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"Cigarettes and alcohol"

I bought some fags this morning, and thanks to the new legislation on advertising, they now come with a warning that covers over half the pack. Mine says “SMOKING KILLS”.
Good job they told me that, I had no idea. Wow, just think – there I was thinking I was going to live forever but now I guess I’m doomed to pass away like a mortal.
Bummer.

Now, it’s all very well the government suddenly taking such an interest in my well-being and physical health. But something just doesn’t add up for me.
They want to protect me from indulging in something that may be harmful should I continue over a long period of time. Fair enough, thanks for caring.
What I’m wondering is when they will do the same for alcohol?
When we will have warnings on beer that says “Warning, alcohol kills. Oh, and it can also make you obnoxious, violent, unfit to drive, impairs functionality of your body, can induce vomiting if ingested, has been known to exaggerate feelings of depression and unhappiness when consumed in quantity and is also responsible for unprotected sex – which can lead to sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted children and even death”

Seems a little unfair to me to single out cigarettes. Sure they may eventually cause cancer, but that’s all. That’s the most serious thing that can happen to me should I continue to smoke, I die.
Same holds true with alcohol though. Smoking damages the lungs, true. Drinking damages the liver.

So the government decides to ban tobacco advertising in an attempt to “prevent youngsters from starting”.
What they neglect to mention is that cigarette advertising is not aimed at luring new customers, it exists to promote brand loyalty. The idea behind is not “Let’s get people smoking”, but let’s convince the addict that our brand is better than their current choice.
But they have decided to band cigarette ads. Oh, but not in Formula One for another couple of years. This has no link to Bernie Eccleston donating over £2 million to the Labour Party though, and you’d be a fool and a terrorist sympathiser to think so.

So why ban advertising? If the government feels that strongly about it, then ban it. But they wont, because of the billions generated in revenue from smokers. If they were that concerned, they’d treat it like they do cannabis (which is less harmful than cigarettes because of the lack of carbon monoxide, carcinogens and ammonia included to keep it burning. That’s why joints go out so easily, there are no chemicals impregnated to ensure it stays lit).
Why do you think government got so huffy about Duty Free and the abolishment of personal limitations (or at least the relaxing of amount)? Because we all go to France, pay half-price and the UK loses out hundreds of thousands of pounds in taxation.
Bad smokers! Imagine that, an addict seeking the cheapest method of feeding the addiction.

Yet smoking has become almost as intolerable as child-molesting in the eyes of some people. People who, in all probability, drink.
Now to me, drink is far worse than a fag. Why?
Because I cannot ride up on the pavement and kill a child because I smoked 9 before driving home that night.
Because I am not going to have a fight with a stranger because I’ve been out smoking all night with my mates.
Because I can never end up homeless because of a raging nicotine addiction.
Because an alcoholic is unable to function correctly without a drink, whereas a smoker just gets angry.
Now I’m not saying ban drink, I’m saying take a step back and think like a reasonable human being instead of reacting immediately and condemning.
It’s an addiction, other addictions are looked upon as medical conditions. But not smoking.
“Well it stinks” – so does someone out boozing all night
“It can damage my lungs” – so can a drunk driver
“It can kill if used correctly” – so does alcohol.
“It’s anti-social” – worse than public disorder and violence?

Where I get really angry though is the smokescreen (pun intended) that is deployed every single year come budget day.
Fags rise by 10-15p a pack every year. Yet spirits and beer rise minutely, if at all.
Yet more people drink than smoke, it would be faster to collect revenue by taxing alcohol more than cigarettes.
So why doesn’t this happen?
Simple.

Because if booze is cheap, it’s the easiest way to escape the problems you are faced with every day.
You work in a climate of fear and uncertainty about job security. You are being told over and over about terrorist threats and tanks on the streets. You worry about money, whether you’ll be happy, whether your kids will grow up well and safe.
A climate of induced fear and paranoia.
And a carpet-bomb method of advertising a quick and easy way to escape those troubles – Have a drink!
Get drunk and forget your worries, it’ll be alright.
Soap Operas with the pub as central gathering point. Commercials on tv for beer, ads in cinemas making booze look cool, alco-pops aimed at the lucrative teenage/underage drink market.
Hook ‘em young and they’ll be in forever.
Flavoured vodkas, jelly-shots, shandy (for kids to drink and pretend to be drunk! Laugh at your 7yr old already displaying signs of seeing alcohol as an amusement center!!!!).

Keep the population frightened of imminent attack from Arabs or immigrants, they’ll be compliant and too scared to question things like military vehicles at airports.
But hey, keeping them scared isn’t enough because after a few months of waiting for this soon-to-happen end of world event that never occurs, they’ll start to question you.
But don’t panic, booze is cheap and readily available. Encourage your citizens to drink. They’ll soon forget about things and be so terrified by the news each day and papers screaming about Albanian refugees that before you know it, we’ll all be begging for identity cards to keep us safe and could we please have CCTV in our homes in case Saddam uses his bombs on us.
Let’s just stay in and lock the door, if things get too hard we can have a drink and feel better.

