Smoking Rate lowest its ever been

[Cheese]

A new study reports a smaller percentage of Canadians than ever is smoking tobacco. Statistics Canada says the smoking rate dropped to 17 per cent in 2010, down from 25 per cent when the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey was first conducted in 1999.


http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local.../?hub=CP24Home

Fantastic news...and great to see that young people are finally getting the message.

[OilKiller]

Yup...smoked for 25 years...what a waste of money and health...so glad to be free. Hopefully smoking gets snubbed out once and for all down the road.

[peter12]

I still enjoy the odd cigarette now, and again. What I resent the most is the pretentious stigmatizing of something as harmless (to others) as smoking in open air environments.

[Table 5]

thats what I like about you peter12...you're always fighting the good fight against pretentiousness.

[Huntingwhale]

I was in grade 12 I think when the prices for cigarettes shot up and what used to be $5/pack was now closer to $10. I still smoked for a couple years after, but I can honestly say that I noticed a lot of my friends trying to quit once the prices went up. I used to see people smoking EVERYWHERE. At the LRT platform, bus stops, clubs, bars, sidewalks, you name it someone was smoking there. These days, I really notice how much fewer smokers there are now. It seems like a lot more people have decided to butt out, especially with the no smoking in public area bylaws.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Table 5

thats what I like about you peter12...you're always fighting the good fight against pretentiousness.

I prefer pretension to be from the individual, not the social. That is, I prefer someone to be unafraid of being himself, instead of succumbing to social definitions of what should-be.

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by peter12

I prefer pretension to be from the individual, not the social. That is, I prefer someone to be unafraid of being himself, instead of succumbing to social definitions of what should-be.

What you call 'social pretension' (which isn't a thing) is actually a well-known concept called "natural selection". If you can't do what society says you need to in order to be esuccesful, you fail, don't get to breed, etc.

Natural Selection

Peter12 = single, amirite

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by peter12

I prefer pretension to be from the individual, not the social. That is, I prefer someone to be unafraid of being himself, instead of succumbing to social definitions of what should-be.

Isn't smoking the ultimate example of succumbing to what others think? Who out there didn't start smoking because of social pressures from friends, or because it had a certain coolness about it? Being labelled a vice by authority probably draws a lot of kids in more than anything.

I doubt a 12 year old wakes up one day and says to himself, you know what would really help the inner me shine through? Sticking some burnt leaves that tastes like ass into my mouth and sucking on it for a while. Yeah!

[pylon]

Quit 7 months ago myself, and have never felt better.

I look back at all the money I blew on it for 16 or so years, and really want to kick myself in the junk for it.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by peter12

I prefer pretension to be from the individual, not the social. That is, I prefer someone to be unafraid of being himself, instead of succumbing to social definitions of what should-be.

I prefer to walk down the sidewalk without having to breathe in your digusting cigarette smell or step on your cigarette butts which are littered multiple places on the ground. I also prefer not to have to smell the aroma from you when you get in an elevator with me right after having a cigarette.

If that's being pretentious, well I'm pretentious.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Isn't smoking the ultimate example of succumbing to what others think? Who out there didn't start smoking because of social pressures from friends, or because it had a certain coolness about it? Being labelled a vice by authority probably draws a lot of kids in more than anything.

I doubt a 12 year old wakes up one day and says to himself, you know what would really help the inner me shine through? Sticking some burnt leaves that tastes like ass into my mouth and sucking on it for a while. Yeah!

