if smoking is dangerous to your health, why do they still allow it to be sold over the counter?
535709
cuz people are morons duh and of course they dont care about your health all they want is to make money
792865
If they are under the age limit of the movie, then yes the store is prohibited to sell to the said minor.  This rule isn't enforced as much compared with cigarettes.  It's just like going to the movie theater. If your not of age, you can't go in and watch the movie.  But if you do have an adult with you, you can buy the R-rated DVD.
295924
My motto tends to be "live and let live". In this case, I oppose public smoking. Second-hand smoke has been shown in numerous studies to be harmful, and quite frankly, I hate breathing the filth myself :(\n\nOn the other hand, I see no reason for a total ban on smoking. If you want to smoke in the privacy of your own home, or somewhere else where you're alone, well, it's your choice to harm yourself, but atleast you're not harming anyone else.
377822
i think so, at least in the US, where cigarette advertising is now illegal.  I know on TV there are so many anti-smoking ads and no smoking ads. Look at Phillip morris' website. It tells you more about how dangerous their product is than how good it is.  Of course they were forced to do this, and cigarettes are their own advertisement, they are very hard to quit. Funny, its not illegal to advertise nicotine gum, which costs $40 a box
1018584
Here is a quote from expert testimony regarding tobacco products:\n\n"Let me begin by emphasizing three fundamental facts: (1) all tobacco products are hazardous, (2) there is no safe level of tobacco use, and (3) the only proven way to reduce the enormous burden of disease and death due to tobacco use is to prevent its use and to help users quit."\n\nMy personal testimony as an ex-smoker is that although I am now obese (not from quitting smoking), I can breathe better, and have better endurance than 20 years ago, when I was not overweight and smoking.  The improvement in the way I feel was worth the agony of quitting, and I quit many times.  I am not even talking about health risks, but just the improvement in my day to day functioning.
431131
2 reasons:  1) History.  2) Momentum.\n\nIn regard to history, we already prohibited alcohol once in this country and it failed miserably.  For that reason, the prohibition was lifted.  Instead, we do have strict laws that greatly restrict when and how we can consume alcohol.  \nThose laws are designed to protect innocent people, even though people don't always follow the laws and people still get hurt.\n\n2)  The anti-tobacco campaign, however, is gaining huge political momentum.  The tobacco companies have lost big law suits because they lied about knowing of the harmful chemicals they were putting in cigarettes.  The tobacco industry had to shell out billions of dollars to states in a settlement and they have very little lobbying power right now to stop the local laws that are going into place.  The laws themselves don't prosecute a person for smoking per se, they only prosecute a person for smoking in a way that jeopardizes someone else's health.  So, if you are in public smoking a cigarette and someone else can breathe in your harmful smoke, you can be prosecuted... just like you can be prosecuted if you ram your car into someone when you are drunk.\n\nThe real question is... if we are holding people legally liable for polluting our air with cigarettes, why aren't we holding manufacturers strictly liable for dangerous smoke that they put into the air when there are things they can do, although more expensive, to lessen that degree of smoke?
539140
It is undoubtedly a political decision, not a medical one.  Shame on them!\n\nAlthough THC can be delivered a number of ways, smoking is the most immediate means to get it into the body.  Very few people smoke enough of it for the ill effects of smoking to be a significant issue.
904074
it isnt fair but mary jane is still considered a drug...it has over 400 chemicals & alc and ciggs well they have age groups to be allowed...drugs does not. i think mj isnt as bad as they say buttttt if ciggs cause cancer why would the government continue to allow that??? especially if 2nd hand smoke is worse...STUPID GOVERNMENTS
239825
Because it is so gross. Your breath and clothes stink all the time. Your teeth rot sooner and it deteriorates your health, smokers usually aren't health conscious so they probably don't care what they eat or even excercise. Women like healthy clean men. Also, women take into consideration about having children one day. It affects your sperm, it is cancerous and even if you do have children, no mother wants smoke near her baby. Smoking around infants can lead to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, allergies and asthma. Trust me, women think in the future. Just quit. It is sooo gross! I agree with livinghaunted. It is a symbol of trash.
368359
supply and demand.  Most people go to cheaper stores for nicorette gum.  Smokers go to the most convient place to get a pack.  If the store doesn't sell enough gum, they won't keep it around when they could be making money with something people will buy using that shelf space.
674062
Because it's a chemical dependant.  The chemicals in the cigarette are absorbed overtime and is eventually required by your brain in order to function properly.  So when your body is exhausted or stressed, your body creates a need for the pleasure inducing chemicals in cigarettes.  And yet at the same time, it's causing you harm and raising your risk for fatal infections or conditions, as well as just plain stinking up the place.  Cigarettes do not give you better concentration or raise your I.Q.  It only calms you down when you are stressed.  Good thing I've never smoked.  I wanna live as long as I can and breath easily while I'm doing it.
239388
good.  this way you won't smoke.  it's a very unhealthy and expensive habit.  you can get lung cancer and give it to others too from second-hand smoke.  there is nothing good about it so please, do yourself and others a favor by not smoking.  \nthank you.
161448
Good question...I think it's because the people who sell them have the most dangerous impact on people. I also think that most cops understand that most minors in the situation are doing it to be cool, just want to see what it's all about, or pushing the system. They don't want to arrest these "first offenders" because there would be so many they would overload the system fast and parents would complain. Most cops can just talk sternly to the minor to scare them off doing it again. On the other hand there are addicted kids out there (I was one of them) that will go to any length to get nicotine. Even if you arrest those kids they won't stop smoking. In fact in rebellion they may smoke more. \n\nOne kid buying cigarettes is one thing. One person selling to every kid who wants to see what all the fuss is about is another and can create several addicts in stupidity.
1074453
I'm Canadian and it's legal in my Province but it is NOT sold in any stores let alone in cigarette packs so pay no attention to the person above me. Also, when you try to take it back across the border to get back to the USA be prepared to be arrested.
942181
The government will always controll us-there's no getting away from that.  I have been living in scotland for 3 months now, and have been working in a pub for the duration, and i've yet to make up my mind whether its a good thing or not.  As a non smoker, i can see the benifits of not stinking of smoke or inhaling second hand smoke all night.  However on the flip side, if i really hated stinking of ciggeretts and inhaling second hand smoke, i wouldn't work in a smokey enviroment, and i would stay away from similar enviroments.  What i DON'T think is a good thing is crowds of 20 to 30 people gathering outside a pub/club for a smoke-in the pouring rain. I think proper ventilation and/or a beer garden.  They are fantastic. especially with BBQs.
222067
Real question is:  Why do tobbaco purchases pay high taxes for the benefit of everyone <building stadiums, and governement buildings> and then the government bans smokers from using the facilites they pay for?\n\nPS Diana Reeves dies from using the experimental stem cell research medicine that Christopher Reeves used ... she was the primary care giver and exposed herself to untested substances which gave her lung cancer.
969502
I do I smoke and have smoked since I was 18 years old. I don't intend to quit. I like it. I am a nurse and know first hand the dangers of smoking and the health risks. I may(probably will) have to suffer the consequences of my actions(health wise) but ain't it good to live in a country (at least for now anyway) where I have the right to wreck my health if I choose to do so???