’s a nasty addiction to kick. I only smoke outside, in designated smoking areas, and never around people who are eating/close to other people. I also don’t smoke in places like parks or walking through town. It is either in my garden or in a designated spot. Would a smoker like that bother you, or is it people who don’t have any courtesy, or do you just not like smokers in general?

Not being aggressive at all, just very interested.

Would also like to know if anyone on here smokes themselves?

What's the alternative to dying from a smoking related illness? We all die from something and usually it's not that nice however you go

Well it's a fair point. Live well and die in old age of dementia or not live well and die of lung cancer or diabetes or heart disease. It's true that few ways of dying other than slipping away in your sleep are pleasant.

But the other downsides I mentioned still apply. Expensive, bad for your skin and you stink. Still not selling it to myself!

I think the same way if I see an (otherwise reasonable and healthy) obese person eating junk routinely. Why should NHS bear the burden of your alcohol/eating/smoking habits?
In a way I feel that, since there is extensive research and days available for smoking effects at least, NHS should cap treatment costs.
This might help as a deterrent and may prove useful. If smokers know they will be treated differently, there may be an improvement due to fear of consequences.

I smoked 30 a day for 20 years. Quit with an e cig and it's the best thing I've ever done

I don’t hate smokers at all, it’s just a habit like drinking, caffeine, or sweets. Everyone has habits to relieve stress, boost concentration levels or just enjoy.

BUT cigarette smoke smells really strong, if someone is sitting near to you smoking you can’t tune it out, it’s noxious. I am being negative about the actual smoke not the person doing it!

@VagTarant when do you, personally, actually see obese people eating ‘loads of crap’ other than in your imagination? The only people I see eating (crap or otherwise) are my friends and family. I guess I see people eat in restaurants sometimes but I don’t really pay attention and even if I did, I mean, I’m in the same restaurant so who am I to judge? How do I know that someone isn’t having their first cheat meal after a month of strict dieting? Not that it matters, because it’s none of my business - a concept you should look in to.

@Totickleamockingbird

I think the same way if I see an (otherwise reasonable and healthy) obese person eating junk routinely. Why should NHS bear the burden of your alcohol/eating/smoking habits? In a way I feel that, since there is extensive research and days available for smoking effects at least, NHS should cap treatment costs. This might help as a deterrent and may prove useful. If smokers know they will be treated differently, there may be an improvement due to fear of consequences.

Not exactly what you're describing, but certainly, there are treatments which NHS doctors refuse to carry out on smokers. I suppose similar to very obese people. It isn't meant to be punitive. It is a safety measure.

I had a client give me a box of letters and they reeked

... she smoked heavily. She smelled awful. All smokers do. You can't get away from it. They don't realise because they can't smell it the way everyone else can. The smoke gets into everything. I used to smoke myself and am horrified now at how vile it must have been for everyone.

@HarlinRay

You won't get it and that's fine

*don't

@BranchAndPoppy excellent point. My BMI is right on the edge between overweight and obese and I’ve had to lose half a stone on two occasions to get treatment for non-weight related issues. So everyone who brays about the cost of NHS treatment for the obese- they are already limiting our treatment. Same for smokers. I read somewhere that smokers put far more money into the system through tobacco taxes than they take out. Now If they’d just stop throwing the butts on the floor I’m happy for them to get on with it as long as they like.

Not every smoker is conscientious about how it makes others around them feel.

But all smokers, conscientious or not, stink of smoke.

This became super apparent to me when I was pregnant, and my super-smelling powers kicked in. Every one I worked with that smoked triggered sickness that medication just couldn't prevent. I ended up losing thousands to stay off work and not throw up all day because some people have got an addiction to smoking which is still socially acceptable to most.

I also hate how close family have died from smoking related illness. I hate how no one had the strength to stop before the suffering they felt was passed on to others. I think it's really selfish.

I wish more people accessed the support out there for their addiction, but most don't because they think they're ok with getting cancer or copd, and that's their right to bear that cross because it obviously doesn't affect their families at all.

