Sadly, studies have already shown that putting pictures like these on cigarette packs don't deter people from smoking (they've had pictures like this in Canada for years.) Also, there is some evidence that it might make teenagers even be MORE inclined to smoke, due to rebelliousness.

I've been smoking for over 20 years, and been trying to quit for 15. I have worked as an anti-tobacco educator and research assistant and speak from personal experience: the best thing is to never, ever start. It's nice to see people are trying to deter smokers, but I'm afraid this isn't the way to do it.

One day as I was waiting in line to buy a pack, holding the cigarettes in my hand, and a woman in the store behind me started yelling at her kids... using one of those electronic voice boxes, so she sounded like Darth Vader. "Put that down! Hey, put it down!" I jumped about a foot and fled the store without them. Now if we could just put things like that at the point of purchase, maybe that would work!

What next, a picture of a fat person on a package of ice cream? A picture of a homeless drunk in the gutter on a bottle of whiskey?

I don't think the pics will make a difference in the long run, if you're hooked, you're hooked.

Tax revenue from cigarettes totals billions of dollars. If all smoker's quit, then that tax need would be spread to everything else...gas, food, utilities, etc.

Willowbrook - I agree with you. Where will it end? If they want to add pictures for one bad habit, they should do it to others.

Martin - it's such a double edge sword, the states want the tax money for the cigs but they don't want you to smoke and keep limited where you can.

Dysphoria,

Just where were you standing in line with a pack of cigarettes in your hand?

It's been many, many years now that stores keep all the cigarettes behind the counter both because they're likely to be stolen due to the outrageous price and because one must present ID to buy them most places.

Q. Why doesn't the federal government simply outlaw tobacco?

A. Because they don't want to kill the cash cow. You see, the tobacco companies are a pushover for large civil suit settlements, and that money is needed to keep trail lawyers rich and election campaign coffers full.

Martin - Obviously your point is valid but counter that with the savings in health care, Medicare, Medicaid. The idea of not discouraging someone from indulging in a habit that destroys their health and well being for the purpose of tax dollars is abhorrent to me.

If you want to offset the tax dollars, legalize marijuana and tax the hell out of it. Works for alcohol and I think alcohol is the more damaging of the two.

Yes it is true, but these are so photoshopped and they're not even that graphic. They need the REAL pictures like from google search. Now those are nasty.

A few months ago they made the cigarrette companies change the names of all their products. No more "light", "medium", etc.

Doesn't the FDA have anything else to worry about? Quit wasting time and money on this crap.

Tax revenue from cigarettes totals billions of dollars. If all smoker's quit, then that tax need would be spread to everything else...gas, food, utilities, etc.

Not to mention the jobs that will be lost if tobacco companies shut down. That's just what we need right now. A bunch of jittery, unemployed cranky people going through nic withdrawal.

LMAO Stang - sad but true

They already do this in England, and believe me it doesn't stop anyone or make them feel guilty, etc. Not that I'm for or against it, but I'm just saying - putting graphic images on stuff to deter people from doing said action has already been tried, and it has already not worked.

Next thing you know, people will start holding up pictures of aborted fetuses outside Planned Parenthood. Oh wait. Nevermind.

I know the survey on here isn't scientific, but looking at the numbers...it looks like they're wasting time and money on this.

Also, if the images bother people, they'll just buy a hard pack cover to put their packs of smokes in so that they don't have to see it.

Creating this series of 9 horrible immages is not a deterrant to youths...we've been raised in a "collect them all" culture...it'll make kids want to buy all 9 designs, and might make them more likely to become an addict. I wouldn't be surprised if this backfires and their 4:1 ratio of people who try it and become smokers goes to 3:1 because of people who are compelled to try and collect all of the images.

Lastly, with all of the medical shows on tv this really is not that shocking of an image to people, and youths interested in medical stuff (also definately goth kids and emo kids obsessed with death) are more likely to find these pictures interesting than horrifying. We're a decensitized culture where this is not shocking anymore.

Laura, I should clarify: yes, you have to ask for cigarettes at a special counter, at the store. I was actually holding them, ready to purchase them, after I asked for them, after reaching the front of the line. That Darth Vader voice box in the line behind me made me jump, and I dropped them back on the counter. No thanks!

I smoke about 1-2 cigarettes a day. I've been trying to quit those last few, for years, but I can't (although I did manage to stop both times while I was pregnant, before starting up again about 18 months after each one was born.) I'm obviously conflicted by my smoking. I used to buy a pack, smoke a couple, and then give them away to this homeless guy who begged for change near my home. Then that guy was found dead under the bridge he slept under... of emphysema. Now, I know it wasn't just my occasional pack of light cigarettes that did him in. Oh, but my guilt was huge.

So, if Darth Vader voices and dead homeless guys won't get me to quit, obviously a few photographs aren't going to do it. Being pregnant helped me to quit, for about two years at a stretch, each time, but I always started up again. Not an easy habit to give up, even though I really want to.

They are doing this in Central and South America as well.

What I saw that was pretty funny was a group of entrepreneurs have made a slip for the cigarette packages that look like your brand that you insert your own graphic image in.

I saw very pornographic photos of various positions, where individuals have put their cigarettes, their version of the finger, and several other creative logos in place of these sick photos on the cigarette packs.

My buddies would then put their enhanced packs on the table in the public restaurants and such, then when they would see these enhanced cigarette packages catch the eye of any passers by, they would all begin to very loudly complaining about the governments putting porno, or what ever was on the package on their cigarette package.

I don’t know maybe it was the alcohol, but this could be very funny depending upon the outrage of the non-smoker or those shocked by enhanced images, and of course the enthusiasm of the person portraying the abused smoker.

Before it was over everyone would agree those images were insulting to women, or what ever else was on the table, and the government should stop that.

People should already know all these things about smoking. Chances are people know and smoke anyways, putting these things on packs won't stop people from smoking and I think it is kind of ridiculous that the FDA is allowed to interfere so negatively with a business because it is harmful to people. I have never seen any sort of packaging like this on alcohol which kills FAR more people than smoking.

Robert-Pray for the USA===Hey Robert I would to see the non-smokers or for that matter anyone else with any kind of bad habits or dangerous activities taxed as much as smokers. They have people like you all over the place, most live on dead end streets.

What I don't understand is why cigarettes have not been banded... it causes cancer, people die from it and second hand smoke is also harmful.. So because the state and gov make money they feel by putting warning labels justifies everything. Well drugs are ilegal why not make cigarettes ilegal... its simple, band cigarettes, make them ilegal..... they have many different products such as the electric cigarette which is a substitute and its not harmful... does not cause cancer, you can smoke this cigarette in all public places...But money talks...What a joke.... its pathetic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Second hand smoke is not as evil as they make it out to be. Nor is smoking for that matter. I would rather start smoking than be a vegan.

This will only increase the demand for trendy cigarette-pack covers.

