DGS49
Diamond Member
The practice of smoking is gradually dying out as it becomes socially unacceptable in more and more circles. Right now the vast majority of smokers are poor and uneducated, and yet they pay the exorbitant prices of cigarettes.
The argument in favor of raising the legal age is that kids between 16-18 are not mature enough to make the decision to smoke, and are likely to be induced to try it by peer pressure. Yet once they start smoking and become addicted, getting off The Weed is difficult.
And yet perversely, we have a lot of Americans who depend on cigarette smoking. Tobacco farmers and people working in the industry, as well as the beneficiaries of smoking tax revenues.
I personally think that doing stupid, self-destructive stuff is one of the "unalienable rights" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence and referenced in the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution. And this is why I ride a motorcycle, which makes me 27 times more likely to get killed in a traffic accident than my car-driving alter ego.
There are some "sins" that provide their own punishment. If you drive a Ford F-250, you have to pay a shitload more in gas taxes than everyone else. If you smoke, you are likely to die a horrible early death. Call it justice, and leave it alone. Let the little fukkers smoke themselves blind. They'll wise up eventually. Or not.
The argument in favor of raising the legal age is that kids between 16-18 are not mature enough to make the decision to smoke, and are likely to be induced to try it by peer pressure. Yet once they start smoking and become addicted, getting off The Weed is difficult.
And yet perversely, we have a lot of Americans who depend on cigarette smoking. Tobacco farmers and people working in the industry, as well as the beneficiaries of smoking tax revenues.
I personally think that doing stupid, self-destructive stuff is one of the "unalienable rights" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence and referenced in the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution. And this is why I ride a motorcycle, which makes me 27 times more likely to get killed in a traffic accident than my car-driving alter ego.
There are some "sins" that provide their own punishment. If you drive a Ford F-250, you have to pay a shitload more in gas taxes than everyone else. If you smoke, you are likely to die a horrible early death. Call it justice, and leave it alone. Let the little fukkers smoke themselves blind. They'll wise up eventually. Or not.