I would never smoke as I really don't like it and the health risks worry me so much but I don't know why people would slate random people on the internet over it? It's nothing to do with me if you or anyone else on here smokes!
I find it the same with MLM, people slate it all the time and say how they would never support it, but if your friend owned a shop you'd buy from them. It's the same thing, either way they make money 🤷‍♀️
Hold your head up and ignore everyone else, if you want to smoke just do it!

@VagTarant I’m pretty certain you’re not as clever as you think you are...

@Totickleamockingbird
I've posted earlier that I'm an exsmoker.
I gave up some time ago. I lead what many would see as a very healthy life. Good diet, exercise, tee total, rarely eat sugar.
But...coronavirus has opened my eyes. I've seen the alternative to dying younger and it's awful. I don't even miss smoking but I'm damned if I'm going to end up neglected in a care home. Nor do I want the hell that is dementia.

Smoking used to bring in huge tax revenue. (With fewer smokers nowadays I don't know if it's still a big earner for HMRC.) We certainly need a boost to our coffers. We have large numbers of newly redundant people to support. And pensions to pay.

Smokers not only paid for their own NHS care but their tax paid for other patients (non smokers) too.

Smoking and drinking alcohol are both disgusting habits.

A plus point of stinking (of cigarette smoke) means people keep away from you... Just the thing to enforce social distancing!

On a related note I wonder how the nicotine trials are going? They were looking into the possibility it protects you in some way. I think smokers have been under represented amongst both confirmed cases and hospitalised patients.

@Beanbag12

My partner smokes a lot. I HATE it with a passion. He smokes in the garden and the smell gets in the house either through the open door in the summer or just in his clothes/breath when he comes back into the house. He leave fag ends all over the garden despite me telling him on numerous occasions to bin them. It costs roughly £150 a month just for him to stink, wake every morning coughing his guts up, just an absolutely pointless thing to do. Worse thing is he quit for 3 years then his sister came home for Christmas and she was giving him rolls ups (totally his fault as he should have refused). So I think it makes me even more cross that he went back to it.

See, I couldn't bear a smoker near me.

If you hate it that much, how are you still there?

I watching my mum die from lung cancer caused by lifelong smoking.

To be constantly sprayed by bus, car, industrial pollution is ok but for someone to walk past you with a cig is going to kill you and your kids? Driving your kids in your 4x4 or whatever to school won't pollute their young lungs but a smoker walking past will? Binge drinking in your home and ultimately getting into a fight and smashing a bottle in your partners face is smart but smokers smoking in a isolated corner is dumb? Feeding your kids with sausage and chips everyday is ok but your mil smoking 🚬 in her own garden/home is unhealthy. Exposing yourself and children with plug-in air fresheners all of your home 24/7 won't harm you but a smoker having a cig will? Hmmm 🤔

Years ago, in my job, I had to open envelopes from members of the public and you could tell which ones were smokers as soon as you opened the envelopes. They reeked. And that was after being in the post a few days and on my desk a few days

@HarlinRay

Read the post above mine. I was actually just trying to show how it looks to have that attitude to addictions but whatever.

It stinks, it's selfish, it impacts everyone around you. Plus you would have known how bad it was for when you started so its monumentally stupid. Oh and it sets my asthma off.

@SheepandCow

Seriously, what's the point of living longer? To end up neglected in a care home, resented by society as a burden. Isn't it better to die a bit younger than hang on for that? I've been ever so healthy since giving up but coronavirus has given me a glimpse of a future I don't want for myself. I'd rather contribute a huge amount of tax from indulging in something I find relaxing. I'm tee total, rarely eat sugar. Smoking was my only vice.

As for fumes. If you drive you're polluting as much if not more.

When you're suffocating slowly to death from emphysema I doubt you'll think it's a good idea.

I can’t stand smoking. It’s the awful smell.
I get especially wound up when you’re somewhere like a theme park and someone starts smoking in a tight, built up queue, even though there are signs everywhere saying not to do it. It’s so selfish and inconsiderate.

At the end of the day, if someone was stood in the queue next to me necking a bottle of wine or eating several packets of crisps, or even snorting coke, that smell isn’t going to come off on me. I’m not going to inhale it.