Smoking

[jerseydevil]

BH - I don't support huge legislation on smoking. I am glad that restaurants, offices, stores, airplanes, etc no longer allow smoking or at least have smoking sections. It's impossible to get away from it. If we went back to the 70's before all the laws regulating where smoking is prohibited and allowed - you wouldn't be able to make your case that more people are affected by "second hand" drinking. I don't have the facts on how many people die at the hand of someone drinking versus smoking currently - so I can't say. All I know is that someone drinking next to me - as long as they do it in moderation - does not have any ill affects on me. But someone that lights one cigarette next to me - makes me cough and makes me put my hand over my face so I don't breath it in because it hurts my throat.

For a lot of non-smokers, such as myself, it goes beyond not liking smoking. I can't breath. When I come out of the mall and a bunch of smokers are standing outside the doorway and I cough - that's a legitimate cough - not some message to them. When I'm outside talking to a friend that smokes - I have to make sure I stand with my back to the wind so it doesn't blow in my face.

The act of smoking is stupid. My comment that the LotR characters are stupid was a joke because they're fictional. If someone wants to smoke that's fine - it's their decision. Yes - people that eat, drink, or do anything else to excess is no better than smoking. But sitting next to someone who eats too much - is not going to have the same affect as sitting next to someone that is smoking.

I'm on the fence when it comes to the legalization of pot though. Although this isn't part of the thread - you brought it up by mentioning "cannibis". I think the punishments for smoking pot should be relaxed - it's filling up our jails with non-violent "criminals". As long as they're not smoking it in front of me - or getting in their cars afterward (same with drinking) I can care less.

I have a friend who is a heroin addict, general drug addict, alcoholic and smoker - he tells me that if he knew the dangers before he started he would never have started smoking (or doing any of the other stuff). I point out to him - that he knew the dangers. He even saw a number of friends die from heroin use before he even tried it. His father was chief of staff of a hospital in Indiana. Seeing friends die around him didn't even have an effect on him not shooting up. My friend told me that the first time he tried smoking or pot was in 5th grade - then didn't do anything until 7th grade and then finally got heavily involved with drugs, alcohol and smoking in 10th. When he was about 19 he got involved with heroin. I've always been there for him - through all his rehab, through all his attempts to get clean, through his jail time. He's a very smart person otherwise, great with computers, but do I think he's stupid for ruining his life and destroying his mind? Yes I do. Yes what he has done is stupid. The drinking, drugs and smoking are all stupid. He could have had anything he wanted in life. There are many reasons why he got involved with all this stuff - most of it dealing with his family life and his father - but now he has to move on. At least now he's finally accepted that San Francisco and Eugene Oregon - are NOT the best places for him.

By the way - it's funny how he tries to justify not only his smoking - but even his drug use. Many times he'll compare his drug use to me drinking iced tea and point out that caffeine is a drug. His argument is that anyone who drinks soda or coffee is a drug user.