Smoking rate for U.S. adults drops to record low...

[rightwinger]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

 

[Treeshepherd]

I missed the last 80 posts, but...

This is not a right vs left issue. Mormons don't smoke, and Utah is at the top of the list of non-smoking states. Utah seems like a mostly red state.

Tobacco has been shown to prevent Parkinson's disease.
Am. J. Epid.

Tobacco helps the brain to pool it's various compartments toward concentration on specific tasks. Writers, for example, benefit from tobacco.

Birds often line their nests with scavenged tobacco, to prevent lice. Tobacco is a natural pesticide. I've grown tobacco, which wasn't high enough quality for smoking, but I made an effective tea out of it for spraying on my bedding plants.

As I say, I often chew while backpacking. Inevitably, you swallow a little tobacco juice which helps to prevent giardia and other amoebic illnesses.

It's a plant. It's neither good nor evil.

 

[Star]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

.
I'm guessing you started smoking about the same time I did.

Back in the day, cigarettes and gasoline were about the same price.

*A girl I dated through most of my high school years and I had a number of conversations about how disgusting we thought smoking was. We broke up in '64 and didn't see each other again until we hooked up in 2008.

*She started smoking in 1966, quit in '98.

*Three or four months after I got cut from rookie camp in '68 I started smoking. As I recall cigarettes in Seattle were about 35¢/pack, $3.00/carton - a lot less at the Air Force Commissary a few months later.

*Just a couple of years earlier my friends and I would pool our nickels and dimes and quarters, when we had a couple of bucks we bought 4-5 gallons of gas, enough to cruise the strip most of the night.

* In 1967 the union I was a member of negotiated a contract, journeymen earned $3.48/hr, box help (entry level) earned about $2/hr.

*Around May or June of '97 my wife was talking about having to smoke in the covered parking lot of the building where she worked - I jokingly said something like, as an EVP she should hold her manager's meetings in the parking lot so everyone that smoked - could.

*Her response was, of all the managers, SVPs, EVPs, the COO, and the CEO she was the only officer that was still smoking, if she was going to call a smokers meeting in the parking lot, the meeting would consist of her, a couple of receptionists, data entry people, and maybe-maybe a programmer or two.

*In the company I worked for in '97 none of my peers were smokers. About July of '97 my wife and I decided to quit. For poetic reasons, and with 3-4 months to think about it, I decided to quit on Columbus Day 1997 and at midnight on October 11th 1997, I snuffed out my last cigarette and quit - cold turkey. The first month or so I'd crave a cigarette for a couple of seconds several times a day, after that almost never. My wife took a little longer to quit. Several months after I quit smoking, we took a ski trip to Vail, my wife had a slight cold, the cold combined with the altitude and exercise caused her to lose her breath a couple of times (thought-she-was-gonna-die) - she quit smoking in February '98.

*The main reason I quit, peer pressure, that and important business meetings were no longer being interrupted for smoke breaks and missing parts of those meetings was not an option.

*Personal stories are pretty boring except to the person the story is about but I have to admit, it was kind of fun looking back over a small piece of my history - thanks for listening...
.

 

[SwimExpert]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

So you finally concede it has nothing to do with government.

 

[rightwinger]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

.
I'm guessing you started smoking about the same time I did.

Back in the day, cigarettes and gasoline were about the same price.

*A girl I dated through most of my high school years and I had a number of conversations about how disgusting we thought smoking was. We broke up in '64 and didn't see each other again until we hooked up in 2008.

*She started smoking in 1966, quit in '98.

*Three or four months after I got cut from rookie camp in '68 I started smoking. As I recall cigarettes in Seattle were about 35¢/pack, $3.00/carton - a lot less at the Air Force Commissary a few months later.

*Just a couple of years earlier my friends and I would pool our nickels and dimes and quarters, when we had a couple of bucks we bought 4-5 gallons of gas, enough to cruise the strip most of the night.

* In 1967 the union I was a member of negotiated a contract, journeymen earned $3.48/hr, box help (entry level) earned about $2/hr.

*Around May or June of '97 my wife was talking about having to smoke in the covered parking lot of the building where she worked - I jokingly said something like, as an EVP she should hold her manager's meetings in the parking lot so everyone that smoked - could.

