Should Smoking be banned completely?!

What d'you think, CarbonSystem, that I kidnap non smokers off the streets and drag them into my house, then chain them up and blow smoke in their faces? We all know second hand smoke is harmful (to a degree). It's a fact that's been given more coverage than David Beckham's haircuts.
(Try googling for Jet Fuel Pollution Statistics in comparison)

Honestly, if I've ever smoked in my own house in the company of a non-smoker, it must have been that bloke who was in here for three minutes last year to read the gas meter.

I guess I was talking more about family members and things like that. A lot of kids have no choice, especially at an early age, whether or not thier parents smoke. But I can't think of a law being made to accomodate that, just because the parents are assumed to have a motive to protect thier kids' health. Personally I don't really think a law should be made, it would solve nothing.

I understand about the kid thing. I wouldn't smoke around a child (or adult that didn't smoke themselves).
(When I go visit my sister, I stand outside by the dustbins and count the empty wine bottles when I want to smoke.)
I started smoking when I was 11 years old. A lot of people have told me I did well not to get into drugs, so I suppose I defend smoking, because I really needed it then and its so much a part of me now.
I don't smoke tailored cigarettes. I roll my own. Thin, with a bit of roach or scrap of filter. Sometimes wish that I wasn't addicted to tobacco - but know it could be worse.
It's 03:45 here, in England. Time for a kip. Nice talking to you, CarbonSystem.

You too ENDYMION, I suppose cigarettes are better than drugs.

but, as a little reminder, cigarettes are considered a gateway drug. The largest majority of drug users start with cigarettes. Then they go to alcohol. That does not mean everyone who smokes and/or drinks does drugs.

That's the first I've ever heard that. I know many peole who don't smoke cigarettes but drink too much. And I know plenty of people who won't touch tobacco but gladly smoke weed. I myself smoke tobacco but have long ago stopped drinking alcohol and was never an illegal drug user.

as I said, not everybody who smokes does drugs. I said its a gate way drug. What you have seen is exceptions to the rule. However, you will see that there is a more common connection than you realize. Every person I know, without exception, that has done or does drugs all started with smoking first. but not evryone I know that smokes does drugs. Amazingly, there is a stronger connection to kids and cigarettes and drugs then with adults.

If society started with heroin, wayward individuals would move onto cigarettes.
If society started with cocaine, wayward individuals would move onto alcohol.
If society started with alcohol, wayward individuals would move onto cocaine.
If society started with cigs, wayward individuals would move onto cannabis.
If society started with cannabis, wayward individuals would move onto alcohol.
If society started with bugger all, wayward individuals would move out.


That's your bloody 'gateway argument'.

Hmm, I never touched a ciggy until I started smoking pot. That is how I got hooked. The cigarette gave my high an extra kick; and before I knew it I was addicted.

I have since dropped all the drugs except cigarettes. I personally feel that if I was to stop smoking cigs at this point in time I would turn to something else. The least of the evils for me, I guess.

The gateway drug theory never flew with me. Folks to turn to drugs because it feels good now. If one thing isn't available, they'll find something else.

BTW: Many people use food as a drug. Oh no! Food can lead to cigarettes, then sucking diesel fumes, then starvation! Food is a gateway drug!!

I've confessed this on another thread, so I might as well say it again: I am an alcoholic who has been clean and sober for 10 years now. At one point during my sobriety I was able to give up cigarettes for about nine months. (btw, no way smoking ever lead me to drinking; the other way around, if anything.) Came a point where the stresses in my life were so great, I had to admit I needed something. I wanted a dozen strong drinks. So I bought a pack of cigarettes instead. For me, at least, it is the lesser of two evils.

I have never seen cigarettes described as a gateway drug anywhere. I think that is wishful thinking by the anti-tobacco lobby.

Hey! I want that bugger all drug!
Jes kidding, dude!
I just quit smoking 5 months ago, and I'm known to drink more than I should, and sometimes more than I can take. But I'll tell ya, I enjoy my drink more now, without my smoke! And that even more in the morning, since my mouth doesn't taste like a cesspool anymore when I wake up!


It'll just taste like a thousand dead people... that doesn't smoke...

Good on you, MA
No drug has ever f*cked my head up the way alcohol once did.

starting off.. i've been smoking since 16.. you start off right, then it's a cliche.. until you get to 1 pack a day that's the time you hit bottom and it's okay.. 'cause it's unnatural to die a non stubborn way..

cancer schmancer.. my 2 cents..

Well heres an opinion from an 8th grader perspective.

Smoking would not be as big a problem if we learned more about it's affects from past users. I don't smoke because I love my brain and body, but there are other kids my age who wouldn't care because they think it's just another limit adults place on us. If schools brought in people who have already gotten cancer from smoking, or showed us pictures of what smoking does to your system (not drawings but actual photos) it would probably lower the chances of a kid wanting to smoke.