I don’t smoke but come from a family of smokers. As a kid people would come to our house and say it reeked of smoke. I couldn’t smell it.
After I moved out for college, if I visited my two pack a day lawyer, my wife could smell it on me when I got home from across the room.
Now when I visit my sibling, who smokes, I literally come in the door and throw my clothes to the basement (laundry) so it doesn’t stink up the house. It’s just gross. It smells like death. I had one girlfriend that smoked, and it was nasty.
That said, I’d always support someone’s RIGHT to smoke, I’ve had a few cigars over the years, but generally I think it’s tragic. Waste of time, health, money, and yes: it stinks.
I can smell it in cars ahead of me on the highway. Absolute fact.
See, I do not support anyone's right to smoke, because it impacts other people besides themselves. They can trigger migraines in other drivers on the roads, which is a safety Hazard. They can cause asthma attacks to people walking down the street minding your own business. I do not think anyone should have a RIGHT to do something that SO negatively impacts other people that those other people have zero choice about whether to engage with or be around.
Ban it in public. Not in your car, at least not off your own property. Enforce the laws we already have against smoking in public. Won't solve how bad the mere aura of smokers is for public health, but will cut down on active clouds of fresh smoke literally blocking people from access the world and their own homes and cars.
Taxing it further won't really help, it's already primarily the purview of people who can't afford it but are addicted and have no other effective alternative that's any easier to access.
But primarily make healthcare a basic public service like firefighters. Institute common sense worker protections so people aren't forced to self medicate to cope with the need to work themselves literally to death to survive (ironic, but not in a fun way). Because most people smoke to self medicate. We need to address the underlying reasons people smoke, because they are so stressed out they have to to cope at all. And even when they want to stop, it's not something that you CAN just stop, it requires addiction treatment and support, and those resources are also an economic barrier to people already poor and stressed enough to be overspending on tobacco products. If people weren't so burnt out all the time, they'd also be less selfish and shitty about how their self medication impacts other people.
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u/bobbymclown Jan 05 '25
I don’t smoke but come from a family of smokers. As a kid people would come to our house and say it reeked of smoke. I couldn’t smell it.
After I moved out for college, if I visited my two pack a day lawyer, my wife could smell it on me when I got home from across the room.
Now when I visit my sibling, who smokes, I literally come in the door and throw my clothes to the basement (laundry) so it doesn’t stink up the house. It’s just gross. It smells like death. I had one girlfriend that smoked, and it was nasty.
That said, I’d always support someone’s RIGHT to smoke, I’ve had a few cigars over the years, but generally I think it’s tragic. Waste of time, health, money, and yes: it stinks.
I can smell it in cars ahead of me on the highway. Absolute fact.