to think that people have the right to smoke without being villified as if they were using cocaine?

[stitch]

i'm a non smoker. make that a never smoker, apart form one incident when i was 13 and had a huge coughing fit.
i am really really shocked at how people are reacting towards people smoking. it is not the worst thing in the world, and i just feel really uncomfortable athow they are making smokers out to be pariahs.

Smoking is a disgusting habit and I don't care who jumps on me about it. People who smoke smell really bad and don't even seem to notice. The smell clings to them, their hair, clothes, skin. That's just a small detail - smoking in other's presence is just unacceptable because then you are forcing your habit onto someone else and many many studies have proven that passive smoking is actually worse for people. You have to consider other people and their health issues - some people have asthma which I am certain smoke isn't good for - never mind other illnesses you might not know about. Then you jave to think about yourselves - do you think that the ads on tv where the woman is sat with an oxygen tank is OTT?? Think again. It's real and it's not just little old ladies who've smoked a thousand ciggies a day that end up like that. My dad has antitrysan - it's an hereditary form of emphysema and it's NOT pleasant for him or for anyone who has to see him on his oxygen tank/nebuliser. He can barely walk - it takes him about an hour to walk to the toilet. He's 55!!!!!! and he's been suffering a few years now. Smoking reacted with his body and caused him to suffer about 10 years earlier than he would have if he hadn't been a smoker (and he wasn't actually a HEAVY smoker). Emphysema has the same affect on your body but is caused by smoking and let's not forget lung/throat cancer. Is it really worth it???

I don't like smokers around me and I hate the "what harm is it doing?" attitude of so many people. Watch someone dying from their habit and you might feel differently.

If I find out a friend smokes and I didn't realise before then I am usually surprised and I do come out with "I didn't know you smoked" and I'm sorry but it does change my opinion of them a little. It's their choice but I don't want to send my child to their house to inhale their smoke. Thankfully any smokers I do know keep their habit to themselves so at least they are more thoughtful. It's usually the very young or the very old that have no thought to others but for anyone who has actually taken the time to read this lengthy reply then please think about yourself and your children and other people. Those oxygen tanks are damn difficult to move around and your quality of life by the time you reach 50 might be awful.

sorry that should be anti-trypsan - at least I think that's the correct spelling you need to have 2 genes (each passed from your parents) to get it but you won't know about it unless you get tested or you start to suffer but even if you don't have the genes you can still get emphysema or lung cancer.

Jumping from OP (housework to do!) no they don't have the right, because when they light up their stinky fags I have to breathe it in also. IF someone was to smoke in the middle of nowhere (unless smoke actually pollutes the atmosphere?) and not breathe on me for a good while afterwards (until their lungs were cleared out) then fine, go for it if sticking a white stick in your mouth and sucking every 30 seconds really fulfils your life - but, as all the smokers I know light up anywhere and everywhere not giving a toss about anyone else as long as they get their fix, it should be made illegal. I think smoking is worse than taking cocaine, it's mind numbingly selfish.

[breathe]