Queue on 24/6/2009 at 13:51
Here in Michigan, the state taxes per pack are about $2.00. Once you add in the federal tax, retail mark-up, and blah blah, the average price per pack is around $6.00.
The irony of this is that while everyone is complaining about the rising cost of living and the poor economy (we who have the the highest unemployment rate in the country), tobacco use is on the rise. Greatly.
I guess for some - though they are broke from trying to pay for gasoline, energy, groceries, mortgages they can't afford thanks to sub-prime lending, dining out (because that's what one does when they are broke) or buying a couple of Hungry Howies pizza every night at fourteen-bucks a pop instead of making your own for about $3.00 worth of material - that six bucks is a bargain.
Oh--and the money we got from the Tobacco Company Settlement that was intended to go toward cancer research and prevention programs went, instead, to the roads.
We have wonderful roads here...
SubJeff on 24/6/2009 at 15:05
Chimpy - you don't want to know. The long and short is that from a purely utilitarian POV smoking is good for the NHS.
Turtle on 24/6/2009 at 15:38
Quote Posted by Queue
We have wonderful roads here...
You mean our newly graveled roads?
They're a treat!
No, wait. I ride a motorcycle.
They're a deathtrap!
Queue on 24/6/2009 at 18:03
Dick Powell, John Wayne, Agnes Moorehead, and Susan Hayward were all heavy smokers and died of cancer. But, maybe it weren't the smokes that did 'em in as they had (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conqueror) The Conqueror in common, too.
Well
I found it interesting.
nickie on 24/6/2009 at 18:43
Quote Posted by Dia
Reason for the bile? Last week an old friend stopped by & brought one of her friends along. I'd never met the woman before & didn't know she was a non-smoker, however my friend had already informed her that I live in a smoking-allowed household . . . She actually had the balls to order me to put out my cig .... IN MY OWN FUCKING HOME!!!! Had I known beforehand that my friend's friend was a non-smoker I probably would have refrained from lighting up in her presence just out of consideration, but when she went all apeshit I decided otherwise. My house, my rules; at least til the government says otherwise and even then I'd like to see 'em enforce
that one . . .
You tell 'em Dia - I'm on your side!!!
But, in the UK, the government has seen fit to interfere in the 'home'. Smoking is banned in the workplace. But what constitutes workplace is a bit tricky. For instance, you're a lorry driver and your lorry is your place of work - NO SMOKING. But then you pull over for the night and it becomes your home - so you CAN SMOKE. You can smoke in your home but if one of those rooms is your office, you can't smoke in there because it's your workplace. You can smoke in your home but, if you have an 'official' type person (can't remember what sort now but it wasn't a nurse or other health visitor surprisingly) officially visiting, then you can't smoke. The list is endless.
Eldron on 25/6/2009 at 09:13
It is quite possible to be an alcohol drinker without being an alcohol addict,
but being a smoker without being addicted to nicotine, does that happen often?
Coffée is the most mainstream addiction out there though :)
Dia on 25/6/2009 at 11:11
Quote Posted by nickie
But, in the UK, the government has seen fit to interfere in the 'home'. Smoking is banned in the workplace. But what constitutes workplace is a bit tricky. For instance, you're a lorry driver and your lorry is your place of work - NO SMOKING. But then you pull over for the night and it becomes your home - so you CAN SMOKE. You can smoke in your home but if one of those rooms is your office, you can't smoke in there because it's your workplace. You can smoke in your home but, if you have an 'official' type person (can't remember what sort now but it wasn't a nurse or other health visitor surprisingly) officially visiting, then you can't smoke. The list is endless.
Wow; how can they enforce that if you work from your home? So far, in all the places indoors where there's no smoking allowed I have yet to see any sort of device (like a smoke alarm) that goes off if you light one up. Usually there's just an alert fellow citizen who'll remind you that you're in a no smoking area. I've never deliberately pushed the issue, but did light one while in a public area while visiting in Chicago just after the ban took effect (I wasn't thinking, honest!). I didn't get arrested or fined or anything; just warned by a passing citizen that I was in a non-smoking area of the park.
nickie on 25/6/2009 at 11:41
They can't enforce it. As they can't enforce the law against you smoking in your car if there's an occasional time when you give people a lift. Ordinarily I suppose I wouldn't have known all these different rules but I was an employer living in my place of work when the ban first came in and had to find out. Ignorance is no defence unfortunately.
But then, we're completely beset by mindless bureaucracy here. I'd like another country please - I pretty much have had enough of this one.
Dia on 25/6/2009 at 13:34
Yeah. I'm just curious as to how the government plans on enforcing all the bans everywhere and what the punishment is for being a repeat offender.
I do know that at one company out here you're not allowed to smoke anywhere 'on campus' (& it's a huge frakkin' campus, mind you), not even in your car in the parking lot. The company has security guys driving around the parking lot checking to see if anyone's smoking in their car (yeah, I know that's not all they're checking on). I know this because I went with a friend who had an interview at that company & sat in her car to wait while she had her interview. Naturally, while I was waiting I lit up (she's a smoker too & doesn't mind smoking in her car) & within a couple minutes there was a security guard tapping on the window telling me to put out the cig or go off campus if I wanted to smoke. He told me I get 3 warnings. I asked him what happened after the 3rd warning & he said I'd be fired. So, I calmly told him I wasn't an employee, but that I understood he was just doing his job & put out the cig, walked the two blocks to the sidewalk where I thought the campus ended & lit up again. I'll be damned if he didn't follow me & tell me that the sidewalk was considered a part of the company's campus and that I'd have to go across the freeway to smoke (yeah, right; like I'm gonna just dodge thru traffic, hop over the 3ft. high concrete median, & then dodge traffic some more just to have a smoke). At that point I was pretty irritated, but, knowing a little about County zoning laws I merely took a few steps towards the freeway til I was standing on the curb & continued to smoke my cig. When he started to object I advised him that the couple of feet of grass from the sidewalk to the curb are considered County property and that the company had absolutely no jurisdiction there. The way he said, 'I'd better go check my policy book' made me think of Garrett saying 'I'd better go check my map'. :laff:
SubJeff on 25/6/2009 at 13:54
I didn't know you were so wild Dia! :p