Alcoholism is an affliction, just as smoking is. Nobody forces you to drink, just as nobody forced me to smoke.
So why is a substance that can alter moods, destroy brain cells, incite violence and hatred, affect your reactions and perceptions (wow, it’s almost like I’m talking about cannabis – except for the violence) deemed acceptable and ok to promote on tv, cinema, magazines and billboards?

Again, for the reactionaries or those that haven’t manage to reach the bottom – I’m not saying ban alcohol.
I’m saying grow up and think for yourself instead of meekly accepting what you are told.
Because cigarettes don’t kill people, people do.
Let’s ban us instead.

And Goatboy's right, social control is a bad thing, it's enough to drive you to drink. No one seems to have independant thought nowadays and those that do are quickly labelled "odd". The sys**tem is flawed but all encompassing. You can't escape it. Take the drug of the Nation, TV, it is injected to almos**t every citizen daily and is usually bad sh*t, occassionaly diluted with the odd pure hit. That's sadly enough to keep even ardent anti-tv watchers, like me, addicted.

When you think about it, why can't I sleep with anyone I want to if they are willing, why can't I kill myself (legally and assis**ted) if I want to, why is it so bad to be "unhealthy", why is it so uncool to be "healthy" (who doesn't get ribbed for saying that they aren't boozing this weekned due to their detox?), why can't I drive my car at 150mph on a deserted motorway, huh? I never wanted rules in my life, yet I've been born into them. I have spent my whole life being told what is wrong, what is right, what is healthy, what is fun, where I should go, why I should do this, do that, damn you Goaty you've got me off on one now.

I know it's a survival ins**tinct to have rules, as a society is perceived as our bes**t chance of exis**tence but it also means that there will always be those in control feeding on those without.

I don't want anarchy but I think I want to go and live on the Moon like Grix.

The only rule of Moon base is no one talks about Moon base.
The second rule of Moon base is no one brings wasps.

I'd say that passive smoking is one hing that "directly" affects other people who chose not to smoke (the smell, the stinging effect on the eyes etc), though drunken boisterous behaviour is on a par with that I'd say for annoyance (I used to smoke so I'm not being critical). In fact we've all been victims of drive by shoutings at least once in our lives. Interestingly the doppler effect does indeed work for W*nker" as the pitch does vary as the Kev mobile goes by.

Urm where I am going with this? Yeah, drink is good for you man, why is it that all the cultures who don't drink want to kill us all? Oh yeah because we are always drunk and picking fights with them, er ban alcopops on the grounds of indecency, ban the whale, ban fags and ban drunk Brits abroad and ban fun.

NIMBY culturism: you can smoke if you like but not in my backyard, I don't want to be picking butts, up all day.

In summary- Nicotene enhanced lager must be the best solution for everyone.

Hurrah!

You idiots.

The post wasn't even about health-effects or whether smoking is bad or not.
Try reading the thing before you all start with your half-ass Kilroy audience mentality.

Jesus I'm angry.

Unbeliever wrote:
>We all hear tales of people who used to smoke 40 per day etc. but...how?
>
>
> I mean how can anyone possibly smoke that much unless they're out
> boozing every night? Myself, I smoke about 5 cigs a day and I'm
> intending to give up soon. But am I abusing cigarettes?

Possible though. My dad usually has a smoke every 15 to 20 minutes.. :(

Ok. Now I think aboot it. Does make sense to me. Little tired that's all!

lets get all depressing and talk about how you're going to die if you carry on drinking/smoking shall we :

smoking causes severe lung damage and can result in yellow fingers, impaired breathing, emphacema (don't know if its spelled correctly), cancer, heart disease leading to attacks, and many other horrible diseases
or death

drinking causes slurred speech, shrinking of the brain, heart disease leading to attacks, liver damage leading to cirrhosis, cancer and death

feel better now?

I smoke and i have to mention one thing:


Cigarettes are the only legal product on the market that if used correctly can cause damage to your health.

Alcohol is similar but not as bad and if drunk in moderation doesn't really affect you much. There are no long term affects.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here...can anyone abuse cigarettes? Alcohol abuse is all too often heard of but what about cigarette abuse? Because you're using the product as it's meant to be used, what do you have to do to abuse them? Smoke 40 or 60 per day? We all hear tales of people who used to smoke 40 per day etc. but...how?

I mean how can anyone possibly smoke that much unless they're out boozing every night? Myself, I smoke about 5 cigs a day and I'm intending to give up soon. But am I abusing cigarettes?

*confuses himself by his longwinded discussion and retreats into silence*

I think I'll go for a cig...

Goatboy wrote:
> Yet more people drink than smoke...

Is that true? Never knew that!

Insane Bartender wrote:
I know it's bad, just as you know
> smoking is. But while you insist on putting beer down and claiming
> that smoking is the nice way to kill yourself,
---

I haven't put beer down.
I went to great pains to stress that.
What I'm saying is "You single out cigarettes, however..." whilst also highlighing the danger of cigarettes.

The whole point was the way in which cigarettes are held to be evil things, yet a drug that induces apathy and sluggishness is venerated in commercials and advertising.

Both are bad, yet 1 is treated like the root of all evil.
That was my point.

Yesterday I was thinking if it would be possible to smoke a Weetabix.
Needless to say, I was very bored.