I started smoking at 16 culminating in a 2-and-a-half pack a day habit at age 38. I got off of cigarettes by using the Skoal bandits, then I got hooked on the long cut. I got off of that by chewing Red Man Gold then a year ago I got off of that using the gum. Now I'm hooked on the gum. Nicotine is a real bitch.
That's why I said "I grew up asthmatic with a 2 pack-a-day dad." I know from first hand experience that smoking hurts the people around the smoker.
im a smoker and i never smoke around my child. even when she comes outside i put my cig out. but i would imagine that (depending on how old you are) the 411 was not out on how bad second hand smoke was. my grandmother and aunts used to smoke inside all the time, and i agree with you that people should respect others and not smoke around them, but there should be coffee and cigarette shops where one can smoke, like in amsterdam. Hard drugs in amsterdam have not seen any increase in use in 20 years in amsterdam, and a major reason this is the case is because they are so tolerant when it comes to pot.
Nicotine may be more addictive but alcohol is worse imo. Driving drunk, liver damage, etc. Having said that, I would never pick up a cigarette but there's beer in my fridge right now. Point is, alcohol should be banned before cigarettes if it's public safety we're after. How about we leave both of them alone. I like the smoking ban in public buildings, but not private institutions.
It's nowhere near that simple. Back in the 70's when the West German heroin trade was nearly destroying Holland, the Dutch government was really forced to come up with a formal policy. The Opium Act was part of that but they just have a different approach to dealing with drug use. The Dutch are more pragmatic as opposed to moralistic. They would rather treat the user than to shame people into non use to start with. They legalized the sale of pot in coffee shops, etc with the specific intent of keeping it separate from harder drugs like heroin and coke. The hope was to keep younger people from even taking the step to harder drugs but if they did, to make government provided treatment alternatives easy to use. The point is, there is a specific and targeted approach. And frankly over the last several years there has been some backlash to this policy. While they have done a yeoman's job of reducing the spread of HIV, the public "eyesore" associated with hardcore users is a problem. Some coffee shops have stopped selling pot. They actually have a junkies union that sued for their right to party and won based on human right's violations. Can you see that flying here in the US? They aren't the US. Their country is smaller than the state of New York albeit more population dense than many areas. We already have severe poverty. Adding to that via a similar policy doesn't seem to be prudent.
good stuff. i think it would work here though. 60 billion a year spent on criminalization of marijuana is a joke. maybe not have a coffee shop on every corner.
