(This was probably inspired in part by Gordon's recent post.)
In the USA, lung cancer kills more men AND more women than any other cancer. Peter Jennings who was a smoker until about 20 years ago, then "was weak" and started up around 9/11/01, died from it. Vasssar Clements died from it. These questions are limited to tobacco (not any of the other stuff, like that "wacky tobacky"):
1. Do you smoke or chew tobacco? If so, how much? If you do, why, and if you don't, why not?
2. If you partake, have you tried to quit, by what method and how many times? If you're a former smoker, are you particularly obnoxious about smoking? (Be honest.) If you've never smoked, how tolerant are you of smokers around you?
3. What are the public smoking regulations in your area? Are they fair, too tough or too lenient? What has been the actual/anticipated economic impact of the law?
4 comments:
1. I smoked about a pack and a quarter in my whole life (6 in 1977 was the high point), none since 1978. This was usually when I was drinking in college.It was dumb, so I stopped.
2. I can be a pretty obnoxious non-smoker.
3. There is a ban in most public places. While some locations have received waivers because of economic hardship, others have discovered that they are getting more business from the non-smokers than they lost from the smokers.
1. I don't smoke; both my parents did, which never bothered me much growing up, but as an adult, I find I am mildly allergic to second-hand smoke, and really disgusted by the way it is absorbed into my clothes when I am around smokers.
2. I'm tolerant as long as there's a window I can stick my nose out once in a while, but I really avoid smokers when they're indulging their addiction. Also, heroin addicts and NFL fans.
3. Since we're in the same area, Roger, I will defer to your answer to this one.
1. I have a hookah that I will on rare occasions smoke. I also maybe smoke a stoogie like once a year. And on very rare occasions I'll share two hand-rolled cigarettes from a friend of mine at a party. But I haven't smoked ANYTHING in like several months.
2. I'm not all that obnoxious about it unless it's indoors with several smokers I remove myself from the area.
3. I'm in CA where smokers are shot on site. Not that bad, but forget smoking indoors at concerts, restaurants, and malls. (Thank God)
1. I smoked a little in college, usually during finals week. When I met Keith, I started smoking casually again, but stopped when I realized that I was starting to do things like habitually wanting one after a meal. Both of my parents smoked for years, and I realized that I did not want to end up like them.
2. I've gotten to be much less tolerant as I've gotten older. Keith finally quit about five years ago. When we bought our house and moved out of our apartment, we set no smoking boundaries in the house. We even made my mother smoke on the porch, until she quit. After we had been in the house about six months, I was going through some boxes that hadn't been opened since we moved. I was astounded at how much everything stunk! It just reeked of smoke. That will NOT ever happen at this house. Between Keith and my parents, there's no telling how much second-hand smoke I have inhaled in my life.
3. A ban just passed here, but it's full of holes and exceptions. You can still smoke in bars, for example, or any other establishment that makes at least 25% of its sales from alcohol. It's hard to pass serious smoking bans in a tobacco state, even now after the buy-out. Most of the tobacco companies had manufacturing plant in Louisville until a few years ago, so there is a HUGE smoking mentality here. Lexington (2nd largest city in Kentucky) passed a smoking ban about a year or so ago and it doesn't seem at this point to have any adverse economic effects. It's too early to tell about ours, but with all the exceptions, who knows?
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