And your comedian contradicts you (you support ban of smoking in pubs) and supports my argument where he objects to the inconstancy in cigarettes still being sold. I'm saying that cigarettes should not be sold.
He does not support your argument at all. Through the medium of humour he does point out the current government reasoning behind smoking bans (i.e. Control over Health), that does not equate to supporting outright bans on smoking.
Do you want me to get Bill Hicks out next? He's a bit more vitrollic on the matter, although I find him a wee bit less funny, he also doesn't really approach smoking from a 'freedom of the individual' point of view as much as a 'fuck you you non-smoking ****' point of view. (No, pointing out he died of cancer related to his smoking will not help your cause.
Which is NOT the same as an outright ban like heroin is banned. You can own tobacco and smoke it where your habit cannot affect others, but you cannot sell it for profit. You can grow your own tobacco plant but you cannot sell it any more than you can honestly sell asbestos insulation: you are profiting off something that gives people cancer.
I think the only accountable way cannabis for recreational use could be legalised if the legalised sale was only of a food form where it is totally impractical to smoke - which hugely contributes to cancer and damaging the pulmonary system. Weed brownies and weed tea are a safe way of getting the recreational high from Cannabis. Enterprising individuals might smoke it, but some people might open their petrol tank and start huffing the vapours, you can't stop people using things against their intended purpose.
I'm well aware that cannabis would never be legalised. I don't get where you're coming from with your 'food form' argument though? Are you saying its unfeasible to sell the plant as a fairly raw and unprocessed form? I'd say it's perfectly reasonable to weigh and sell the dried flowers and subtending leaves of the female cannabis plant as a method of regulating sale. That (back when I were a young lad and I did these sorts of things) was the preferred method of serving up ones weed.
Once again, suggesting it should be legalised, taxed and therefore made profitable to the government, whilst something I absolutely think should happen, is not something I believe will ever happen, nor is it something I'm going to go out and actively campaign for, so to that end I'm hardly going to bother looking at the details and logistics such a decision would entail.
I have assisted in the treatment of people who have suffered from the diseases of smoking. I met a gentleman who could barley speak and he can never ever again eat anything, the combination of the smoking, the cancer, and the treatment to remove the cancer before it killed him, completely destroyed his throat. If he ate anything, he'd instantly choke. He had a persistent and agonising cough as every time he swallowed the saliva went into his lungs.
I live in an old industrial town in Yorkshire with large amounts of traffic going through it and 3 coal power plants within 40 miles, A lot of kids I went to school with, and adults I know now, suffer from varying degrees of Asthma ...
So, should we ban cars and shut down all coal-fired power plants?
When I saw this and so many others I knew no one should be allowed to profit off doing this to someone. And nearly every shop in the UK still sells cigarettes.
I think that as long as people are honest about what they're doing, they should be able to profit from anything.
Some people sell windows zip files on eBay, some people sell chemical infused plants that people burn and inhale into their lungs.
You go to a hospital and you help with the people afflicted by the diseases of smoking, you'll see it's not slippery slope, it's no government control, it is a fundamental injustice to sell cigarettes which are ONLY for smoking.
I work in a job where people have to fill out no fewer than 4 different forms if they hurt themselves conducing Physical Training, or doing any other activity for that matter.
I have a friend who has recently been suspended from teaching because one of her primary school students broke his arm playing Rugby on the playground. This is a Yorkshire town where Rugby is pretty much the local religion - Kids play it, it's what they do - My friend was suspended because she was the duty teacher that playtime, and the school has banned all contact sports. These kids, instead of playing on the field (in view of the teacher), were playing on solid concrete in front of the school (where there were no teachers watching).
Now, thankfully the parents have gotten involved so she should be back at work, but she (as well as all the other teachers at the school), have recieved lengthy briefs on how important it is to enforce the schools stringent health and saftey rules.
...
Thats an anecdote, now go google 'Rugby player killed in game'. Or "List of Ice Hockey players who died during their Playing Career"... etc. etc. etc.
Thing is, these sports have evolved to become safer over the years (better equipment, rules within the games to help prevent players being injured/killed), but people still die, people are still injured, paralysed, etc. And those that don't still tend not to live as long as other people because of the toll that playing takes on their bodies.
So, should we ban contact sports?
I agree, smoking is bad. People shouldn't do it. However, it should not be the place of the government to decide what people can and cannot do with their own bodies.
