Federal Tobacco Tax.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

Smokers, generally, only harm themselves.

Really? Ever heard of 2nd hand smoke? It's just as, if not more dangerous than smoking the cigarette yourself. And, what's worse, normally the "victims" are the person's children that cannot speak for themselves... And while we're on that topic, let's discuss smoking while pregnant. I suppose that's only harming themselves as well? Cigarettes are just as bad as alcohol as far as harming others.

[Soliloquy]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Really? Ever heard of 2nd hand smoke? It's just as, if not more dangerous than smoking the cigarette yourself. And, what's worse, normally the "victims" are the person's children that cannot speak for themselves... And while we're on that topic, let's discuss smoking while pregnant. I suppose that's only harming themselves as well? Cigarettes are just as bad as alcohol as far as harming others.

Hence the word choice "generally" in my statement. So there is no need for internet snarkiness...

Second hand smoking cannot be compared to the devestation created by drunk drivers.

I would rather see more rules in place to prevent drunks from behaving violently or possibly murdering someone by getting behind the wheel, then extreme taxes on smokers. Obviously hard time isn't effectively controlling people's will to drink and drive.

Anyway, second hand smoking has been controlled a great deal by states banning it in public places. We have no right to say what people do inside their homes, so we have to rely on education and proper resources to take care of young children exposed to it. I know plenty of smokers with children and they smoke outside to prevent just that. My mom smoked, but quit when she was pregnant with me. Lots of women do just that, the women that don't... well that's their idiotic choice. Hopefully their growing child won't be punished for the mother's poor judgement.

ETA: I looked up a few state laws and apparently Louisiana has a state law that bans smoking in vehicles when anyone under 12 is present. I couldn't really find any concrete information on any other state laws that are similar to this.

[AKA_Monet]

The ole "sin taxes"...

Well, I don't like smoking although I myself have tried it... I drink alcohol, but drunk drivers suck. And well, abusing drugs--I have "scripts" for them!

And what your med insurance pays for vs. Medi-who-cares pays? If you get hospitalized you will be paying for the 2X2 gauze...

What to do? I dunno. I guess they are legislating more ways to get money from the taxpayer. Make folks pay for their sinful delights? Is it right? Probably, because we all are adults that know these things are harmful for us. To think it is not, is to live in denial.

But, like I said, we are ADULTS... We make decisions all the time. The difference is, the kids. Especially for fattening food, like french fries and sodas everyday. Kids' brains are still developing, you get your knowledge of satiety from what you are eating and the timing you fed. Who knows?

On another note: Hypertension have several affected genes that are environmentally responsive. Increased blood pressure may precede organ failures: namely kidney, brain, and heart. There are others. Diabetes is dysregulation of blood sugar and may be due to loss of pancreatic function and/or insulin resistance. Heart Attack, the genes are numerous. And we have not started the discussion about cancers...

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

Hence the word choice "generally" in my statement. So there is no need for internet snarkiness...

Second hand smoking cannot be compared to the devestation created by drunk drivers.

I would rather see more rules in place to prevent drunks from behaving violently or possibly murdering someone by getting behind the wheel, then extreme taxes on smokers. Obviously hard time isn't effectively controlling people's will to drink and drive.

Unless a smoker is alone 100% of the time when they smoke, I don't think that "generally" works either.

My mother owned a DUI counseling center, where I worked for MANY years. I've seen all the videos, training materials, etc, etc. and I've met the clients...hundreds of them, and out of all of them, more rules might have stopped 10 of them from drinking & driving. You can make all the rules you want, but until car companies start putting foolproof BAC meters on ALL cars, there will always be drinking and driving. I wish rules and stipulations and fines and etc would stop people, but it doesn't.

Oh, and about "hard time" controlling people's will to drink and drive...you must be talking about the 5 hours before their buddy comes and bails them out of the city jail, DUI offenders don't do "hard time" unless they kill someone. At least not in most states.