This is nothing but an exscuse for the FDA to look like the hundreds of millions of dollars we throw at that useless agency aren't a total waste. All I see them doing is throwing their bureaucratic weight around with the cigarette and pharmicutical companies (proping up the big players while potentially life saving medicine is being denied to Americans) while e. coli continues to pop up in our food supply.

In college, I used to smoke "Death" cigarettes, a black package with a skull and crossbones on it. I loved them, I thought they were hilarious and cool. Seems to me gory cigarette packages could be more of an incentive than a turn off, for those of us with off-kilter senses of humor.

If you put a vaccuum at the end of a cigarrette to measure second hand, unfiltered smoke...it's bad. If you're 10 feet away and the smoke is 1ppb, it's negligible.

The second hand smoke studies were biased and useless

dysphoria

Laura, I should clarify: yes, you have to ask for cigarettes at a special counter, at the store. I was actually holding them, ready to purchase them, after I asked for them, after reaching the front of the line. That Darth Vader voice box in the line behind me made me jump, and I dropped them back on the counter. No thanks!

I smoke about 1-2 cigarettes a day. I've been trying to quit those last few, for years, but I can't (although I did manage to stop both times while I was pregnant, before starting up again about 18 months after each one was born.) I'm obviously conflicted by my smoking. I used to buy a pack, smoke a couple, and then give them away to this homeless guy who begged for change near my home. Then that guy was found dead under the bridge he slept under... of emphysema. Now, I know it wasn't just my occasional pack of light cigarettes that did him in. Oh, but my guilt was huge. >>>>>>>>>>>>

I had someone tell me once that my smoking bothered them, this was before it went all nuts with cigarettes, I was outside with friends smoking, I said with a sweet smile.

"I'm Sorry, why don't you stop inhaling until I'm done"

The current warnings are more than 25 years old, go unnoticed on the side of cigarette packs and fail to effectively communicate the serious health risks of smoking

I think it's called desensitization. What will they do in another 25 years when people are still smoking cigarettes as much as they are today?

These ads are going to affect kids that spend hours playing games that have highly graphic details of people being ripped apart...........Good luck with that one.

Are they going to have posters available? This is better than Reefer Madness.

Oscar Wilde already sort of answered this in his comment on war - it will remain popular as long as it is seen as wicked and therefore exciting and hip, but as soon as it is seen as vulgar it will become unpopular.

You want to stop smoking? Put pictures of 50-60 year old 2 pack a day smokin' hags on the packs, with their wrinkles and stained teeth and dirty gums. That will stop smoking. And when you see a smoker, just ask in general what that horrible stench is, that smells of someone who hasn't bathed in a week. Make smokers and smoking vulgar and dirty and crude and that will kill it.

They should also mandate that all fast-food wrappers and bags be covered with pictures of fat-lined hearts, limbs amputed from obesity-caused diabetes, and children weighing two tons by the time they're eight. Mandate placing labels on all alcohol bottles (including beer and wine) showing people smooshed in drunk driving accidents and destroyed livers. Mandate showing women pictures of butchered fetuses and women with perforated uterines in all abortion clinics. Cover all cellphones with pictures of people with brain cancer (and throw in some pics of celling-and-driving victims, just like drinking-and-driving victims, as well). Mandate that all swimming pools, public and private, be festooned with pictures of drowned children. Cruise ships for be made to show pictures all over their vessels pictures of bodies from the Titanic or Morro Castle. Make it a law that anyone who wants to live in tornado alley must cover their walls with pictures of victims of Joplin, MO. Those in coastal cities should be made to cover their homes' walls with pictures of the Japanese tsunami victims.

Yes. The government can be our "big buddy" and force us to look at the consequences of any action in order to "scare" us not into doing any action. It's for our good. It's for our public health. It's for our public safety. We must be protected against ourselves. That's the government's job - to do things against ourselves.

Quick, simple answer.

No.

First of all, there is no smoking in our home. However, I do think the Health Dept. has gone 100 % way overboard with the TV ads shown during prime time TV hours. We find the ads totally disgusting and annoying when they shove the extremely graphic scenes in our faces, since we don't even smoke. The Pres. wouldn't allow Our Nation to view the pics of Bin Ladin's death photos due to the graphics; but yet the Health Dept. allows these disgusting graphics which seems almost unconvincing, fictional, and grossly comical with a twisted mind in the presentation. It's okay having pictures on the packages, because then the message targets only the users as intended and exactly how it should be.

all these comments about cigs make me want to step outside and sneak a smoke... oh sweet sweet nicotine.

Can't wait to see the class action lawsuit against the FDA for traumatizing millions of children

If our health was really and truly an issue of concern here, there would be zero alcohol or tobacco products on the store shelves tomorrow. But this isn't about health. It's about what it has always been - MONEY and those that profit from it. They don't seem to have any complaints about all the tax dollars they reap from such terrible health destroying products, do they?

If the government gave a damn about all the harmful addititives in cigarettes, why did they force states to add even more harmful chemicals to the already toxic brew? Just look on any pack of cigarettes and see the little "FSC" stamp on the bottom. That signifies that the tobacco blend has been further enhanced (with your state's permission) with more chemicals. Supposedly to cause cigarettes to extinguish on their own and reduce the possibility of fires caused by smoking in bed. What a racket!

When will similar labels be made mandatory on alcoholic beverage containers? Graphic scenes of the waste and destruction caused by drunkeness? Probably never. Know why? Cause our politicians are all out having a snort right now! Of course when they partake it's called "sociable drinking", isn't it.

What next, a picture of a fat person on a package of ice cream? A picture of a homeless drunk in the gutter on a bottle of whiskey?

I'd buy that stuff... It'd be hilarious!

Oh, and a picture of a rough, smelly old whore with sagging t*ts and a cigarette dangling from her mouth on a pack of cigarettes? I'd buy those too!

Truth in advertising? An interesting idea. Maybe we should require all democrats and RINOs to have pictures of gulags with the saying "this candidate thinks you are too stupid to make decisions for yourself. If you agree, vote for me!"

As a smoker, it amuses me to watch the smug politically correct do-gooders ostracize, persecute, and harass smokers openly and proudly in much the same way that African-Americans were treated back in the fifties.

Apparently the only difference between them and the 1950's racist red-necks is their choice of targets. How far they have come!

But those pictures are kinda cool, I'll bet the kids will love collecting them!

LMAO, kids won't care how gory the pics are. They will buy them just for the pics alone, and if you are a smoker, people don't care much about the packaging, its the content inside the packaging that counts.

Until they stop making cigarettes, people will always continue to smoke.

I don't think it would work because I'm certain no one pays attention to the package.

I agree truth in advertising, put the labels on all sugar products for the picture of the guy who never went to the dentist, picture of the dead guy on all "fatty" products and so on. If it stops one person from not starting I'm all for it but I'm almost positive that once they are on the packaging the complaints will start that they can't be displayed which is probably the real intent of the whole thing anyway.

