To think smoking should be BANNED???

[Mum2OliverJames]

Or it at least should be taken back into the pubs where it doesnt effect me, they cant all sit together in their deseise ridden smoke.

I am SOOO sick of walking behind someone who is smoking or walking through their putrid cloud of smoke, i hate it for my DS to, the smell makes me SICK, and i mean it actually makes me feel like i want to vomit!

Why cant smokers just realise how much they stink, you can smell a smoker a mile off.

I also hate how when someone speaks to you in the street, if they are smoking they will put their cigerette behind their back whilst talking to DS, like that stops him from breathing in you cancer fumes!!!

I think if someone is going to smoke they should at least do it where its not going to have an effect on anybody else (like in their own homes)

i dont think iabu, i think the smokers are v. much bu to expect everybody else to put up with their disgustingness - i think its v selfish.

'At least drugs like coke deliver something for the risk taken.'

Oh, yes, coke is SO much of a better deal! Benefits include things like massive environmental damage to an entire continenet, the basic enslaving of tens of thousands of people including many children, the deaths of tens of thousands of people as it's trafficked around the world, the subjugation of the governments of several countries and of course the wonderful health benefits to users - like organ damage.

But hey, as long as it stays in nice dinner parties, clubs and no one has to breathe it in it's allright.

Yes, using coke is such an intelligent thing to do.

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Re changes in america and NYC. I have loads of friends that live out there and to me the level of smoking is really high-it is just all outside. The level of house/apartment parties has risen as people socialise at home so that they can smoke. Not to mention the number of after hours smoking joints (huge bars...not little backstreet places) we go to there....I think the 'NYC no longer smokes' thing is from the rose tinted view of a non smoker who see want they want/expect to see.

Expat I am not saying that coke is a good thing. Really! But there is an immediate pharmacological effect on the individual, so I can understand why people do it (I don't, but I have worked alongside a number of drug counselors). Smoking on the other hand seems to me to be a fairly bizarre thing to do. It tastes disgusting and has little effect. I know that many smokers feel it helps with their stress levels, but I understand that this is attributable to the reliving of withdrawal rather than any real benefit.

Juliette, I have no idea about how NYC used to be as I've only lived here for six months, and not visited before. All I can say is that compared with London, I spend much less time overtaking, crossing the road and taking other smoke avoidance tactics.

Onager. Yes what you are saying does not make any sense to me (except for the bit about withdrawal). I don't think that comparing smoking to a sport, even one with risk of injury is a useful analogy. Generally sports like skiing are considered to have a risk of injury, but they are not considered to be life shortening plus exercise has positive rather than negative health effects. Here is a report on the leading causes of death in the USA.www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr53/nvsr53_17.pdf
As you can see accidents are in the top 10, but only cause 4.4% of deaths, and that is for all accidents. Whereas five of the diseases in the top ten causes of death are considered to be highly related to smoking. Injuries relating to sports are usually given at about 5%, which is lower than the proportion of injuries incurred at work. So I really think this is a spurious analogy, If you can find me a good set of cost/benefit statistics for the comparison maybe I'm happy to reevaluate.

Personally I am more worried about car fumes but I cannot expect driving to be banned!

Expat - what Scottish folk/traditional do you like?

Kris Drever, Roddy Woomble, Lau, Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart?

'It tastes disgusting and has little effect. I know that many smokers feel it helps with their stress levels, but I understand that this is attributable to the reliving of withdrawal rather than any real benefit.'

It has huge and almost instant effects on the body and its chemistry. That's why it's one of the most physically addictive substances in existence and close to heroin in that respect.

It's one of the most extensively studied physical addictions.

The substances in cigarettes can find their way into every cell in the body and can stay there for a while, that's why it's so dangerous and such a killer, among other reasons (like what it can do to some somatic and reproductive cells).

Withdrawal has very marked and noticeable physical effects. It's far from just a psychological addiction in its true form.

Certainly if it was discovered today there is no way it would be passed as a legal product.

On a slight tangent - why could I never become addicted to cigarettes?

I tried and tried, my boyfriend smoked, I wanted to look cool - but I could nevr manage more than a few puffs before I had to stop,. as it just hurt my throat and made me feel sick.

Also I didn't feel very good from it - I got a slight dizzy sensation initially but nothing that could be described as a rush of pleasure.

I never felt a craving for it either. Only mildly when I discovered I was pregnant and I think that was the 'wanting what you can't have' thing rather than a physical need.

It was really, really easy to stop.

chocolate on the other hand i am a lost cause

you may not have been able to inhale deeply enough, FA, and that's no bad thing!

i've worked with junkies before and every one of them says they were sick the first time they shot up.

but after they got the hang of it, they were hooked.

Ah. You see I am a real wuss Expat. Yes it probably was a good thing!

I have enough ways of killing myself slowly...

FA

the dizzy sensation is the carbon monoxide runnign to your brain