Tobacco Tax: Whadda You Smokers Say

[Deborah]

Gotta throw this in.

The fear mongering and propoganda against tobacco has been highly effective. Signs on buildings, no smoking within 20 feet of entrance, etc. Where I live, a person can be fined $250 for throwing a cigarette butt out their car window. Not sure what the fine is for littering, but I'm certain it's far less and rarely enforced- the roads are littered with fast food packaging. But the city is soooo concerned about tobacco they studied it enough to determine which intersections had the most butts and set up police stings at those intersections.

I've seen people almost come to blows because someone lit up and offended someone else. Parents enraged that someone lights up in the general vacinity while they are sitting there feeding their kid trans fats (a popular favorite-"fried cheese sticks" as an entre) and contributing to the #1 killer, heart disease. People fear tobacco smoke like the black plague.
The average smoker (not all by any means) is actually quiet considerate of non-smokers and walks away to smoke.

This issue has just been blown way out of proportion, and while the public has made tobacco enemy #1, it occludes the really significant polluters and other causes of lung illnesses.

I don't necessarily defend the tobacco industry. I think they should stop spraying chemicals on their tobacco, which I consider to make them more risky. I just don't put them tobacco anywhere near the top of the list of offenders.

[Anonymous]

"We non-Indians know nothing about tobacco. A sacred herb is abused and reduced to 'a bad habit'. Recent anti-tobacco moralizing and legislation only point out our own lack of knowledge and respect for this plant. The books offered below will change forever the way you view this powerful medicine."

"It is a curious fact that while the whites took over the material tobacco from the Indians, they took with it no fragment of the world that accompanied it, nor were they at first aware that there was such a world... enshrined among the whites only as a drug, as a taste, as a habit, along with the seeking after mild and tasty forms, while the Karuk make tobacco a heritage from the gods, a strange path which juts into this world and leads to the very ends of magic." --Harrington, 1929.


"There have always been those who attempt to control the necessities of life for their own gain. Genetic resources have always been the common heritage of all humanity, and we must not allow them to be exploited." --S. Calkins, 1984.

[Anonymous]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/09/D8MHRQEO1.html

Jan 09 11:04 AM US/Eastern

 BANGOR, Maine (AP) -- The Bangor City Council approved a measure Monday that prohibits people from smoking in vehicles when children are present.

When the law goes into effect next week, Bangor will become the first municipality in Maine to have such a law. Similar statewide measures have been adopted in Arkansas and Louisiana and are under consideration in several other states.

People who smoke with children present in the confined space of a car or truck might as well be deliberately trying to kill those children, said City Councilor Patricia Blanchette, who is a smoker.

"Let's step up to the plate and lead; our children are worth the fight," she said.

The ordinance, which was approved by a 6-3 vote, applies to any motor vehicles on any public roads within the city. Violators face fines of up to $50.

An amendment that was added Monday to the original proposal makes the violation a primary offense, rather than a secondary offense. That means police can pull over vehicles if they see somebody smoking with anybody under 18 in the vehicle; if it were a secondary offense, police would have to stop the vehicle for some other reason, such as speeding.

Several residents, doctors and representatives from the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce and the Fusion Bangor development group spoke in favor of the ordinance.

Pediatrician Robert Holmberg said the evidence is "incontrovertible" that exposure to cigarette smoke causes medical disorders in children, including asthma, bronchitis, ear infections and heart disease.

"Children are the most in need of the protection by public policy, because they can't protect themselves," he said.

But the ordinance also had its critics.

Councilor Susan Hawes, who voted against the law, said the police department should devote its energy to more important issues. There's already too much government intervention in people's lives, she said.

Aaron Prill of Bangor told the council that the ordinance was a "feel- good option" that was not intended to protect children but rather to "moralize" against smokers. Most smokers have enough common sense not to smoke around children, he said.

___

Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

[Carmel]

I vote we decriminalize marijuana...theres a "feel-good option" for ya.

It will "moralize" pot smokers against buying from non-approved sources and ensure better quality control and a reduction in organized crime.

Lets step up to the plate and lead, our civil liberties are worth it!

Fucking jackassery.

[Froderik]

I don't smoke cigs, so i don't care that much..

Fucking jackassery.

-almost as good as "minfuckery," a word I could claim as my own..