Sir Knowsitall - that is priceless!

They would probably be more effective if they had a better photoshop artist. That tracheotomy picture is HORRIBLY photoshopped and looks faker than fake... cause it is.

Also, ryoushi12, you're exactly the kind of person that gets a purposeful lungful of smoke right in the face if I'm near and hear your 'comments'. I smell like lavender and shower more often than you do, I guarantee it.

These labels do jack. I've been smoking for 15 years now, and I consider quitting all the damn time, I don't need some image to get me to think about it.

As for the younger generation, I do indeed see a sort of 'smoking is not cool' vibe going on there. But - the further ingrained into mainstream that sentiment becomes, the cooler smoking becomes paradoxically. So watch out there.

Also, ryoushi12, you're exactly the kind of person that gets a purposeful lungful of smoke right in the face if I'm near and hear your 'comments'.

Yes, and it's people like ryoushi12 that are one of the very few 'positive' reasons for me to keep smoking, so I can spite the smugfaced whiners who snivel about it all day long. F them. If anything encourages people to keep smoking, it's people like that.

Being a product of the 60's, I remember all the government BS about drugs (Reefer Maddness, etc). It was the kids themselves that started advertising, "Speed kills." Government is not trusted in these matters. Harping only encourages.

It's not like smokers haven't heard about the risks. They don't care, just don't believe it, or think it just happens to other people. We all have seen the person towing the portable oxygen tank with one hand and a cig in the other! If a person wants to quit they will. If not they won't. I quit a two pack a day habit. Sure I gained weight an was cranky for three days but it is not that hard. Being diabetic and having to watch everything you eat is hard. Being fat and wanting to lose weight is hard because you have to eat and anything can set off a binge. But you don't have to smoke. Honestly with the cost of the damn things now a days I can't understand why anyone would smoke.

If this were 'truth in advertising' then why don't we see pictures of fat, unhealthy, obese slobs on the cartons of a big mac or quarter pounder?

The FDA is too powerful and doesn't have your best interests in mind. This is nothing short of a power play by the FDA against big tobacco all the while they allow, approve and turn the other cheek on big pharma drugs that kill hundreds of thousands per year in the USA alone.

Don't speak to me about truth in advertising unless you are willing to back it up.

Protecting the public? Hardly. If they were so concerned they would put labels with graphic pictures of drunk driving accidents and their victims on all alcoholic beverages and in all bars and restaurants that sell alcohol. They would put pictures of obese people and fatty organs on all containers of foods that outrageous amounts of fats and all fast food products and in fast food restaurants. This is just another step towards eliminating smokers, which we do on our own...thank you.

I see an opportunity here.... covers for cigarette packages!

dysphoria-

I smoke about 1-2 cigarettes a day. I've been trying to quit those last few, for years, but I can't (although I did manage to stop both times while I was pregnant, before starting up again about 18 months after each one was born.)

You remind me of me, once my kids were done "eating at mom's" I went right back to smoking. I've quit more times then I can count.

The only reason the government even forces the smokers to pay and advertise these types of campaigns is simply because it helps protect the government from lawsuits such as the ones they used to sue the tobacco industry for many hundreds of billions. Ultimately, the tobacco companies were never to blame for anything as the government gave them the licenses and okays to hook america on their products and not only did the government always already know the facts, they in fact helped hide them from the people until the lawsuits started turning up.

This year my insurance company started a new tax, I mean 100$ increase in my premiums and they had the audacity to tell me in a corporate newsletter that it was to help keep down the premiums of the non smokers and that all smokers had to pay for at least an additional year even if they gave up smoking. This also applies to non smokers who do not kick smokers out of their homes and keep them out for at least an additional year. Just more garbage from the government as they make tax revenues off the corrupt insurance companies.

I got in on this a little late. I'm trying to quit anyway. Are they really going to put Nancy Pelosi's picture on smokes? Wouldn't that be gross enough to make anybody quit? I know I couldn't even buy a pack of those!!!

I think my new business will be to sell holders for cig packs to hide those pictures.

But you don't have to smoke.

True enough, but it is VERY hard to quit, and I've done it before so I know. I too started back up with one here and there after successfully quitting, and now can't stop. Yet. Yes, we know it costs too much, both fiscally and health wise. When I went through the worst time of my life I gave up on quitting and now it feels like impossible. Haven't given up though, one day, one day.

Cigarettes are bad for you? When did that start?

As a physician, this whole matter takes me back to day 4 of Gross Anatomy; that was the day was the day that we all took a knife (scalpel) and made an incision (cut) in to the chest cavity to dissect the heart, lungs, and other structures.

In an instant, it was crystal clear whether the body you were dissecting had smoked or not - whether the lungs whitish or pink, or charcoal black. Those of us with non-smokers then switched with our classmates who had smokers.

In dissecting the lungs, it was clear that non-smokers had a kind of semi-rubbery feel as you cut through the lung. Smokers had the same feel as non-smokers, but a "gritty" feel (from particulate matter and the body's defense mechanisms of trying to "encapsulate" the particles and "wall them off)", not to mention numerous small cavities (emphysema) were the normal lung structure was destroyed (visible to the naked eye).

All the printed warnings and even "extreme" pictures cannot convey the message as much as seeing "up-close and personal" that smoking is not "cool" and the studly Marlboro Man was on his way to an oxygen tank, nasal prongs, heart failure, the surgeons knife and chemotherapy.

Denial is not a river in Egypt...

I wonder why chewing tobacco isn't a hot topic. I live in Mississippi, you would not believe how many rednecks and cops and firefighters and high school sport coaches I've seen with part of their jaw gone. Just graduated this year, you would not believe how many of high school friends are convinced that chewing tobacco/ dip is safer than lighting up. I asked my doctor directly which one he would rather have me do if he had to choose for me. this was his response:

"Smoking. Defintely. When using chewing tobacco or dip, you're placing a cancer causing substance right on the most absorbant tissue in your body. Although I'd prefer you did neither."

I'm not saying one is safer than the other. But one defintely causes cancer alot faster than smoking. Maybe the FDA should be placing more pressure on the companies that make chewing tobacco. Seeing people with all their teeth still there would be pretty nice.

And before you jump on me, I'm usually polite about smoking around other people. I usually role my windows up in my car. I don't smoke in the apartment i've moved into. I ALWAYS put my cigarette out if I can see a dad or mom walking with their kids towards me. Meaning smoking in parks is usually a no no for me.

Why stop at cigarettes? Why not put graphic labels on half the things consumed in this country that are bad for us?: all alcoholic beverages and almost all fast food items. I doubt a triple bacon cheeseburger, 1 lb of french fries cooked in lard and a 64 oz soda is any better than a few cigarettes.