No, I know what you mean, in a sense. Obviously, people start smoking because they are around people who smoke. That's how I started. When I say I smoke the odd cigarette, I mean probably 1-2 times a week. A pack can sometimes last me up to 6 months. That's just my business, and I can't count the times someone has made some derisive comment about me smoking, like how I will get cancer etc... Screw off, you wouldn't say that to people who drink socially etc... even though that is by far the greater social ill.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by peter12

I still enjoy the odd cigarette now, and again. What I resent the most is the pretentious stigmatizing of something as harmless (to others) as smoking in open air environments.

debate the health effects all you want, but it's still air pollution. i see it the same as the cops pulling over a car that needs a tune up and is blowing noxious blue smoke into the air. i know breathing in a bit of second hand smoke won't kill me, but i don't want to smell that garbage anytime i enter or exit a building

[peter12]

Originally Posted by THE SCUD

What you call 'social pretension' (which isn't a thing) is actually a well-known concept called "natural selection". If you can't do what society says you need to in order to be esuccesful, you fail, don't get to breed, etc.

Natural Selection

Peter12 = single, amirite

I don't really know what you mean. The ability to be an individual in a society actually seems to work in favour of natural selection, at least that's sort of my experience. I just don't like blending in, what's wrong with that?

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

debate the health effects all you want, but it's still air pollution. i see it the same as the cops pulling over a car that needs a tune up and is blowing noxious blue smoke into the air. i know breathing in a bit of second hand smoke won't kill me, but i don't want to smell that garbage anytime i enter or exit a building

That's BS. The amount of cars on the road emit magnitudes more pollution than all the smokers in the world. What you want to do is ban cars, not smoking. Or what you really want to do is tell other people what to do.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

debate the health effects all you want, but it's still air pollution. i see it the same as the cops pulling over a car that needs a tune up and is blowing noxious blue smoke into the air. i know breathing in a bit of second hand smoke won't kill me, but i don't want to smell that garbage anytime i enter or exit a building

In the early 1990's, I was watching a tv program and journalist Sam Donaldson made this observation, which I never forgot . . .

"Smoke all you want, its none of my business, that's your right . . . . . until the smoke gets to my nostrils, then you're making your smoking my business and interfering with my rights."

Succinctly put.

At one time, 70% of Canadian males smoked.

Nowadays, 70% of Chinese males smoke.

Cowperson

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by peter12

That's BS. The amount of cars on the road emit magnitudes more pollution than all the smokers in the world. What you want to do is ban cars, not smoking. Or what you really want to do is tell other people what to do.

i'm not talking about carbon level pollution, i'm talking about air quality pollution. when i'm stuck behind some POS car puking out blue smoke, it's the same as walking behind someone smoking on the sidewalk. it's just about common courtesy. i don't wind up with a huge fart as you're entering or exiting a building, so why should you get to blow smoke in my face

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i'm not talking about carbon level pollution, i'm talking about air quality pollution. when i'm stuck behind some POS car puking out blue smoke, it's the same as walking behind someone smoking on the sidewalk. it's just about common courtesy. i don't wind up with a huge fart as you're entering or exiting a building, so why should you get to blow smoke in my face

Regardless, automobiles are contributing more to air pollution than smoking. Far, far more.

I think, like lots of militant non-smokers, you are struggling to understand the difference between the common courtesy exhibited by normal people, and extending yourself to moralising other people's behaviour. I don't smoke before going into elevators, I smoke around groups of non-smokers to the minimal extent, and I don't smoke around kids. The law, or people like you, don't force me to do any of these things.

[OilKiller]

If smokers have courtesy and try to avoid areas where it effects people who don't smoke, great, but what I loathe is having to walk through a fricken' cloud of smoke and being surrounded by smokers going into a pub. Smoking outside doesn't mean stand in the doorway and effect everyone coming in or going out of an establishment.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by OilKiller

If smokers have courtesy and try to avoid areas where it effects people who don't smoke, great, but what I loathe is having to walk through a fricken' cloud of smoke and being surrounded by smokers going into a pub. Smoking outside doesn't mean stand in the doorway and effect everyone coming in or going out of an establishment.

Yeah, that's just rude. Just like harassing a smoker minding his own business is rude.

[OilKiller]

Originally Posted by peter12

Yeah, that's just rude. Just like harassing a smoker minding his own business is rude.

Yup, sure is. If the smoker is minding his own business and not effecting anyone else, then it's all good.