*Her response was, of all the managers, SVPs, EVPs, the COO, and the CEO she was the only officer that was still smoking, if she was going to call a smokers meeting in the parking lot, the meeting would consist of her, a couple of receptionists, data entry people, and maybe-maybe a programmer or two.

*In the company I worked for in '97 none of my peers were smokers. About July of '97 my wife and I decided to quit. For poetic reasons, and with 3-4 months to think about it, I decided to quit on Columbus Day 1997 and at midnight on October 11th 1997, I snuffed out my last cigarette and quit - cold turkey. The first month or so I'd crave a cigarette for a couple of seconds several times a day, after that almost never. My wife took a little longer to quit. Several months after I quit smoking, we took a ski trip to Vail, my wife had a slight cold, the cold combined with the altitude and exercise caused her to lose her breath a couple of times (thought-she-was-gonna-die) - she quit smoking in February '98.

*The main reason I quit, peer pressure, that and important business meetings were no longer being interrupted for smoke breaks and missing parts of those meetings was not an option.

*Personal stories are pretty boring except to the person the story is about but I have to admit, it was kind of fun looking back over a small piece of my history - thanks for listening...
.

I never smoked

- At six years old, my aunt would send my sister and myself to the corner gas station to buy her cigarettes, they never questioned us
- I remember my High School had an outdoor smokers lounge
- In college, you and the professors were free to smoke in class
- I remember every time you went to the movies, the image was projected through a cloud of smoke
- In my first job, one of my responsibilities was to sweep up the butts that smokers would grind into the floor and fish butts out of the urinals
- My first job out of college, my desk was next to a chain smoker. He had a 10 in ash tray that was empty to start the day and had a pile of butts three inches high by the time we went home
- I remember bars and restaurants having clouds of smoke and all the chairs and tables would have cigarette burns. The ceilings and walls were always a pale yellow
- I remember coming home from a night out and your clothes and hair stank of cigarette smoke
- I remember my grandfather being a chain smoker (unfiltered Camels) and dying at 59 coughing up a lung

I don't miss the days when smokers were not "persecuted"

 

[rightwinger]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

So you finally concede it has nothing to do with government.

Nothing to do with government ?

 

[Star]

I missed the last 80 posts, but...

This is not a right vs left issue. Mormons don't smoke, and Utah is at the top of the list of non-smoking states. Utah seems like a mostly red state.

Tobacco has been shown to prevent Parkinson's disease.
Am. J. Epid.

Tobacco helps the brain to pool it's various compartments toward concentration on specific tasks. Writers, for example, benefit from tobacco.

Birds often line their nests with scavenged tobacco, to prevent lice. Tobacco is a natural pesticide. I've grown tobacco, which wasn't high enough quality for smoking, but I made an effective tea out of it for spraying on my bedding plants.

As I say, I often chew while backpacking. Inevitably, you swallow a little tobacco juice which helps to prevent giardia and other amoebic illnesses.

It's a plant. It's neither good nor evil.

.
About a million people in the US have Parkinson's Disease ☞ http://www.pdf.org/en/parkinson_statistics "Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease in the United States, causing 480,000 premature deaths annually, according to the CDC."


Michael J. Fox ☞ nicotine-patches-to-stop-parkinson-disease
Of course, smoking a pack a day to maybe prevent the onset of PD hardly makes sense — the adverse effects of puffing on nicotine cigarettes certainly outweigh any potential benefits. Still, the data on smoking and PD is too intriguing to ignore: looking collectively across many studies, it’s estimated that current smokers are 60 percent less likely to get PD than those who have never smoked. Which begs the question: Could there be a drug for PD hidden somewhere within the rolling papers? Researchers believe that maybe there is, and the potential therapeutic agent that they’re intrigued by is nicotine.
.

 

[Treeshepherd]

Dog lovers will crucify me for this, but tobacco is an effective way to de-worm dogs.

I've also found that it is useful for preventing wasps and hornets from returning after I take down their hives or dig up their underground nests

 

[SwimExpert]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

So you finally concede it has nothing to do with government.

Nothing to do with government ?

You just admitted that smoking rates are lower because smoking is "uncool." Has nothing to do with the government.

 

[Treeshepherd]

It's a combo. Price increases from taxes and anti-tobacco programs in school certainly have some effect.

 

[rightwinger]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

So you finally concede it has nothing to do with government.

Nothing to do with government ?

