I'll agree with that.   Lots of people here are convinced that they can drive drunk, and it's a bit scary sometimes.

over here people do not drive drunk

because they know they'll go broke from the heavy fines

it happens yes, but not as much as one thinks

always target the money

They're starting to do that here more,  though America's fanatical love of freedom has made a lot of us feel that freedom means doing whatever we want when we want.     It's getting a little better, though.
A bit like smoking.   It's less acceptable here, so it's dropping off.

It's illegal to smoke while at work, no smoke-breaks, there is no restaurants that allow smoking... basically it's harder and harder to smoke anywhere

So people are dropping it, to just make sure they're allowed inside

There are still many smokers here, especially where I work, who complain about it.  I understand that they feel persecuted and perhaps even discriminated against, but since I hate smoking, it's hard to really sympathize.

they aren't discriminated against, we are just trying to keep them, and their colleagues away from cancer during working-hours...

I say it's saving them, or well, trying to save them

We're trying to do that, too, but too many of us feel it's our "God Given Right" to do unhealthy things.

Given my poor diet, I can't really complain too much about other people's bad habits, or course.   :)

There's even a new add for electronic cigarettes where you're encouraged to "take back your freedom" to smoke.

ah yes, the electrical cigarette that smells like vanilla or so

nasty

very few of unhealthy diets intervene with people around you thought, I have never heard of "my husband ate a hamburger and now I have cancer and is dying!!!!"

so I think you are not in the wrong to have comments

and why would the smoking people get more breaks that others? They make less stuff with more breaks, and they still think they're discriminated against? Haven't they figured out it is all about the money and amount of objects produced

I thought those electronic cigarettes were supposed to be to help people give up smoking? I have a fried who was using one for that purpose. He still smokes so that worked REALLY well. Not!

I think the chewing-gum and the band-aid is for giving up smoking

the electrical one is to allow you to smoke inside, except not in vehicles as people thought it was okay to use them in public-transport, and the compartments started smelling rally bad and causing people to have allergic reactions

and well, public is where people with asthma can move too, so no strong smells. No one ever remembers that

The one my friend was using was marketed as a giving up smoking tool. It would blow out harmless water vapour that looked like smoke so that the smoker still got the psychological idea that they were smoking when they weren't

My aunt gave up using chewing gum. Took her three attempts. I've never smoked myself.

I've never gotten smoking

I tried it, once, it tastes like ashes, and it hurts...

so why even start? it is dangerous and it's expensive and it hurts

People do it because they think it makes them look cool, and nicotine gives them a buzz, essentially.

it does?

Isn't it cheaper to just not breath to get the same buzz...?

Yes, but it's more work.  And nicotine is more powerful.

holding your breath is more work?

interesting...

*smiles*   weel, sure.    After the initial gagging and coughing, smoking is as easy as breathing.

And they don't show any cool in the movies holding their breath.    ;)

well, maybe the smart people need to look more cool then

as in all the smokers will have cancer and no hair, and the non-smoking population will have energy and hair

*bounces around*

see, it's cooler to stay alive than not

Sadly, there's fake hair for them, and cancer is too slow for most people to take it too seriously.

We have lots of people who are addicted to smoking, who shrug and dismiss the threat of cancer, saying: "Well, you have to die of something, right?"

cancer is too slow?

I've watched my grandma wither from healthy to scarecrow from lung-cancer, it took months, and she couldn't beat it. She was not a smoker, but her friends were...

Second-hand smoking is the worst, as innocent suffer more

I really dislike smokers, sorry

*chuckles*   I hate smoking, so you're not going to offend me by insulting smokers, even know I know several and consider them friends.
(I think they're stupid to smoke, and they know that).

By "too slow" I mean that while cancer or emphysema can kill someone in months, it takes many years, even decades, for someone to show the signs of it.
So too many people seem perfectly healthy for most of their lives before their bodies succumb to the ravages caused by smoking.
And by then it's too late for them to realize their mistake.

Yes, I know many people who love to smoke, to enjoy the high that nicotine gives them. And when people say that they should quit before it's too late, they rationalize that since they don't feel bad right then, that it must be okay, for now.

As you can imagine, denial is a strong trait in smokers, as it is with all drug addicts.

yeah, all the smokers live in denial

I hope they brought a boat

*grins*  Yes, a boat is a good place for them, down wind of the rest of us.

and I'm sure that river has plenty of room.  :)

I am starting to suspect it will be rather full soon

there are plenty of people living there

I thought people would have stopped smoking by now

all the marlboro-men has died of cancer, and they still start smoking

As long as there is money to be made, effort will be made to get people to smoke.

People will always love drugs, and the high they can get from nicotine.
And since it doesn't kill people instantly, people who want the high can rationalize that it's "not too bad" and convince themselves that it's not a big deal.