But you are also killing innocent people as well. Why don’t they ban tobacco like they do every other cancer causing product, like Saccharin, asbestos, and many others…

There is growing evidence of a distinct set of freshly-emitted air pollutants downwind from major highways, motorways, and freeways that include elevated levels of ultrafine particulates (UFP), black carbon (BC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon monoxide (CO). People living or otherwise spending substantial time within about 200 m of highways are exposed to these pollutants more so than persons living at a greater distance, even compared to living on busy urban streets. Evidence of the health hazards of these pollutants arises from studies that assess proximity to highways, actual exposure to the pollutants, or both. Taken as a whole, the health studies show elevated risk for development of asthma and reduced lung function in children who live near major highways. Studies of particulate matter (PM) that show associations with cardiac and pulmonary mortality also appear to indicate increasing risk as smaller geographic areas are studied, suggesting localized sources that likely include major highways. Although less work has tested the association between lung cancer and highways, the existing studies suggest an association as well. While the evidence is substantial for a link between near-highway exposures and adverse health outcomes, considerable work remains to understand the exact nature and magnitude of the risks.

http://www.ehjournal.net/content/6/1/23

Of course, if I'm doing it...then it's harmless.

Actually, I'm not - it's not like we can smoke anywhere near "innocent bystanders" anymore in public! Not in restaurants, stores, hospitals, airports, bars - where would I be killing innocent people???

Actually Mrs.M, the main cost towards smoking isn't just paid for by you. It's paid for by society that has to deal with your health problems later on when smoking catches up with you.

Additionally, would you consider children innocent bystanders? If so, then by smoking around children that may be in your house, you are actually doing the exact thing you claim not to be doing.

Finally, the advertising, as stating in the article, is directed at getting people to not start in the first place. When you're already addicted to it, as you said, the packaging doesn't matter so why the complaints about it.

There is no credible scientific evidence that second hand smoke kills anyone... or even causes any health problems.

It certainly is true that smoking can annoy non-smokers, smoke can soil clothing, it can ruin an appetite, it is rude, etc. But it most certainly is not harmful.

There is evidence that smoking can cause illness in the people who do smoke... but that evidence is not conclusive. If you smoke there is no guarantee that you will die an early death, that you will have cancer, or COPD. If you smoke and are pregnant there is no guarantee that your child will have birth defects. If you do not smoke there is no guarantee that you will not contract cancer, COPD or that your child will not have birth defects. All there is is a small statistical correlation between smoking and those ill effects... your risk is greater that is all.

DOGGY

Actually Mrs.M, the main cost towards smoking isn't just paid for by you. It's paid for by society that has to deal with your health problems later on when smoking catches up with you

OK, now let's talk about YOU for awhile and see how it makes YOU feel:

Are you overweight? - health problems WE pay for!

Do you drive a car? - 2nd hand exhaust KILLS!

Do you drink alcohol? - No matter how much....it's OUR business what you do and how much YOU do it!

Do you pracitce safe sex? - AIDS KILLS and costs us all in healthcare.

Do you exercise regularly? - Heart weakness KILLS and costs us all in healthcare!

ON AND ON AND ON>>>>> Good Grief!

doggysaywhat

Actually Mrs.M, the main cost towards smoking isn't just paid for by you. It's paid for by society that has to deal with your health problems later on when smoking catches up with you.

Let's see....I pay more in health insurance premium because I smoke, I pay a lot more for my life insurance premium, and I pay a ton of taxes to support everyone. Guess what...it's my choice....stay out of it, it doesn't affect you.

Don't give me that BS line about my health problems that you have to pay for later. Smokers die younger and don't use up as much social security or medicare resources. Do a study on that would you?

Additionally, would you consider children innocent bystanders? If so, then by smoking around children that may be in your house, you are actually doing the exact thing you claim not to be doing.

Go read post 2.2. Maybe you should stop driving. Do you know what you are doing to the children that live near the highways?? I'm not allowed to smoke anywhere near anyone so it's not about the children.

Finally, the advertising, as stating in the article, is directed at getting people to not start in the first place. When you're already addicted to it, as you said, the packaging doesn't matter so why the complaints about it.

Too much government control and waste. So now our costs are going to go up again why??? So the FDA can justify it's enormous cost?

Actually Mrs.M, the main cost towards smoking isn't just paid for by you. It's paid for by society that has to deal with your health problems later on when smoking catches up with you.

Additionally, would you consider children innocent bystanders? If so, then by smoking around children that may be in your house, you are actually doing the exact thing you claim not to be doing.

You're making the assumption that she has kids....and if she does that she smokes around them. Quit trying to make her into some kind of animal.....you're reaching and it's pretty obnoxious.

Also...how do you know you'd be paying for her health problems? You assume...again....that she has no insurance....that she has no money. Generalize much?

Non-smokers are all the same.....the same tired soap box rants every time this comes up. Why don't you worry about drunk drivers? Or child molesters? Don't you think that would be time and oxygen better spent than irritating smokers because YOU don't like that THEY smoke...ever...anywhere....even if it is 200 miles from you? I wish I had the time to be constantly concerned about what everyone around me was doing that I didn't like.

Government efficiency at work...

HEY, I've got a new idea for them. Make the pictures removable, like baseball cards. That way I can collect them and trade them with my friends. It will be like Pokemon for adults... I'll trade you 3 autopsy photos for 1 fetal ICU.

What complete nonsense.

heartdocdude===Poor baby!! You need someone to blame for everything so you can sleep better at night. I think smokers and all tobacco users should get special treatment because we pay a lot more taxes than non-smokers.

heartdocdude: YEAH. lets ban EVERYTHING that can cause cancer... How about we start with EXERCISES.

IF you really are a doc, you KNOW that no one actually knows what causes cancer, or what cancer REALLY is. All we can presently do is statistical studies, that NARROWLY look at a particular behavior or exposure and examine the cancer rates among those people. Let me use an unrealistic extreme example. Do a study of women who drink coffe using 2 people. One of them works naked in a nuclear reactor core, while the other works in a day care. The nudist develops cancer, so your study thatONLY asks about coffee decides that 50% of their coffee drinkers get cancer, therefore coffee may increase your risk of cancer. Yeah my imaginary study is obviously flawed, but so is every single other study, just not to that extreme.

Smoking cigarettes is bad for me, So would be living in the smog of LA. All the sanctimonious jack-offs need to get over themselves.

heartdocdude

But you are also killing innocent people as well. Why don’t they ban tobacco like they do every other cancer causing product, like Saccharin, asbestos, and many others…

Oh hell, you would have to be exposed to the cigarette smoke filled room for YEARS,

P O L L U T I O N .............OUT SIDE is far more DANGEROUS to breath.

If you don't like me smoking then move away from me. This is one thing I do, my vice , don't mess with it.

doggysaywhat

Actually Mrs.M, the main cost towards smoking isn't just paid for by you. It's paid for by society that has to deal with your health problems later on when smoking catches up with you.

