cigarettes why are they even legal?

In four days time I wil have quit for three months. I have never , never been in such misery in my whole life.

For startes i gained a shitload of weight, since I can't stop eating and I wasn't thin to begin with. I don't even care actually since I'm glad i'm not going to die of cancer (probably) (I smoked 20 years)I can lose weight later, I'm still in my thirties, my heart probably won't give out yet.

I could say , i should have never started but that this BS. I liked smoking but in the end it's just a habit and a passtime. The time I didn't smoke I had to do something else then , besides standing there inhaling a burning plant that originated at the other side of the world. But still even while not smoking I kind of do the same thing as if I was smoking , standing there , talking to people, dreaming, thinking... I'm just not sucking on some burning plant

So in the end it's complete bull, and the only thing that stops you from quitting is that pain you have to go through. The pain is tolerable though, if you have nicotine replacement. I use like nicotine candy (that you have to melt in your mouth, they're quite tasty actually) . I could never have quit without them.

That makes we wonder, before people had this nicotine replacers, how did they quit , that's just nightmare on elm street. Anyway, all things considerd, why is this even legal? Is it population control? Stupidty? Ignorance? Lack of empathy or just plain money grabbing in taxes?

What do you think?

Same reason McDonald's is legal I guess.

Why are cigarettes legal? Well back when the cigarette companies were 1st becoming accepted within society, the companies fooled people into thinking that putting harmful chemicals and smoke into your bodies was somehow healthy for you. Everyone fell for it and the rest is history. As for quitting, you've just got to make it 2 months or so. After that the desire to smoke will be pretty much gone.

Not quite the same thing imo

I'd rather people were educated early on about cigarettes and then free to make their own choice regarding them.

I also wish weed and DMT were legal but that's another story.

Cigarettes are unhealthy, but they have been legal for so long it would probably be too difficult to gain enough support to outlaw them. The government already gets enough crap over the fact that pot is still illegal, so I doubt that they want to increase the crap they get by making cigarettes illegal too.

With that said, good job on quitting and keep it up.

Because people have the right to put whatever garbage they want in their bodies so long as it does no harm to others.

Fun fact I learned a couple days ago: Apparently smokers are exposed to more ionizing radiation from the polonium and radioactive lead isotope in a year from the smoke that enters their lungs than astronauts and people visiting the basement of Pripyat hospital where the firefighters' who fought the fires in the Chernobyl reactor clothing is dumped.

And we wonder why people get lung cancer from smoking.

Good job on quitting. My mom finally quit 6 years ago. She tried for years; using the patches, the gum, etc. When she finally did it, she did it cold turkey.

As far as whether or not it should be legal, I believe people have the right to do whatever they want to their own bodies.

Money, peoples own choices, I suppose like Alcohol its really supposed to be a "sometimes" thing, but people get hooked and chain smoke or binge drink.

No they don't.

also, second hand smoke bro.

Yeah, they don't have that right because government. They shouldhave that right.

And I fully understand second hand smoke and advocate that people should only be allowed to smoke on private property where I can avoid it at all costs.

Congrats on quitting. I've quit twice now once for 6 years and again now for about 2 years. I feel your pain.

They are legal because of taxes made on them and people would revolt of there was a "war on cigarettes"

money that is all.

Well one reason is look what happened when alcohol got prohibited, didn't work.

Though I think cigarettes are more worth trying to prohibit than alcohol.

Also, congrats on quitting smoking.

^^^This

Two years tobacco free baby !

Never tried based on the principle that putting something in my lungs that makes me cough is not a good idea. But, congrats to you!

Well they make a lot of money from taxing them, more than it costs health services to cure those who are sick from smoking related illness.

Its been legal for so long people wouldnt be happy if they were to be banned.

It would be virtually impossible to make smoking illeagal, it would be a nightmare to fight a "war on cigarettes". Imagine the money government makes on taxing ciggies and then imagine that money going straight into the hands of criminal gangs who would profit from the prohibition of cigarettes. Its just not worthwhile.