You just admitted that smoking rates are lower because smoking is "uncool." Has nothing to do with the government.

Have you always had difficulties with reading comprehension? They have classes you can take to help you with your disability

Were you unable to understand what was in the bolded text?

 

[Pogo]

Dog lovers will crucify me for this, but tobacco is an effective way to de-worm dogs.

I've also found that it is useful for preventing wasps and hornets from returning after I take down their hives or dig up their underground nests

Uh -- how do you teach a dog to smoke?

 

[Treeshepherd]

Well, there's the classic oil painting by CM Coleridge of dogs smoking and playing poker. But, I was thinking more along the lines of mixing tobacco into the dog's food

 

[Pogo]

Well, there's the classic oil painting by CM Coleridge of dogs smoking and playing poker. But, I was thinking more along the lines of mixing tobacco into the dog's food

Ah I see.
But what about the wasps and hornets? You'd need really really tiny cigarettes to get them to light up.

 

[SwimExpert]

It's a combo. Price increases from taxes and anti-tobacco programs in school certainly have some effect.

Taxes have no effect. I've already demonstrated that when you adjust for inflation, the price of cigarettes has increased since the 1970s, even when you eliminate all taxes. The price on a pack of Camels is optimized based on supply, demand, and competition. There are still several brands of cigarettes that are very cheap. In fact, adjusting for inflation, they are probably cheaper than prices in the 1970s. They are cheap because they are unpopular brands. Consumers don't like them very much and are willing to pay higher prices for a better product.

As I already explained, when you add a $1 per pack sin tax on cigarettes, it's only going to cause the price to increase by $.50 at most. Producers and retailers will adjust their prices in order to maintain optimum pricing for maximum profitability and ensuring customer retention. At the end of the day all the taxes really accomplish is siphoning off more corporate profits, as the companies reduce their prices in order to partially offset the new tax.

 

[SwimExpert]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

So you finally concede it has nothing to do with government.

Nothing to do with government ?

You just admitted that smoking rates are lower because smoking is "uncool." Has nothing to do with the government.

Have you always had difficulties with reading comprehension? They have classes you can take to help you with your disability

Were you unable to understand what was in the bolded text?

Have you always had a logic disability?

 

[FA_Q2]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

So you finally concede it has nothing to do with government.

Nothing to do with government ?

You just admitted that smoking rates are lower because smoking is "uncool." Has nothing to do with the government.

Much of that change is related to studies of the health effects and anti smoking advertisement programs. Many of those are government programs. Do you posit those programs are not part of that reduction?

 

[Treeshepherd]

Well, there's the classic oil painting by CM Coleridge of dogs smoking and playing poker. But, I was thinking more along the lines of mixing tobacco into the dog's food

Ah I see.
But what about the wasps and hornets? You'd need really really tiny cigarettes to get them to light up.

Where there's a will there's a way. But, seriously, insects are like Midwestern Protestants. They don't tolerate getting buzzed and they won't eat spicy foods.

And that's why plants evolved nicotine, THC and capsaisins. Insects avoid that shit. Humans find pleasure in it, and propagate it.

 

[Politico]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

Spoken like someone who has never traveled and thinks the world revolves around Amurika. When you leave our pussified progressive borders smoking is quite common in both the public and cinema. And yet our life expectancy is less than almost all other industrialized countries.

 

[rightwinger]

The biggest change in smoking is that it is no longer socially accepted. Smoking used to be the "cool" thing to do. All the rock and movie stars did it. Every home had an ash tray for guests. You were free to smoke in movie theaters, restaurants, bars, stores, schools, work....anywhere you felt like
It was considered rude to ask a smoker to stop

Now, smokers are social outcasts. Relegated to outdoor patios where they huddle against the elements.They can't smoke at work, can't smoke in public areas, most can't even smoke in their own cars or homes. Many people refuse to date a smoker. You rarely see a politician smoking anymore, rarely see TV or movie actors smoking on screen. Smoking is no longer cool.....a major reason for the drop

Spoken like someone who has never traveled and thinks the world revolves around Amurika. When you leave our pussified progressive borders smoking is quite common in both the public and cinema. And yet our life expectancy is less than almost all other industrialized countries.

Our smoking policies and resulting changes to social acceptance has decreased the percentage of smokers from 44% to 17%. If backwoods hellholes continue to smoke, that is their curse