That isn't true, you pay a higher insurance premium if you smoke, It doesn't cost you a thing.

woah now, stangsalie, let's not lump everyone in together. I'm a non-smoker, but I agree with most of the people here. The pictures won't work, and it's just a waste.

As a non-smoker, if I'm near someone that's smoking and it bothers me, I-and pay attention here, people- get up and move. That way I'm away from it, they can smoke, and everyone's happy.

What a COMPLETE waste of time!

As you get to the final percentages of smokers, it will get tougher and tougher to convince them to stop. What they don't understand is that addiction is one of the most powerful forces on the planet. Making tobacco illegal won't even stop people from smoking.

The FDA really is a parasite that needs to be disposed of. They do nothing to help anything.

And this new regulation where cig manufacturers are not allowed to call them "light" or "ultra light" anymore. All that does is make the jobs of retail clerks harder because the people buying smokes still call them light or whatever, bu the packs are no longer labeled that way. Each brand has it's own color code system.

F'n FDA.... what a bunch of useless fks!!!!

I don't understand why people resist quitting smoking SO much. It's your life and everything, but what about your family? My grandma smoked for a long time, the doctors told her that and her diabetes was going to make her lose her legs. She didn't try to fix either one. About one month her neighbors found her on the porch dead, holding a pack of cigarettes. Although you may not want to think about your own health, but can you at least try to quit for you mom, dad, brother, sister, kids, anybody who cares for your safety?

It's really about MINDING YOUR OWN BUSINESS i'mbored. Please don't be offended.

The ONLY thing that might get some to quit is to tell them they stink, regularly, and in public. And at least one smoker here admitted that that is in fact the case, smoking and smokers STINK, REAK, are about as pleasent to be around as very well used and never washed gym socks that heve been sitting in a school locker right by the showers for an entire school year.

Smokers, you stink and everything around you starts reaking whereever you go. Doesn't the fact that you are offensive to others even bother you a little bit

Actually, the whole line of bull that smoking "costs all of us" by higher health care costs is just that: bull. The first studies have come out looking at who really ends up costing the health system (meaning us, who have to pay for it, so wealthy doctors, medical industries and insurance cabal CEO's can continue to rake it in) more money: it's the "healthy." Why? Because those who eat, drink, smoke and be merry do quite often come down with terminal illnesses that are expensive (because the health/insurance industrial complex makes it expensive) to "treat," but they end up dying quicker and younger. The "healthy," who exercise seven days a week, eat only five small portions of rabbit food a day, never touch demon rum and will not come within ten miles of second-hand smoke live longer (thus costing us more in social security, medicare and private retirement investments) and eventually come down with illnesses endemic to old age, especially in the realm of dementia. And they spend much longer periods of time in facilities having to care for them until they go room temperature. Tell us, who costs more? A smoker who is diagnosed with lung cancer at 57 and is dead two years later, or some "health conscious" person who develops Alzheimer's at 67 and wallows away for at least a dozen more years in overpriced "care" facilities?

Face it, folks. You're gonna die. No matter what you do, no matter how you exercise and starve (I mean "nutritionally eat") and stay away from all those vices, you're gonna get sick and die. Nothing you can, no matter what type of "healthy" lifestyle you live, will stop it. It's waiting for you, laughing. You can choose to really enjoy life and indulge in all the fun it has to offer and check out early, quick and happy, or you can deprive yourself of pleasure and end up wallowing away in some dank, sterile room, being fed tapioca that drools down your chin, tubes in your body to drain your wastes, no longer recognizing your family or friends who suffer at watching you turning into something you tried not to be, for years and years and years. And meanwhile, the rest of us are paying for that (either through our tax dollars or our insurance premiums).

ryoshi: NOPE!

You don't like it, stand upwind of me. Get in my face about it, and well... You won't remain there long.

Ryoushi12, the purpose of smokers is to make sure you are offended. That's what's fun. People like you deserve it. Now, either hold your breath until you pass out or learn to like it.

Mrs.M-2013369

Standing by the doorway smoking for other persons to walk through the cloud and smell of smoke can kill innocent people.

@ryoshi12

Here is a true story for you. Two years ago, New Years Eve, a few friends and I were skiing up in Alpine Valley, WI. We decided to spend the evening at the bar in the lodge. Before too long we realized that there were people smoking at the bar. Being from IL, (smoking had been banned in bars for a few years) I was pleasantly surprised. So, I took out my cigs and lit one up. A nice cold beer and a cigarette, an incredibly excellent, reminiscant, feeling of being able to relax in a nice environment without being persecuted/ostricized and made to stand out in the cold.

As the night grew long, the place became packed and I had posted up quite nicely on my stool. Having made friends with my neighbors, I realized that we were five people from IL, sitting five across, at a bar in WI loving the fact that we could smoke at the bar. This girl wearing an Ed Hardy T-shirt kept trying to break through our ranks to get a drink and she was holding her nose because she was obviously bothered by the smell. I threw my head back and gave a hearty, dragon throated laugh of pure evil just before I intentionally began to blow smoke in her direction.

The morale of this story is that... If you want to overexagerate about your olfactory sensitivities, I will take my funky smell and subject it upon you. I can guarantee you I will take much more pleasure in antagonizing you than you would take pleasure in being in a smoke-free environment. As Jerry-1903677 so nicely put it, "People like you deserve it."

Other people smoking is like other people who are gay, vegans, Miami Heat fans, whatever you are, as long as you're not in my face about it, I really don't care what you do.

As far as addicts go, you cannot scare an addict away from their drug of choice. They have to want to leave it on their own.

Do doctors worry about second hand smoke while they are driving their Mercedes to the office blowing exhaust all over town for innocent people to inhale? Of course not- they refer to it as "recurring income".

ryoshi-12

Let me give you another opinion on your theory of telling people they stink. I don't care what you or anybody else thinks of me. If you don't like my voice then don't call me, if you don't like my looks then don't knock on my door. And finally if you don't like the way I smell then stop sniffing me!! Pretty simple ain't it??

Why pick on cigarette smokers?

Americans love to discriminate. And so now we have a whole class of people that the government has endorsed as a select group of people that everyone is allowed to discriminate against!

So yeah, you don't have to be anywhere near a person you see light up, and it's okay to start bitchin' .. If it's a nasty cigarette smoker you are bitchin' about.

It don't matter what anyone's color or creed - It is politically correct to discriminate against "those" people, even if they are not really bothering you.

These are great times we are living in.. freedom to discriminate against the "wrong" sort of people. It just feels good!!

Ed, i understand what you're trying to say. However since smoking is such an addiction (physically AND mentally), it seems more acceptable to make the person stop. Also the thing about the pictures, it's aimed to STOP NEW SMOKERS, it's probably too late for old smokers.

...it seems more acceptable to make the person stop...

Oh yeah, MAKE that person stop what they're doing - even though they are not allowed to do that in public, it's just plain nasty knowing that they do it.

