Actually no, since smoking indoors in public places is illegal in NYC its not an issue. It's wonderful that I don't have to go home smelling like the inside of someone's rotten mouth after going out.
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My brother is starting to smoke
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Actually no, since smoking indoors in public places is illegal in NYC its not an issue. It's wonderful that I don't have to go home smelling like the inside of someone's rotten mouth after going out.
1. It's called mind your own damn business. If they want to quit, they will. If they don't, they don't. You don't see people telling you not to eat fast food so you don't get fat or to turn down the volume on your earphones or stero so you don't damage your hearing capabilities or not to drink because it will adversly affect your liver functions.
2. I fail to see how a smoker directly or indirectly affects your direct healthcare costs. My mother has smoked since she 18, she's now in her mid 50's. She has never had to seek any medical services or use any other type of service that would affect your healthcare costs, not even for non realted smoking issues. In other words, she has never had any health problems period.
Perhaps you shouldn't generalize so much.
My sister was 13 when she started to smoke and drink, she was sent to schools for troubled teens to get her to quit, but she would just get back right into it again within a month of being home.
At age 20, my parents decided to kick her out because nothing they were doing was actually helping her, she literally got a breathe at the real world and realized without a education, she was pretty much screwed from finding work.
It wasn't long after that, she started quitting smoking and drinking, (although she enjoys a little wine now) and started to go to night classes to catch up on education.
She now has a Bachelors Degree, and working on her Masters and Bar Exam to become a Lawyer.
Give it time, your brother will probably decide it's doing more harm then good then try methods of quitting.
At age 20, my parents decided to kick her out because nothing they were doing was actually helping her, she literally got a breathe at the real world and realized without a education, she was pretty much screwed from finding work.
It wasn't long after that, she started quitting smoking and drinking, (although she enjoys a little wine now) and started to go to night classes to catch up on education.
She now has a Bachelors Degree, and working on her Masters and Bar Exam to become a Lawyer.
Give it time, your brother will probably decide it's doing more harm then good then try methods of quitting.
This is a thread discussing smoking and here I am discussing it. If a friend of mine was smoking they could expect to hear from me--and in fact they have. Once I talk to them though, I don't harp on them after that. Likewise, I'm open to criticism about my own habits if they are harmful.
A smoker most definately contributes to higher healthcare costs. They have higher rates of cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular diseases, lung disease, respiratory problems and several other problems related to the kidneys, liver and pancreas. Additionally, second hand smoke in indoor public spaces where it is legal are the recipients of said diseases as well.
I hope that your mother continues to enjoy good health. However, at 50 years old she is relatively young and many adverse effects may yet materialize for her. Again, are there 90 year old smokers without health problems--sure. They are the exception, not the rule.
Once again, I fail to see how a smoker directly affects your direct healthcare costs. I could substitute in an almost infinite amount of groups names that have a comparable effect on your direct healthcare costs. For instance overweight people, alcoholics or any type of severely handicapped people share in almost all the factors you list above.
So I guess what I am wondering is why you think that smokers specifically cause your healthcare costs to rise? If you were to say that people in general, whether they be smokers, alcoholics, obese or anything else, contribute to higher healthcare costs for all of us, then I would agree wholeheartedly as this is a result of living in a modern day society.
With this current trend in posting I'm going to make a bold prediction.
"PRSI here we come."
I know, just call me Nostradamus.
"PRSI here we come."
I know, just call me Nostradamus.
One thing that's always true of heavy smokers: they have no idea how pervasive the smoke is because they can't smell it anymore. Every former smoker I've talked to about it said that they were astonished to find that everything they owned still smelled like smoke weeks after they stopped. One guy started apologizing to people because he suddenly realized that he'd been making their clothes smell like cigarette smoke for years.
This is not intended as a rant against smokers. But all health issues aside, one thing that bothers me about them is that they are oblivious to how off-putting their smoke odors are to others. If I were to, say, smear the contents of a baby's diaper on my shirt and walk into someone's office, they'd throw me out for stinking up their air. Cigarette smoke does the exact same thing. It's that annoying. "It's my choice and my life," they say. That's true, if it has no impact on those around you. But it does. That smoke travels farther and is more recognizable than almost any scent I can think of. I regularly find myself smelling the smoke of a driver nearby when stopped in traffic, even if I have the windows rolled up. Or when downwind of a smoker 40 feet away. It's air pollution, pure and simple.
Often I find myself noticing that, between polluting the air and deluging our streets and beaches with litter, smokers are mind-boggling selfish. No other group of people demands the right to create such a public nuisance. Banning cigarettes is a stupid idea, but banning smoking in just about all public areas is fine with me. The effect on the quality of life of non-smokers is too great to ignore.
