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Tafkam Hokie

Joined: 10/07/1999 Posts: 35179
Likes: 13640


I generally agree, but smoking has a societal cost that goes above the


danger to the user.

Restricting smoking to outdoor settings does a lot to mitigate the risk of secondhand smoke. That was a necessary and readily justifiable step to protect nonsmokers from the choice to smoke.

But there is one other big issue with smoking that makes it not just an individual choice. The health care costs of smoking are borne by everyone, not just the smoker. So there is some pretty significant societal harm being done by smoking. And that is where societal protections bump heads with individual liberty, and I don't have a good answer for that.

We already see smoking surcharges on insurance rates. That's a good first step to protect both the right to smoke and the right of the nonsmoker to not be affected by it. But unless we can flatly exclude respiratory ailments and mouth/esophagal/lung cancer from medical coverage for smokers, there is still some pretty significant societal harm being borne by nonsmokers over the right to smoke.

(In response to this post by MP4VT2004)

Posted: 12/09/2021 at 10:03AM



+1

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Current Thread:
 
  
Man the smokers born in 2007 just made the cutoff… -- GreenvilleVT 12/09/2021 07:41AM
  Picked a bad day to quit sniffing glue ** -- B777Fr8Dog 12/09/2021 09:40AM
  Stacy's Mom is from New Zealand -- Brown Water 12/09/2021 09:15AM
  Apparently only those born after 2008. ** -- Tafkam Hokie 12/09/2021 09:50AM
  The older ones should leave under protest...lol ** -- EDGEMAN 12/09/2021 10:00AM
  Whoosh! -- EDGEMAN 12/09/2021 11:27AM
  Blackmarket for cigarettes- awesome ** -- bigbadbird 12/09/2021 08:46AM
  New Zealand is something else. -- MP4VT2004 12/09/2021 07:53AM
  Like the liberty to smoke marijuana? ** -- typed by ben 12/09/2021 10:05AM
  SMDH ** -- ColoVT82 12/09/2021 09:06AM
  Sounds like I just won a major award -- Tafkam Hokie 12/09/2021 10:32AM
  You sound like a libertarian...lol -- EDGEMAN 12/09/2021 09:39AM
  ^^ This ^^ ** -- vt90 12/09/2021 09:19AM
  Are you just being intentionally difficult? -- MP4VT2004 12/09/2021 09:08AM
  Then they should also crack down on obesity. -- MP4VT2004 12/09/2021 09:04AM
  I understand your point... -- great2bahokie 12/09/2021 09:08AM
  Not all food is bad...just saying...lol ** -- EDGEMAN 12/09/2021 10:03AM

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