And it just feels sooo righteous!

It's just too bad that we can't MAKE some people stop practicing their silly weirdo religions too...

Oh, and some of the sex some people do in their bedrooms... Disgusting!

Ahhh, but the government says we can't do that sort of thing. Tsk, tsk... Even though it'd be for their own good, naturally.

But ya CAN discriminate against smokers.

Don't lament loosing your discrimination rights, thank your government for allowing you the smokers!

You're welcome!

I'm not going to bother to argue, you're already a smoker, your like a religious person now, no logic will help you anymore.

Yeah, you're right.

Just last week I accidently left my pack of smokes in a church pew. Some other guy tried to claim that they were his, but I knew they were mine...

My smokes have a picture of a rough, smelly old whore with sagging t*ts and a cigarette dangling from her mouth on the package.

Standing by the doorway smoking for other persons to walk through the cloud and smell of smoke can kill innocent people

Nonsense, it takes years of heavy smoke inhalation to cause smoking related disease. The harm caused by having some smoke wafted your direction once in awhile is negligible at best.

I don't understand why people resist quitting smoking SO much.

Then you don't understand nicotine addiction. When someone starts smoking, especially prior to 21yo when their brain is still developing (and the younger the better) the brain physically creates receptors specifically to take in nicotine. This is a rather unique function of nicotine and why it is so highly addictive. When your brain detects it is not getting nicotine, it goes into a 'starvation' mode - not unlike the reaction when anything your brain deems as 'essential' is missing from its chemistry. This is withdrawal from nicotine and although not as acute as say crack or heroine (which is why people kill eachother for that kind of fix) - it lasts longer and is more insidious.

..and to all you sanctimonious pinheads decrying the poor addicted smokers. We don"t want your nonsense. I will not speak for anyone else here, but I have been smoking off and on for 37 years. At # different points in my life I quit smoking. Completely quit, no more cravings, nothing. I started back each time BECAUSE I WANTED TO. I like smoking, I like the taste. I like the activity. I LIKE IT. I could quit at any time I decide to, and so can ANYONE ELSE. All it takes is a simple decision to do so, It is my body, I control it, it does not control me. I smoke because I want to.

Oh yeah, 37 years of smoking, and I compete in karate tournaments against people half my age, go figure.

Layla-3373234

woah now, stangsalie, let's not lump everyone in together. I'm a non-smoker, but I agree with most of the people here. The pictures won't work, and it's just a waste.

As a non-smoker, if I'm near someone that's smoking and it bothers me, I-and pay attention here, people- get up and move. That way I'm away from it, they can smoke, and everyone's happy.

My apologies Layla sweetie. You are one of very few and I thank you for being the way you are. If only others could do the same. Sometimes ya just feel like you're being pecked to death by a duck by non-smokers and lash out. It is truly good to know there are some people out there like you who get it.

@ryoshi12

Yes I'll admit the we smokers do indeed stink. I never realized it until I quit smoking for 2 years, I noticed it when my smoking friends got in my car, I remember thinking "damn I can't believe I used to smell like that." Unfortunately I went on vacation with a bunch of smokers and by the time I got back I was smoking again.

Re Ryoushi's comment: "Smokers, you stink and everything around you starts reaking whereever you go. Doesn't the fact that you are offensive to others even bother you a little bit"

A little late with this post, but NO! Why should it? If you are offended that is your problem not mine. Grow up, be responsible and own your own reactions to the things that go on in this world. Other people don't annoy you. You annoy you.

Adam lotsanumbers:

As a matter of fact, NO, you didn't quit smoking. All you did was increase the length of time you waited between cigarettes.

ryoushi12 I feel the same way about women who wear Right Guard, I don't have to ask what kind of deoderant they are wearing. I just have to move far away or leave the room!

Love the people who currently smoke and talk about how easy it is to quit. If you keep going back, guess what? You didn't quit. You just didn't have one for a while. That's just a form of denial, and an old one at that. No. 1 rule for denying addiction "I do it because I like it, not because I have to." When you're referring to something that has been proven time and time again to be chemically addictive, allthewhile being a user of it, you're just showing you're true colors. And BTW, I smoke a pack a day.

I've seen pics like these since high school, some 20 years ago. Didn't stop me then and won't now. You just have to WANT to stop.

I agree that putting pictures probably won't get people to stop. Canada has had them on there packs for a while now and it didn't make me stop, however, it did help me quit. When I was about 3 weeks in to quitting, I was loosing my willpower and went to buy a pack of cigerattes. The graphic pictures on the pack gave me extra motivation to quit and I resold the pack. I have now been smokefree for 15 months.

Looks like i'll have to start carrying duct tape in my car...

I was going to use it as an excuse to get one of those fancy cig holders.

Jake-3637264===These pictures are alright the put on all packs of cigarettes but the ones taken of Osama Bin Laden were to graphic??? A new low standard for the Obama Bunch. I cannot wait until 2012 so we can send this jerk back to where ever it is he came from. Myself I would love to see him sent to GITMO for several years.

I live in Egypt where they have these photos as they do in Turkey. They are disgusting, but no one these days who smokes doesn't know it is not the best thing for your health. Smoking rates remain the same.

Smoking and smoke has become (without denying its harmful effects) the red herring of environmentalism. I live in NYC in the 70's. Even then breathing the air was considered the same as smoking two packs of cigs. a day. There are many, many toxic chemicals being placed in our water and air that people want to ignore (often the people against The Clean Air Act and other efforts to clean up the environment are the most horrified by second hand smoke).

Will it be legal to duct tape a pack of smokes? And why keep it in your car? You ain't smoking in that car, are you?? OMG!! Somebody DO something!!!

I totally agree. If the government is going to pry into our private lifes under the cover of public health, they should hit all areas. More people are impacted by eating junk food than all other vices put together. Relatively few people die from cancer or alcohol related incidents compared to the health costs of the morbidly obese. All junk food restaurants should have a 200% tax placed on the "food" they sell.

It's not about the government, it's about the rest of us who tired of having to smell stinky reaking people like you smokiy, and trust me, even if you bathe 3 times a day, your smoking makes you smell just like a bum living in a cardboard box in a sewer.

That's a simple fact - smokers stink.

Then hold your breath, ryousin12. Too bad if it offends you. There is no right not to be offended. You can either asphyxiate yourself because you don't like it, or you can learn to like it. Those are your two choices. Pick one; you don't get any other.

Excerpts of the other main nonsensical arguing points during mindless name-calling rants courtesy of:

ryoushi12

…..mindnumbing stupidity to morons who would then go out and do the same incredibly ret-rded acts….

……scum sucking lying thieving SON OF A B-TCH who owns the Minnesota Vikings…..

….lay of that sweet Mexican Mescal, it's screwing with….

