W. Nicholas : Smokers pay plenty in taxes on them too, not just the companies. That’s another reason a ban will never happen. Increased taxes don’t stop people smoking. They just look for where they can buy them cheaper. Where I live I’m only 20 minutes from a state border where the taxes are a fraction of the price of my home state. As soon as they were hiked up, the smokers headed across state lines to buy them. I don’t smoke but can sympathize with them.

The average state cigarette tax rate in a non-tobacco state on Oct 12 2009 was 146.9 cents a pack. In a tobacco state where tobacco growing is a major industry (KY,VA,NC,SC, GA and TN), it’s 40.2 cents a pack. Compare that to 2001 when it was 48.3 cents and 7.1 cents respectively. More here on that. No way is any state going to give up a cash cow like that.

If you want to ban smoking, you’ll need to ban drinking and exceeding the normal weight range for your height. Those are bad for you too.

Neither smokers nor overeaters have to do what they do. Both are lifestyle choices and in my case it was a crutch. We all have our own ways of finding comfort. This is the first time I’ve went through a serious bout again since then and I admit, I’ve felt like a cigarette more than once but refrained from lighting up.

If you ask me, smoking should be banned…just like drugs are. There is nothing good about it and the only effects it has are negative ones.

Maybe the huge amount of taxes that governments throughout the world get from tobacco companies is what is preventing from such a ban coming in.

But with the right amount of protests and awareness, even this is not too big a dream to realize. Millions of people die due to smoking every year and saving lives of such a large number of people should be the number one priority.

It isn’t just the nicotine. The tobacco leave is porous and soaks in the fertilizer, the pesticides and the chemicals used in the process between harvesting the leaves and the store shelf.

Thusly, people are inhaling DDT, carbon monoxide, benzate and other toxic chemicals. Other contries actually put on the cig label “Smoking Kills”. My Dad used to call them coffin nails which is very appropriate.

Nicotine is actually a stimulant and the downside of the stimulant is a false sense of relaxation. Hypnosis provides a person the ability to change the channel in their head to both distract them from the urge to smoke, and to teach them how to use thier brain to natually relax the urge response. The more a person practices breathing exercises, self hypnosis and a regular exercise program to more the urge and need to smoke will dissapear. I quit smoking in 1986. It was very difficult but I was almost to emphasema. The question is if I would have kept smoking all these years would I be typing on this blog