In the past few years, at least four acquaintances of mine have died in their late 50s or early 60s. All of them were smokers at some point in their lives; a couple had quit, the others still smoking till the end.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that cigarette smoking contributed to their premature deaths and, yes, they knew the risks and chose to smoke anyway.
What troubles me today is that tobacco companies are still producing cigarettes, poisoning people and, ultimately, killing them. It seems to me to be one of the worst criminal acts of our time, with governments in collusion as they skim off “tax” money. It is murder on a grand scale.
And it seems to me that too many conservative “family” organizations are turning a blind eye to it, and instead spending their time trying to set limits on the parameters of other people’s love lives by denying same-sex marriage and the like.
Why aren’t the Christians and the Catholics et al lobbying against the tobacco industry? Why aren’t they trying to keep tobacco out of the hands of their children by having the weed banned?
Why aren’t they, in the name of God, trying to save the lives of tobacco industry victims?
Comments?
— Jillian
Jillian Page 
Because you can bet your sweet derriere my dear, $$$ is involved. We’re talking about human ‘vice’ aren’t we? LGBT is blasphemy not vice. Aren’t we such a ‘rational’ species %P
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Please do not advocate limiting freedom of choice. Every law that restricts my freedom has always been supported by advocates who are are purporting to protect me.
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My other died from smoking-related disease. The last time I saw her alive she was alternating between her oxygen mask and a cigarette. She wouldn’t even stop smoking for a few minutes to meet her new granddaughter.
My father died from the damage of second hand smoke.
My aunt (mom’s sister) died from smoking. Actually, there was a gas leak in her trailer and she blew herself up lighting a cigarette.
“Christian” and “Family” organizations are anything but christian and family. They are more loathsome than the tobacco industry because the tobacco industry will tell you that they profit from death. The family organizations has no idea of what a family value is unless it looks like their family.
So, what is in it for them to oppose the tobacco industry? That would be accepting science, and the religious right would never tolerate that.
Morons. Every last one of them. By design.
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“In America people kill each other for no reason. Here in Mexico it’s business(drugs)” – Mexican journalist. Hypocrisy indeed. Morons? Yes. Designer? That takes being rational
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Indeed, the tobacco lobby is very strong. Strong enough to keep the war on drugs going and going. Yet, one of the largest landowners in Humboldt county, California (The Green Triangle) is Philip Morris… the tobacco giant.
Good Christians are being spoon fed a diet of Corporate agenda: Tobacco, Sugar, Alcohol & Salt. It’s job one to keep everyone from looking at the man behind the curtain pulling the levers.
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Probably because many of them smoke… PLUS they don’t like being told what to do… hmmmm….strange, huh?
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Have a look at this John Oliver piece on Tobacco
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Good piece. Funny and sad … but true
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I’ve lost significant members of my family in part due to smoking, people–men–I wish that I had the opportunity to know. I grew up in the tobacco-rich southeast United States. I do not smoke nor do any of my friends or immediate family. I do not condone smoking or any other form of tobacco use at all by anyone for any reason.
However, on a very basic level, we must take into account a person’s FREEDOM OF CHOICE. While I myself may not engage in whatever activity another may find useful, not for one nanosecond would I ever tell someone else what they should or should not be doing. I certainly do not condone any law that seeks to prevent said activity.
Two statements come to mind here: 1) If it does not break my leg nor pick my pocket, then what difference does it make to me?-attributed to Thomas Jefferson 2) “I do not agree with what you say but will fight to the death your right to say it.”-Voltaire
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Well said, Dave. Thank you.
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I tell the remaining smokers in my family that your right to smoke ends when I can smell it.
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And smell it does — long afterward.
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