why the smoking ban is so hypocritically stupid

[anonymously_hip]

Ok so smoking is banned. Whatever

Comments

[c404]

I'm not saying I agree with the ban, but smoking kills more people than drinking

[anonymously_hip]

i'd like to see some statistics on that.
alcohol related deaths from all of the above things I listed, vs. smoking-related asthma and lung cancer or whatever other cancers you might get from smoking and second hand smoke.

[c404]

I believe lung cancer kills on the order of 3x the number of people that die from all traffic accidents in the United States, which is probably the most smoke free country in the world. As far as deaths go, that probably proves the point if not giving a very clear picture. As far as other bad things, don't know.

[anonymously_hip]

is all lung cancer cause by smoking?

[drzachary]

Hm, a quick google search says that roughly 90% of lung cancer deaths are to smokers (and 2-3% to people who lived with smokers.. not that it implies causation.)

[c404]

80%

[drzachary]

Just looked it up. About 17k *drunk* driving deaths per year, and 150,000 lung cancer deaths (of which smoking probably accounts for 90%.)

Those numbers don't include the effects of smoking on heart attacks (heart disease is the biggest killer of course), but drinking affects that too!

[anonymously_hip]

that makes both unacceptable.

i dont particularly care for smoky bars either. i just think it is ridiculous to make smokers the pariah of society, when socially, booze causes so much more damage. and that is why i don't support the ban. it's stupid to say "I want to pickle my liver and get drunk enough to fuck whatever's moving at the end of the night unprotected before I drive home intoxicated IN A SMOKE FREE ENVIRONMENT!!!"

[drzachary]

Yeah, it's being unfairly singled out.

But hey, so are a lot of drugs! Sorry they picked yours :) What would really be ridiculous would be to compare the smoking ban to the marijuana ban.

[drzachary]

Ridiculous in that the marijuana ban is even sillier!

[anonymously_hip]

agreed!

hey, i quit smoking for two months, and i will quit again, probably with help from the ban. but MY PERSONAL CHOICE to not smoke shouldn't mean that no one else can smoke either. and that is the point. if you dont like a smoky bar, DONT GO TO THE SMOKY BAR.
personal responsibility, its great.

what am i supposed to do?

[xteenie]

when practically EVERY bar, especially the ones with good shows, are smoky what in the hell i'm i supposed to do? not go to good shows!? I have gone out less because of this 'cuz whenever i go out i have to recover for days...from SMOKE intake NOT liquor. i know when its the liquor. ;) ha!

[c404]

I've actually never heard the story of how THC got banned. I'll have to look that up some time

[anonymously_hip]

it was because of the mexican immigrants.
the mexicans liked to smoke weed, and the southern states where they immigrated needed a way to get them out of the country because of the anti-immigration sentiment in texas/arizona/california so they pressured the govt to ban. it took them like 5 years of bitching or something like that but finally the feds caved and banned it. this was way back in the day, like in the 30s, around the depression.

seriously. there was a whole show on the history channel about it. very interesting!

[c404]

Sure, both are unacceptable, but I think the best way to attack the drunk driving side of things is a lifetime drivers license revocation plus prison time for the first drunk driving offense, and long prison sentences for subsequent offenses.