Eighty national public health groups, including the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Preventative Medicine, placed a full-page ad in Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post in support of a federal ban on menthol in cigarettes and all flavored cigars.
“The answer is clear,” the full-page ad says. “Saving lives starts by ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars.
“Smoking kills nearly half a million people in the United States each year, and these addictive, deadly products are a big part of the problem. The FDA and White House have our full support to release lifesaving rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/style/smoking-cigarettes-comeback.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
That’s not just an unsubstantiated “feeling.”
“You people” as if you know me.
In any case, the whole point of alcohol being 21 is that by 21 A) you’re not talking to that many people who are still in high school/not yet 18 and B) you should be making better decisions.
Which has a net effect of lowering the amount of people that engage in these behaviors, because it doesn’t spread as much in high schools.
Now, maybe that doesn’t work as well as “we” (society) thinks, but if we still think it’s a good idea for alcohol it absolutely should apply to cigarettes and vapes. Vaping was supposed to help people stop smoking, not create a whole new problem.
If you’re smoking cigarettes, and you’re proud or happy with that decision as an adult, you are an outlier among outliers. I can’t say I’ve ever met someone that smokes cigarettes that hasn’t tried to completely quit at least once (with the exception of the guy who believes “they’re completely safe” despite all the information to the contrary).
This isn’t alcohol where the majority is split between people that happily consume alcohol in small quantities vs a subset of alcoholics. This is a thing where it’s universally harmful to the smoker, to the people around them, to the environment (cigarette butts), etc. It’s also much more addictive than alcohol and marijuana where people need smoke breaks. It’s just a regrettable mess from when society didn’t know better.
Cigarette filters are also fucking gross compared to joints, assuming you aren’t using weird fancy shit for your joints. Joint filters are rolled up paper and biodegrade rather quickly (technically the whole joint is easily biodegradable). Cigarette butts last forever. Last time a friend tossed one into our bonfire it turned the flames green lolol.
Me. I never even attempted to quit smoking. I know it kills. And I want to be left alone and not harassed by other people as if they’re saving my life or something.
It is my choice.
🥱