Viewing Thread:
"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.

Missed youm on MSN last night.

Had my purple gown and love-cuffs out and everything...

I was busy on my knees praying for death-from-above.

But then I woke up and it was ok.
I think god has forsaken me

Goatboy wrote:
> I was busy on my knees praying for death-from-above.
>
> But then I woke up and it was ok.
> I think god has forsaken me

No I'm just busy at the moment doing some photocopying. Should never have created stupid trees, seemed like a good idea at the time. But then so did women.

Women?
We've got PS2 and DVD now, can I have my rib back please?

Sorry I used man ribs to make Big Brother contestants. Again I really should have thought that one through. I have great plans for the appendix though.

Goatboy wrote:
> I live in hope.

Ok, you want us all dead for our blatant crimes of ignorance and lack of intelligence, but to me, this is undermined because you smoke. Sure, people who watch Big Brother deserve to die in your eyes, along with the Pop Idol audience, e.t.c., because you're claiming they're basically people who have done nothing with their lives and are stupid.

You're sticking chemicals in your body which, odds on, means you will die from a cancer when your time finally comes - and it's not one of the better ways to go, especially for your relatives who have to see it all happen, how does this make you any better than someone who watches a stupid program ? To most non smokers you're equally as stupid for smoking, even if you do enjoy it.

~~Belldandy~~

The sooner cigarettes themselves are banned, the better.

And you're an absolute for smoking, you know that. It reeks, it's not cool, and you're just being ignorant thinking the government is stupid. The government is being sensible, because no longer can adverts put across smoking as cool or anything else.

Fair enough if you're addicted, because I know what it's like. But if you aren't persistent enough to quit, then you really deserve the agony that smoking can put you in. My grandad got gangrene from smoking, and now he only has one leg. Let's hope the same happens to you. Then you'll see what the government's on about.

My Grandad smoked from when he was a boy, until he was 75. Heart Attack #1.

Quit, 4 years later heart attack #2.

One year ago, bowel cancer - treatable.

2002, lung cancer shows up on an Xray, untreatable. He spent the last 8 weeks of his life in hospital, and the last three of those in a near coma. He died late november.

You may not die young, but it gets most smokers in the end, so yeah, smoking is cool.

~~Belldandy~~

And, while I'm on a rant;

http://www.globalsecurity.org/ military/world/iraq/airfields.htm

My, thats an awful bloody lot of military airfields for acountry with no airforce isn't it ?

http://www.globalsecurity.org/ military/world/iraq/air-force-equipment.htm

Those aircraft and copters are for pleasureflights, obviously....

And for added fun value;

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd /library/news/iraq/2003/iraq-030226-dod01.htm

Another read showing how the dictators love of his own people does not apparently stop him placing military targets amongst them, and also includes comments on the voluntary human shields who have gone out there, notice how skittish the responses get when it comes to whether they have foregone their civilian status......

~~Belldandy~~

Bell mate, take a holiday from yourself.

And it appears nobody got my point here. It's nothing to do with Iraq or whatever stick is lodged up your butt today.

Everyone here should learn some humour and actually read a post before contributing.
It's nothing to do with the effects of smoking or the benefits of smoking over drink.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder what planet I'm on