Hawaii considers ban on cigarette sales

[Steeleballz 7,550]

8 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

It all depends on the state. MD and DE are pretty aggressive at separating smokers from the public. And yet? On any given day you can go outside the front doors of a restaurant or store with a clearly marked "no smoking'' sign and see someone right there doing it. I especially loathe it at the beach! In Virginia, tobacco is still very much a thing. Go to some of their largest amusement parks and ''smoking areas'' are often right there mixed close to everyone, it's not secluded and it's terrible. I've never seen anyone even bother to enforce people from wandering out of those areas to just go smoke wherever they feel like either. If you tell someone to stop they will just get violently belligerent.

 

   I agree, it's not a perfect system, and you do need to get people on board and enforce for it to work. I guess what I'm saying though is there has been measurable progress in decreasing the the numbers. I would like to see if that could continue, and maybe be more aggressive with some of the prevention.

 

   I'm surprising myself a little, because I am so against smoking that I can't even be around people who have smoked. My father in law ended up going all the way to the park to smoke when he visited. Several blocks away. He told my wife no matter how far away he got from the house, I kept telling him to go a little further so he gave up and turned it into a walk. I would be happy to see a day in my lifetime where people don't even know what a cigarette is or what to do with it. It would be a great ending for a horrible legacy. I am wary of using a government ban on sales to reach that point though.

[Chris Duffy 1,256]

12 hours ago, Póg mo said:

Weed has many health benefits, cigarettes not so much.

I smoke some weed in my youth, It took my drive away and made me stupid, I was constantly loosing my car keys, had a hard time staying focused.  

 

 

[Dashinka 23,238]

10 hours ago, OriZ said:

You keep making comparisons that don't belong. If people want to drink themselves to death, that's their choice. It's not hurting me, smoking does. And don't tell me about drunk driving because 95% of people don't know how to drive whether sober or not. As even your article states, in moderation alcohol is actually good for you. Weed, can actually be good for you. I see no reason to ban those. On the other hand, I don't know that there's anything more vile in this life in every possible way(dirty, smelly, health and pollution hazard, addictive, etc) than cigarettes. There's no place for it in any society that wants to be mentally and physically healthy.

I heard of a family of five from Michigan that were certainly hurt/killed due to someone else’s drinking.

[Dashinka 23,238]

13 hours ago, millefleur said:

I'm surprised there has been a loud public campaign yet that smoking is bad for the environment/contributes to climate change. Definitely is from both a monocropping and CO2 being released into the air perspective, plus the waste of the packaging and everything else. I guess nobody wants to risk losing possible votes from smokers? Plus the tobacco industries connection to slavery and its dark exploitative and corrupt history, one would think the woke crowd would be vehemently anti-smoking.

 

I work at a very liberal place (local state-based non-profit) and I'm appalled how many people at my office are smokers considering the majority of them are extremely politically left and vocal about it. It just seems a tad hypocritical.

 

https://medium.com/@ASH_LDN/the-environmental-harm-of-the-tobacco-lifecycle-4a5f528ba4da

There are environmental issues with growing weed as well.  I am all for people not smoking, it is nice going into a restaurant or bar and not coming out smelling like an ashtray.  For some strange reason here in Michigan, casinos are exempt, I am glad I don’t gamble.

 

https://www.calsalmon.org/resources/environmental-impacts-marijuana-cultivation

[Dashinka 23,238]

15 hours ago, Póg mo said:

Weed has many health benefits, cigarettes not so much.

While I agree that weed appears to have medical benefits, smoking something that contains 500+ different chemicals where incomplete combustion occurs is a bad way to do it in my opinion.

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,315]

18 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

There are environmental issues with growing weed as well.  I am all for people not smoking, it is nice going into a restaurant or bar and not coming out smelling like an ashtray.  For some strange reason here in Michigan, casinos are exempt, I am glad I don’t gamble.

 

https://www.calsalmon.org/resources/environmental-impacts-marijuana-cultivation

Casinos are exempt becuse $$$$$$$

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,315]

12 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

While I agree that weed appears to have medical benefits, smoking something that contains 500+ different chemicals where incomplete combustion occurs is a bad way to do it in my opinion.