….agitprop tactic of accusing your enemies of having your bigotry, Goebbels would be so proud……

….right to ruin MY food eating experience with YOUR nasty disgusting appetite robbing foul stench producing method of suicide…..

AND MY FAVORITE!!

Wiener can f--k goats for all I care, it's his unwavering support for progressive policies I care about, not his sex life

Proof once more that when you have a losing argument there's nothing like dragging your opponent down in the mud with you.

Why are you comparing cigarettes to fast food and soda? It's not a fair or accurate comparison. Those can be done in moderation and the person can still be healthy. I don't know how many "moderate" or "light" smokers there are, though. And at least fast food and soda don't affect the health of others who choose not to partake.

If we decide that someone smells because they smoke, I don't smoke, and "we" shouldn't have to put up with it then, I feel that the guy or gal who swam in a pool of cologne or perfume should be told to quit wearing cologne. Or the guy or gal who smells of BO shouldn't be allowed out of their house because I find that offensive.

beyondallbelief

You got right as rain!!

What about driving and cell phones?

drinking and driving?

EATING and driving?

and the list goes on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

next thing you know we'll only be allowed to have 1 car and wear red underwear!

Ditto!!! its a monthly car payment now. I really enjoyed smoking and quit due to costs. I used an E-cig that really really works, still usuing it! Look on the web for Vapor4 Life. It really is the best of all E-cigs. I've tried many too! Hope this helps someone.

Enjoy the e-cigs while you can, Pentimento. The anti-smokers are starting to go after those.

Enjoy the e-cigs while you can, Pentimento. The anti-smokers are starting to go after those.

What a surprise!!

I had a guy that worked for me, in Chicago, that smoked three packs a day. He would pay eight dollars a pack. I sat him down and did the math with him. Almost $200 a week on smokes. He actually started crying.

Really, Jerry? Or are you just pulling your "facts" out of your ass? I, as a non-smoker, support e-cigs, and I wish more smokers would use them.

They are going after e-cigs because they look to real, It's probably coming from california, that's where all the BS comes from. I'm still waiting for it to break off and sink. Look it up, there are groups out there trying to ban them. You, Gamer are the one pulling. Too many people on these will read a post and criticize it but when it comes to doing some research on their own they suddenly forget how to read or use a computer. These are people that think that pos in the whitehouse is doing a good job. As far as the e-cigs go, it's nice you support them Gamer.

What if that fat person has a 262 lb tumor?

O'Seriously===Oh please!! Stick it!!!

O'seriously.......... It is a great book!!!!

I'll check it out. I really would like to quit. At least part of me does.

I just read some of the reviews of that book, O'Seriously, and they are good. I think I might just order that book this weekend.

And reckless drivers and alcohol don't? What about the new scare of cell phones, maybe those should be taken away as well, might as well as take away all fast food too

While we're at it, lets ban cell phones, alcohol, over the counter medicine that can do anything to mess with a person, fast food, candy, peanuts (since so many are allergic), television (Don't sit too close or you'll go blind), loud music, sports, and anything else that has led to injuries or health problems.

Not to mention, it's so well known that prohibition works. I'm sure once this happens everything will be happiness and rainbows.

But smokers also kill innocent people as well.

Who exactly? There is no smoking in enclosed public places anymore. Explain to me specifically how this effects YOU. Did a smoker kill you? Did a smoker kill one of your friends? Explain to me how, if I only ever smoke in my truck or outside my home...am I killing innocent people? The only innocent people I might kill are the ones that come sit or stand by me outside somwhere, after seeing me smoking, and fake a cough or complain. If you don't like it...don't come around me!! I never smoke where I feel like it may bother someone, I always go far out of the way, yet some idiot non smoker will find a way to come around me and bitch. Like I said before...go worry about drunk drivers and child molesters and leave me the hell alone.

heartdocdude===Well don't walk by us when we are on the sidewalks smoking because we have been kicked out of most buildings. Get a life. Better yet find a terrorist because a terrorist stands a better chance than a smoker does in this country under this administration.

Heartdocdude, provide the documentation with total proof that someone died because someone else smoked. Can you do that? Show the records for just one person who died because someone else smoked. Please, don't use the "statistics" game; statistics can be easily manipulated, or even fictionalized (the original "statistic" that 50,000 people died every year from second-hand smoke, given in Congress by an anti-smoking Representatives in the early 90's, was admitted, under oath in a Congressional hearing, to have been "made up").

Even a doctor (a real and true MD) I know smokes. He says he knows it's not good, but all this hysteria is pure nonsense. He pointed out a fact, using an anti-smoking "statistic" that "400,000 smokers die every year from smoking." Okay, he said, let's say that's true. There are over 40,000,000 smokers in this country. That means that .01 percent of smokers will die directly from indulging in the demonic weed. Yup, that just 1% by anti-smoking "statistics." How is that a "major public health issue?" Let's look at the anti-smoking "statistics" that have been all over the radar from 50,000 (the original, fallacious claim) down to 3,000 (made after the lie was exposed in a Congressional hearing), then up to 30,000, then down to 25,000, and now the original lie of 50,000 is back in vogue (hoping people have forgotten). So let's just go with the 50,000 lie. There are over 300,000,000 people in this country. That would mean that .002 die because of second-hand smoke, or 0.2%, or two-tenths of one-percent. That's a "public health crisis?" Remember, I'm using your statistics.

Now you go look for those documents and files on just one person who died because someone else smoked to prove directly that second-hand smoke caused that death. We'll wait.

But if you smoke mary jane in California its okay cause it's medicinal. Several other states let you smoke the mary jane. Maybe that's what the government wants, get rid of regular tobacco, grow mary jane in it's place, make it medicinal (so everyone can have it), tax it to hell and back and laugh all the way to the bank. Get the government out of my face. They're supposed to represent us, not tell us how to live -- they need to get down off the pedestal they have built for themselves and get a real life. It really pisses me off the government thinks it can control the country. Well Americans, I challenge you, it's time we fired these idiots. If they can't hear our voices, tell me how many hearing aids do I need to buy for them???

Cigs only cost about $.70 a pack the rest is taxes . A person that smokes 1 pack aday is giving the Gov about $150.00 or more a month. I think their Heath-care was paid for . This will not make a diff to anyone ! Welcome back fancy cig cases !

CognativeMist,

I don't think it works like that, but maybe it should, especially with the spectre of government mandated healthcare on the horizon. Say you smoke, and the Feds tax the bejeezus out of you. Instead of wasting that money to buy votes, they should put it into a "Smoker's Healthcare Fund," to go towards health insurance for people who smoke.

At the very least, it would hush some of the complaining from the "we have to pay for your habit" crowd.

ThaPyngwyn

No they would just whine louder that smokers are killing them off with the offensive habit. They would also overlook the contributions made and call it favoritism then try for a class action lawsuit to block any benefit payments. It would be a mess.