What this post says to me is that trying the heavy-handed approach, telling people to quit etc. doesn't work. I'd agree. I quit when my wife became pregnant. It wasn't as hard as I thought once I decided that for sure I wanted to leave behind the 'culture' and the habit. What had made it difficult before was the fact that I didn't really want to quit.
Tell your brother what you think but don't try to persuade him to quit. He won't unless he wants to and at 18 I'd imagine the biggest incentive isn't going to be little brother, it's going to be desirable sex partner.
As a current smoker who's tried to quit plenty of times, and will try yet again soon, talk to him before the fad becomes the addiction.
Everyone thinks that way when they first start out, but as time goes by, when they try to quit, they'll find it's harder.
Whether it's to deal with stress or to look cool, I can say in all honesty that it's not worth starting in the first place.
It will eventually become habit and, as it did for me (I started when I was 17 and now I'm 35), it will define you as an adult.
Everyone thinks that way when they first start out, but as time goes by, when they try to quit, they'll find it's harder.
Whether it's to deal with stress or to look cool, I can say in all honesty that it's not worth starting in the first place.
It will eventually become habit and, as it did for me (I started when I was 17 and now I'm 35), it will define you as an adult.
Yea addiction=bad
I no joke have a caffeine addiction
If I go 1 day without a soda, I will have the worst head ache in the world and cant move literally
I hate being in that state
Coffee is another addiction of mine. And one I think I will never give up unless a doctor orders me to.
That's because when someone is eating fast food or happens to be listening to loud music you can't automatically assume they do it constantly. I have fast food once per month. I'm in shape, and, given the fact that you are most likely a smoker, can run faster and further than you. My guilty pleasure isn't addictive and happens once in a while, yours is a vice with physical dependancy. They're not equal.
Because most people are insured. Who do you think covers the medical costs of other, more healthcare-dependent people on insurance?
And while this is great it only demonstrates luck so far. Unfortunately she'll have emphysema when willfully polluting one's own lungs catches up. It's a terrible disease and I lost my grandfather to it.
Perhaps you shouldn't be so cavalier about this issue? I understand smokers don't like to be preached to, and if they're some random person, I let them do what they want. If they're friends or family, I'll let them know.
Smoke away.
Actually, I've never smoked a day in my life as I can't stand the smell of it. I just can't stand people who harp on others for their vice when they surely have one of their own. Everyone is flawed, no one is perfect, the sooner we all learn to accept that fact the better off we'll all be.
As for the healthcare argument, perhaps you can read my other posts and then explain to me how smokers are more taxing on the system then other groups as I've asked 'barkomatic' to do.
How ironic I stumbled upon this thread. A friend of mine from my HS just turned 18 recently and I've seen him smoking outside of school now (because he can now legally buy cigarettes). He does the occasional joint (hell, I've done it twice, but it was out of peer pressure), but now cigarettes. Cigarettes are a lot worse, and ironically joints are illegal but cigarettes are legal. (not trying to turn this into a legalize it vs. don't legalize it thread, so don't carry on that point)
I think you mean yourself.
Also, please remember (this goes for everyone overreacting) that smokers were once non-smokers, so making stuff up about the utter ignorance of smokers about just how horribly they ruin others' lives is pretty ridiculous and ingenuous at best.
You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. Smoking is bad for your health and can be obnoxious to others, and that's really as far as it goes. Beyond that, I think we should try to help the OP instead of describing how much you personally hate smoking.
lol, reminds me of a Bill Hicks routine
"The worst kind of non-smokers are the ones that come up to you and cough. That's pretty f#$%^ing cruel isn't it? Do you go up to cripples and dance too? "
No offence but he is 18 and therefore allowed to smoke if he choses to, you can tell him that you don't like it but if he wants to then he will end of, and it isn't easy to quit once you start either, unlike what all those non-smokers seem to think!
(This is coming from someone who has smoked since I was 11/12, I'm 18 now).
My father and his brother both smoked since they were 18. My uncle dropped dead of a heart attack in his mid-30s. The doctors all told my father to stop smoking, but he kept on until his own serious heart attack in his early-50s. He has a couple of heart attacks a year now, only the pacemaker and a daily cocktail of meds keeping him alive. He can't do much these days as a result, and has at low points seriously considered suicide.
So please understand that I'm saying this as someone who is very anti-smoking. It's your brother's health, his life and his decision. You look after yourself, and let him do the same.
So please understand that I'm saying this as someone who is very anti-smoking. It's your brother's health, his life and his decision. You look after yourself, and let him do the same.
At least try to get him to smoke a pipe. One of those Holmes shaped pipes, or even better a big ass long wooden carved Tolkein-esque pipe. And a smoking jacket too for goodness sake. You know? Proper smoking, none of this ladies cigarette claptrap.
Drinking beer from an old navy tankard, or skull, should finish the look off nicely.
Drinking beer from an old navy tankard, or skull, should finish the look off nicely.