I agree . However my doctor told me there is no link to smoking weed and csncer like thete is cigarettes.  Just for the record i dont use weed yet

[Dashinka 23,238]

2 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

I agree . However my doctor told me there is no link to smoking weed and csncer like thete is cigarettes.  Just for the record i dont use weed yet

There was no link to cigarette smoking and cancer back in the 1930s.  To me the jury is still out, and I have had enough experience with incomplete combustion to know that it is best to avoid breathing those products.  As to weed use, edibles is probably the best, but you have to be careful of concentrations and exposure to children.

[OriZ 3,157]

1 hour ago, Bill & Katya said:

I heard of a family of five from Michigan that were certainly hurt/killed due to someone else’s drinking.

Didn't say it doesn't happen, but I think the bigger issue is people don't have a clue what they're doing on the road, period. Most don't need to drink for that.

[TBoneTX 43,057]

4 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

For some strange reason here in Michigan, casinos are exempt

The major tribe in the U.S., the Casino Indians, have a very powerful lobby.

[TBoneTX 43,057]

23 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

Canadian bacon needs to be called out for what it really is. Ham.

I once bought a Cured ham.  Wonder what it had?

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

20 hours ago, OriZ said:

$15 is still too cheap. 

 

Bacon is worse than bacon? really?

*Bacon is much worse than cigarettes.  Had me a NB moment there, apologies...

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

While I loathe cigarettes, and do my best to avoid those who smoke, I was recently shocked by what happened to my father.  He had a near miss (why isn’t it called a near hit?) with a widow maker heart event.  The end result was he had to have 6 bypasses and a new heart valve installed.  

 

The nurse told our family after the successful surgery that my dad had some of the pinkest lungs she has ever seen in her career.  Healthy like a much younger man’s.  

 

My father started smoking when he was 11, and has smoked nearly every day for 65 years.  Sometimes 2-2.5 packs per day.  And yes, he inhales.  Deeply.  Used to watch him inhale and hold it for 10-15 seconds before exhaling as a kid.  Boggles my mind that his lungs can be in such good shape.  Genetics, I suppose?  IDK

 

But I side with most of you who would see them banned.  They have already been taxed into near-oblivion; packs now cost more than cartons used to.  But they are such a disgusting habit.

[millefleur 5,035]

Actually it just occurred to me that Hawaii might be a good place for smokers because it's a remote island, we could turn it into a kind of "smoker colony" like a leper colony and send them all there to live in isolation...  but really I don't think outright banning tobacco will work at all, anywhere. The only place I know that did it ever was tiny the Himalayan country Bhutan, because the absolute monarch there hated smoking, lol.

 

I don't have the perfect solution to the answer but it seems to be that banning smoking in public at least has had wonderful results here in the US and even in Europe. Heck, the overwhelming majority of Europe is smoke-free now in enclosed public places, with Austria being the extreme outlier, no idea why but that country is just filled with militant smokers. I was in Japan for a while where the clock on smoking seems to be set back to the 1950's, it's insane how many people are smokers and how every eatery has a "non-smoking" section that is literally right next to a "smoking" section so the entire place becomes filled with smoke. A pack of cigarettes also costs less than AN APPLE in some parts of Tokyo...and we wonder why their population is dwindling...? It's a public health issue for sure and countries need to treat it that way.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by millefleur

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

3 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Actually it just occurred to me that Hawaii might be a good place for smokers because it's a remote island, we could turn it into a kind of "smoker colony" like a leper colony and send them all there to live in isolation...  but really I don't think outright banning tobacco will work at all, anywhere. The only place I know that did it ever was tiny the Himalayan country Bhutan, because the absolute monarch there hated smoking, lol.

 

I don't have the perfect solution to the answer but it seems to be that banning smoking in public at least has had wonderful results here in the US and even in Europe. Heck, the overwhelming majority of Europe is smoke-free now in enclosed public places, with Austria being the extreme outlier, no idea why but that country is just filled with militant smokers. I was in Japan for a while where the clock on smoking seems to be set back to the 1950's, it's insane how many people are smokers and how every eatery has a "non-smoking" section that is literally right next to a "smoking" section so the entire place becomes filled with smoke. A pack of cigarettes also costs less than AN APPLE in some parts of Tokyo...and we wonder why their population is dwindling...? It's a public health issue for sure and countries need to treat it that way.

 

 

Google just told me that 2 lbs of apples is about $5.71 in Toky today.  FAR less than cigarettes AFAIK.

 

Have you ever visited the leper colony in Hawaii?  I have, and would not wish that on ANY human being.  Sad state of affairs.