I love smoking but its time to stop. Its been about 3 days so far and im pretty much fine, more missing the social aspect than the chemical addiction. If I continued to socialise with the smokers then I dont know if I would be able to resist the temptation. Il never be anti smoking though, I have an appreciation of it tbh. Plus I find attractive women with cigarette hanging out of their mouth incredibly sexy regardless of how little sense that may or may not make to some of you.

Why are drugs even legal for that matter is a better question.

I hate cigarettes with a passion and even I wouldn't support a law that prohibits people from smoking. I would, however, be in favour of a law forbidding people from smoking in public. I think everything should be legal; cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, prostitution, you name it. You are the only person responsible for not getting addicted to stuff, the government isn't your mommy. And if you choose to poison yourself that you should have the right to.

As for the "how did people do it before patches" I actually think cold turkey is the best way to do anything. In college, out of a class of 32 people I was the only non smoker. Halfway through the second year one of our classmates got diagnosed with a crap ton of smoke related problems to his lungs, stomach etc (I've known chimneys who smoked less than him...I think he smoked anywhere from 6 to 10 packs a day). The entire class got together, threw all their cigarettes in the trash and decided that they all would stop smoking, cold turkey. Out of those 31 people only 1 relapsed in the 5 years I kept in contact with them.

My asshole of a father tried everything; patches, gum, mints, whatever and he died of cancer without ever managing to quit.

Money. The Tobacco industry creates a lot of jobs, pays a lot of taxes, and spends a lot of money lobbying our elected officials. It's pretty simple, really.

Besides, do we really need more individual liberties stripped away?

Second hand smoking is ruining my health. :(

Should be legal in certain places. I love those packed smoke rooms airports. Provides good entertainment for me as I walk by.

Because what other way is there for stupid people to kill themselves slowly?

Because people are dumb that's why.

^This is the reason it remains legal.

Also good job for quitting TC. Keep hanging in there.

I've been smoke free my whole life! Beat that! :P

Seriously though, good job on kicking the habit, TC. I sometimes wonder why alcohol is legal. It causes more problems for society than smoking IMO. Not to mention smoking is on the decline in America given that public smoking has been cracked down and the price of cigarettes keeps going up. People will buy alcohol no matter how expensive it gets though.

Really? That's interesting, in a good way. :P

You'll never be able to stop people from doing stupid things if it gives them a little bit of a break from their otherwise miserable lives. That tiny little rush a lot of smokers get from smoking is the best they'll feel all day and I wouldn't take that from them.

Because if idiots want to put toxic crap in their body, that's their right.

Well TC, why should they be illegal?

Congratulations on quitting TC. I quit myself a few months ago but I only smoked for 3 years or so and was always a light smoker. I see you persisted with the habit for 20 years. Don't mean to discourage you or anything but that's quite the long time. Hopefully your body will start detoxing and recovering right away. You seem to be eating to compensate for the addiction. Don't do that when I quit I felt tempted to do so at first especially that I felt my appetite and sense of taste improving all of a sudden. But I abstained mainly because I didn't want to replace one addiction with another. In fact the main reason I quit smoking because of the addiction; I felt that it is demeaning and unbecoming. At any rate instead of gorging on food to compensate try snacking on stuff like dried fruits, nuts..etc and chewing gum they can be distracting and needless to say they're healthy. Also beverages like herbal tea can be quite relaxing and "ritualistic" so you'll be replacing the addiction with some wholesome and benign activities.

As for the legality of cigarettes, as many has said there is a powerful and super affluent tobacco industry so cigarettes are not going anywhere. Then there's the usual argument of personal liberty and whatnot although that one doesn't excuse the fact that tobacco companies get away with producing shit products in general. I have no idea how they're allowed to include all these toxins in their blends. Allowing tobacco production and consumption is one thing, but to allow toxins in these products is a totally different issue.