[Vinny]

I quit 10 years ago but remember smoking in a crowded elevator and my doctor offering me a cigarette during each visit.

[Cantwaittoarrive]

Originally Posted by capecodbob

Been off the "butts" for almost 20 years now. Most difficult for me to quit. I was an addict. Mentally and physically addicted to those dam thing. Finally beat it after years of trying. But that was a decision I made, not the government.
On the obesity story, that is a personal decision too. If we can't stop eating the wrong foods, we own what happens as a result. And I surely don't want the government telling me what I should and shouldn't eat. Tell me what's good and bad for me, otherwise "butt out". (pun intended)
But then I watch the news and some states are legalizing recreational pot smoking. This seems nuts.
Not only are you modifying your thinking, but we've got people smoking too. Not just puffing but DEEP inhaliation of the smoke. Should we non-participants have to pay for the poor health decisions of others?
Should those making poor health decisions pay higher health insurance premiums?
If you have a bad driving record you automobile insurance goes up!
Hmmmm.... just wonder'in!!
Bob

Unfortunately this is life, we have always paid for bad decisions made by others no way totally around it. For example our taxes are higher because some people can't obey the law and we have to support a prision system. Who is to say? Recreational pot smoking in a few states (2) is now legal at the state level. If you do something that is legal should you have to pay a higher health insurance premium? In your statement about car insurance a bad record implies either you have been breaking the law (speeding, running stop signs and e.t.c.) or reckless (causing accidents). At this point it's not illegal to over eat or to make some other poor health decisions (might be reckless). Now that the government is even more involved in health insurance do we really want a government monitor in our home regulating how much we eat or drink or exercise or even sleep?

[Cantwaittoarrive]

Originally Posted by Vinny

I quit 10 years ago but remember smoking in a crowded elevator and my doctor offering me a cigarette during each visit.

I guess that was a good way for the doctor to keep business steady, make sure your clients are doing an activity that hurts their health and keeps them coming back

[2BNTV]

Not to highjack this thread but diabetes is an epidemic in this country. Everyone must take reponsibility for their own health.

I am amazed how much a pack of cigarettes cost these days. One could go on a great vacation with the money saved from buying cigarettes. I know it is addictive but one owes it to themselves and love ones to stop this habit.

Just sayin.... because I fully expect that smokers will continue to smoke if that is what they want.

[Ecuadog]

In general, I don't like the government trying to run my life. They should be protecting us from each other, not from ourselves.

[jblum315]

Originally Posted by Ecuadog

In general, I don't like the government trying to run my life. They should be protecting us from each other, not from ourselves.

I think that's what the no-smoking thing is about. Protecting non smokers from smoke fumes.

[ijusluvit]

Originally Posted by buggyone

When I first began working at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Gainesville (1973), the patients were allowed to smoke in their beds on the wards. In fact, volunteers from the Canteen (gift store) wheeled carts to the wards so patients could buy cigarettes for $2.50 a carton (totally tax free). The VA employees could not buy cigarettes from the Canteen - just the patients. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

That was then, and we've sure come a long way.

But one thing I can't understand, or accept, is the VA at their recently opened clinic in Mulberry spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on that lovely gazebo out in the parking lot. Apparently it for the sole purpose of providing a comfy place for clients and visitors to smoke.

[ijusluvit]

Originally Posted by capecodbob

Been off the "butts" for almost 20 years now. Most difficult for me to quit. I was an addict. Mentally and physically addicted to those dam thing. Finally beat it after years of trying. But that was a decision I made, not the government.
On the obesity story, that is a personal decision too. If we can't stop eating the wrong foods, we own what happens as a result. And I surely don't want the government telling me what I should and shouldn't eat. Tell me what's good and bad for me, otherwise "butt out". (pun intended)
But then I watch the news and some states are legalizing recreational pot smoking. This seems nuts.
Not only are you modifying your thinking, but we've got people smoking too. Not just puffing but DEEP inhaliation of the smoke. Should we non-participants have to pay for the poor health decisions of others?
Should those making poor health decisions pay higher health insurance premiums?
If you have a bad driving record you automobile insurance goes up!
Hmmmm.... just wonder'in!!
Bob

You raise a couple of good points here. First, might you have been assisted in your efforts to quit smoking because government taxes caused cigarette prices to skyrocket; because government supported studies and media advertising portrayed the addiction as so dangerous; because local, state and federal laws have made it increasingly inconvenient, unconventional and finally almost socially unacceptable to smoke; and because government subsidies of quit smoking programs have made them available and affordable to millions? I know a number of people who point to one or more of these things which provided the motivation to beat their addiction.

I think it's fair that there are extra costs levied on those who consciously are risk takers. Try getting a life insurance or long term health care insurance policy if you are a smoker. And you can't lie about it because a blood test is now a standard part of the application process. Risk takers have paid higher automobile insurance premiums for decades. Now there is pending legislation that all cars sold in the US must have a 'black box' which records speed, braking, turning, etc. in the moment before an auto accident. Most cars have these devices now, and law enforcement officers can access the information in them. This is how it was discovered that NJ Gov. Corzine's driver was going 91 mph at the time of his accident last year. I see nothing wrong with having access to the real truth about tragic events, so that responsibility can be properly assigned.

This, my friends, is government in action. I have a hard time opposing it.

The "don't meddle", and "leave me alone" objections surrounding the obesity and diabetes debates sound the same but are nowhere as vehement as the public outcry attacking the Surgeon General's 1964 report about smoking. So, it seems to me there is hope for a cultural shift toward healthy eating habits. But it will not come without government influence gradually moving the mountain of ignorance, force of habit, and just plain stubbornness. There are many "sensible" actions already taken in school cafeterias, with general education about and media attention to nutrition. And there is the governmental arm-twisting of the fast food giants, which has already had some positive results.

And I don't think Mayor Bloomberg is nuts - at least with respect to his position about huge soft drinks.

[Cantwaittoarrive]

Originally Posted by Ecuadog

In general, I don't like the government trying to run my life. They should be protecting us from each other, not from ourselves.

[Ecuadog]

Originally Posted by Ecuadog

In general, I don't like the government trying to run my life. They should be protecting us from each other, not from ourselves.

Originally Posted by jblum315

I think that's what the no-smoking thing is about. Protecting non smokers from smoke fumes.

You have it half right. They can stop the smoker from blowing smoke in my face, but they shouldn't try to tell him that he can't go off and fill his own face with smoke.