In today's world if anyone offends someone else it is call to attack. Most people have forgotten how to own and take responsibility for their own feelings. The somebody else is always to blame for how I perceive and react to the world around me, mindset is a social disease that is spreading like wildfire.

then the parents would gripe about govt telling them how to raise their kids.

And then you'll look like a loser carrying a cigarette case with bad breath and smelly hair and clothes.

Please tell me you are perfect to speak like you do. Tell me you don't have any habits that could cause something hense you can stand on your soap box.

Live and let live.....

Yup, 3 D holographic cases with nice pictures :-)

I'm already searching for mine :)

Ok, we're good. I found my old silver one with the rose engraved on it.

The tragedy of occasionally catching a glimpse of an icky picture has been averted.

Thank you all for your support.

I hope smokers buy more so they die quicker.

More people die every year that workout, run, eat healthy and have never smoked or drank any alcohol in their life. Feel lucky Scott ?? At least I don't wish it on you.

Is prostrate cancer the kind you get where you're lying down?

Oh, stop with the "socialist" crap, it has nothing to do with smoking. I am as liberal as anyone and I smoke, and I am also not "PC". I would like to quit and save the fricken money though.

nycguy, you got that rite. Balance the budget (ooops they can't do that cause they've overspent so much), create jobs (never happen under this Pres -- got to take from the wealthy so the people who don't want to work can have as much as those who've worked all their lives). Secure our borders, are you serious, if we didn't allow the illegals in, then we couldn't spend tax dollars on their "Free" education and they wouldn't be able to vote as many of them do now even though the title "illegal" doesn't seem to mean anything. Last time illegal was mentioned to me was many, many years ago, I was driving illegally under the influence. It meant something then -- 1000 big ones. It's time America told the government to get lost.

Fatboy , You live in a mythical place if you seriously belive illegals vote ,get any benifits such as foodstamps ,health care , or unemployment . what they do get is taken advantage of so your veggies are cheap. They just like you can walk in to any hospital and be seen , its up to you to pay or not . So. why don,t you go pick lettuce or fruit for $ 4.00 an hour and take away a job from one of them !

a mythical place? I think you live in a place like that? where exactly are you from? They do receive benefits like that (cause if they don't why do we care so much about them coming in?) Its called one guy becomes a legal citizen and then can get all the welfare benefits by saying he takes care of his wife and 6 kids who are illegal. And nobody checks that, because he's legal. And if you think its wrong, don't tell other people to go pick veggies, you go do it, you telling other people to do the work you don't want to is the same as us telling them to do the job we don't wanna do.

Actually they have been caught voting, getting foodstamps and wellfare so it's not so much a mythical place as reality. There was one here arrested for vehicular manslaughter who was found to have a driver's license and a foodstamp card that he had aquired by using a dead man's social security number. He was driving drunk and killed a 19 year old on who was on his way to work. Everything may be rainbows and unicorns where you live.....but here in reality...not so much.

Yes they do check , you have to provide a finger print , birth cert , and ss card for everyone on the account . And I would love for someone to explain how less than 4% of the pop of the US is causing 14 trillion in debt and unemployment of 10% . 340 million citizens , estimate 21 million illegals as in Men, women , and children . are they all collecting and working ? Use your brain , they want your attention on this instead of what they are doing .

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) establishes eligibility
requirements for the Nutrition Assistance program. Eligibility is based on
the household’s resources, income and other requirements such as
residence, citizenship or qualified non-citizen status, and cooperation with
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Employment & Training program.

now a qualified non-citizen is someone with the right to work here , not illegal . Maybe you should look in to the rules alitte .

I'm sorry....unicorns, rainbows and GLITTER!

aww, that kinda makes me want to start...then I think about the cost

I think the tobacco industry is overstepping their authority by knowingly keeping people addicted to a product that kills at least a third of it's users while many more are reduced to long term health care.

Then outlaw it like pot? Oh no! We can sell cigarettes overseas to people who do not have our regulations. We cannot give up the tobacco tax!The jobs!

If all those anti-smoking people really believed what they say, cigarettes would be illegal.

Outlaw it like pot? Hemp was made illegal because of the multiple industries it could nearly replace do to it's usefulness.

How would outlawing cigarettes be so smart NYMike? Then it would be just like Meth, pot, cocaine, and ALL other illegal drugs. People everywhere are still enjoying a toke or a line or whatever it is they do. If they try to make cigarettes illegal then the prison system would be worse than it is now. Where do you want all of us convicted criminals to go? Maybe your house?

Hemp was made illegal because of the multiple industries it could nearly replace do to it's usefulness.

Yep, WIlliam Randolph Hearst was one of the people behind it. He owned acres and acres of timber and wanted his trees to be made into paper, not the easily sustainable hemp. Nice, huh?

As for cigs and/or pot - my motto is to smoke 'em if ya got 'em! Don't let some stupid pictures bully you.

Ok then take away all booze, fast food, reckless drivers and so on

It is not a disease. It's a choice!

I agree with sfm. If you're willing to set that precedent, then make all those other dangerous substances illegal. Few would be willing to follow suit if it meant beer would be illegal.

you know kthorne, not everyone who smokes is a chain smoker who goes through 3 packs a day. Its a choice. And we want to. It does not harm anyone else when I stand in my back yard and have a beer and a cig.

well since you are oblivious to the previous statements....there are multiple other addictive and harmful products in this country...tell me...do you like eating big macs? well, if you eat enough of them, you can have heart attacks from clogged arteries. Alcohol causes liver cancer! OH BOY! but that's ok, cause I'm not smoking....right

Read post #18.4 Change name of person I am posting to yours if applicable.

If you dont like my smoke then dont breath i have rights too 18 year vetren aint nobody gonna take away my freedom to smoke and no picture ever will either

well deb, people who get caught drinking and driving usually suffer other consequences, such as arrest, fines, etc. if you'd like, i'd vote to make smoking illegal so smokers can have those same rights.

Those of us who choose to smoke, usually get to suffer other consequences, too. Like hearing holier-and-healthier-than-thou rants by folks who can't mind their own business, getting taxed for my vice more so than anyone else for theirs, and any other general harassment y'all can think of because you think you make better choices than me.

If only everyone's sins and vices were as easy to spot as a smokers. Vote all you want - it'll not be made illegal. Too big a cash cow for the govt.

Lastly - Rights and Consequences are totally different concepts. Please try again.

People who rant on and on about cigarette rights are just addicts that won't admit they can't quit. Right? I'll bet you have tried at least once. Why would you want to quit something if you enjoy it so much? It's because secretly you hate it, but like a bad relative, you are powerless to do anything about it. I know. I know because I"m a reformed smoker (18 years pack a day) who hasn't puffed on one of those nasty things in over 20 years. I'm not holier-than-you, I just had the stones to quit and that was before all the aids available. I did it cold turkey and so can you if you weren't so in love with your ugly little monkey.

LOL - you obviously know nothing about me. I award you no points!!