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Originally Posted by noodle
Before I say anything, I just want to let you know that I don't smoke or drink. I've never drank in my life and I have maybe 2 or 3 cigarettes a year when I'm very stressed. It has a kind of placebo effect on me.
This statement doesn't really make much sense, unless I've misunderstood it... I'm not talking about an individual basis, because everyone is different; You always hear the remarkable stories of a man smoking his whole life and not getting lung cancer whilst his room mate or partner or whatever that has never smoked a cigarette in their life gets lung cancer from second hand smoke!
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I clarified it. My point was it is much easier to find case studies on the benefits of alcohol over the benefits of tobacco.
Even if someone smokes 100 years and never gets lung cancer, that still doesn't prove a benefit to smoking, or account for the dangers of the second hand smoke from those around him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by noodle
That's just out of the blue for me. I don't think I've seen the word schizophrenia before today, so I definitely wasn't talking about this when I was talking about "benefits of tobacco".
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That was what the link above it talked about. Reading it, it seemed pretty dubious, but if you want to post more reliable links about the health benefits of smoking, please do...though we are both a little off topic here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by noodle
I agree with that... I'm not saying that reversal=benefit. I mentioned that to illustrate my point of the severity of tobacco being exaggerated! Nothing else!
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Which goes back to my original point. Of all the vices we listed earlier, smoking cigarettes has no health benefits. No doctor is going to tell you there is a safe level of smoking you can do.
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Originally Posted by noodle
I'm not against the lawmakers. The only reason I debate FOR smokers is because I see them as being mistreated! I don't have to be a smoker to debate on their side!
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How are smokers being mistreated?
Cultures change, and the first world is slowly but surely moving away from smoking as an acceptable social practice. This is social evolution in effect, and as a result what was a normal activity becomes a progressively unaccepted activity. Smokers are not the the first nor the last social group that will find their numbers dwindling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by noodle
For me, the dangers of alcohol are more than it causing liver disease etc. I also take into consideration the effects it has on people's behaviours, morals and self control. Even if having a glass or two of wine doesn't make someone drunk, it makes a lot of people addicted (I don't know if that's the right word here). And for me, any kind of addiction is negative!
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Certainly people can become addicted to alcohol (as they can to cigarettes) but it doesn't mean that everyone, or even a mojoritiy, who drinks alcohol is addicted or has their morals or behavior threatened when they drink.