It should be noted that there are many countries/ cultures where just the cost of smoking makes it prohibitive while alcohol is cheap and easily available. Alcohol is far more available and used world wide than cigarettes.

The stats above would be more telling and pertinent to this discussion if they were about countries where alcohol and cigarettes are both available.

As smoking is now banned in most public places, it does no health damage to me. I probably get more help damage strolling down the street breathing in all of the car fumes.

I went up to the Duty Free shop this week on a trip up to Canada and bought a carton of cigarettes. The price for a carton was $18

That same carton of cigarettes would have cost me $78 had I purchased it in the U.S. $60 bucks in taxes on 1 carton of cigarettes. That's probably a bit higher than the national average because Washington has no state tax so they have to get theirs on top of the national tax but I'm guessing $40 per carton in federal tax would be close.

Multiply $40 by the number of cartons sold per week and then go kiss a smoker, ashtray mouth and all, and thank him/her for keeping you in the tax bracket you're in because without that tax revenue, you damned sure wouldn't be anymore.

Carton of smokes in Thailand about $10 AUD

Carton of smokes in Australia about $90 AUD

Second-hand smoke can kill you in 20 years, an person drinking & driving can kill you tonight.

really, i was just being sarcastic...

but that alcohol doesn't damage the health of others you can tell those who were killed by drunk drivers, women and children that get beaten up by drunk fathers and husbands and so on.

people aren't dying in alarming numbers from drunk driving, in fact it is not even a major problem, MADD has been over exaggerating their stats for years...

more people die from falling off of ladders...

the smokes you buy in thailand are crap .. cheap but crappy .. dont smoke them! they will instantly kill you

I remeber smoking marlboro's there and having this mad cough I normally dont have .. it went away once I stopped smoking the crappyy Thai cigarettes !! fucking garbage I tell ya

and btw - i used to smoke a lot but gave up abour 8-9 years ago. i hate the smell of cigarette smoke nowadays and i have no problem if it gets banned worldwide. but i also believe in personal freedoms and if someone wants to sit on his veranda and smoke a cigarette then he should be able to do that.

but: they should pay for their cancer treatment out of their own pockets ;)

how about exhaust fumes ? they deadly or not ?

I agree with you.

However, my point is that drinking alcohol doesn't automatically make one do all that you've said. It takes a second step that one may or may not take. The use of the alcohol needs to be abused for it to become harmful.

The act of smoking a cigarette is harmful immediately and even though it's only harmful to the smoker, the damage is being done.

It's the same logic as guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people. If we go around banning everything that can be abused and cause harm like cars, the internet, parenthood and the Jersey Shore we won't have anything left.:upsidedow

Plain and simple, alcohol can be used responsibly and be harmless and smoking cigarettes cannot. That's the difference.

Anybody who fell for this is an idiot. Obviously not true.

Last year a region in Melbourne started issuing $2000 fines for smoking in parts of the city

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vic...-1225949686390

Do you have a link to the source of your initial post?

Here's a link to the tobacco industry response

www.ideservetobeheard.com.au

I'll post more links as they become available.

lol.. stop the trolling


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/chee...#ixzz1ICKEb7xI



not one mention of 2013 complete smoking ban ;-) :thumbsup:error:1orglaugh:upsidedow

I absolutely concur with everything you just said. :thumbsup
Except that I never smoked.
I hate the smell too, but fuck that, personal freedom should be the highest priority.

Current time in Melbourne

Fri 1 Apr 2011 04:13:14 EST

Goodnight everyone :)

I mean direct damage from alcohol.. not connected to vehicles or anything else.


This way I could tell that smokers can also set fire while smoking and kill 50 people in a building.

It is not alcohol, its the peoples stupidity that kills.. the car is not drunk, only the person driving it.

Yeah, smoking is really banned in most public places and smokers dont give a shit unless they see policemen around.. never heard of anyone being sanctioned for smoking.

remove the jpg from ur sig

<a href="http://www.lambounfall.de" target="_blank"><img src="http://fsm248.funpic.de/sig.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />
<font size="2"><a href="http://www.lambounfall.de" target="_blank">Bad Lamborghini Crash</a> - <a href="http://fsmfx.wordpress.com" target="_blank">My Forex Blog</a></font>
</div>

That's a "town-crier" type response. Not only is it just not accurate, it's flat out not true.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx
http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_death.htm

Who are you kidding? The car is drunk as a skunk too!
Let's see how you fair chugging down 16 gallons of 10% proof!

http://www.blogcdn.com/green.autoblo...ollabel_10.jpg

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Good one! :thumbsup

Edit: I hate April Fools I can't trust anything

Australia might as well ban the kangaroo :) The Government would have more luck doing that.

The sad thing is that people keep smoking even at between $15 - $18 a packet, yes that much, and will continue to do so. I am trying to give up myself.

Can't see them devoting any time to banning the fags until they've finished banning the aborigines

This post is NOT true. No such statement has been made by the Prime Minister of Australia. Note how there is no link to a reliabe news article on this.
And second, only the State Governments can ban smoking, not the federal government.

Welcome to 4/1

Lol, yep just realized, got me, lol.

Ain't gonna happen. Our indigenous people would revolt like you've never seen before. Seriously - guns, the army, the complete and utter shutdown of of all national and local transportation. The complete shutdown of any development near native lands.

As much as politically-correct, spineless assholes want to kiss government ass for "saving our lives", I want to shove hot pokers up their asses. Repeatedly.

If Australia is going to ban tobacco, they should ban McDonalds and KFC - and any other mass-produced consumable product.

Fuck your hypocrisy.

As long as you're going to eat food out of a package, drive a car, and heat your house - I'm going to smoke cigarettes and cigars.

I love Australia but they have laws against everything. Fucking hell, I don't know why the people there put up with it.

no matter what happens you'll never stop the natives from selling smokes so, no worries.

Great opportunity for tobacco mafia.
$$$

WTF? 'it's not less dangerous' ?

freedom

nuff said!

and right now, i'm going to light up a red marlboro. tsk.
let me choose of what i want to dye.

If MY tax dollars are paying for YOUR health care then I think I should have a say if YOUR bad habbits are costing ME money.

What's more useful? Cars or cigarettes?