LA Times: Non-smokers "have the right not to be sickened by the choices of others"

[OwnedByCats]

86. Drinking by far is worse when you consider the population

at large, not just you. A person can smoke a cig, but drive just fine afterward. A person can smoke a cig and not become a different person, the sort of person who would hurt their loved ones, or fight with a random stranger in a bar. Alcohol can have some disastrous effects on people. My grandmother was an alcoholic and when she was sober, she was the sweetest woman on the planet. When she drank, she was MEAN, and could be abusive to my mother when she was a child. My best friend growing up had a mother who was exactly the same. Smoking doesn't do that.

My aunt's ex husband is an alcoholic. Not only did it ruin their marriage but he totally messed up his entire life because of his drinking. He was so consumed in his drinking he did not feed his cats and he was ill with pneumonia and didn't even know it. She went to his house because he wasn't answering his phone and she found him almost dead, and 3 dead cats from starvation and a horrible flea infestation. Smoking doesn't do that.

You cannot say smoking is worse on the whole just because you will get an asthma attack at the very first smell of cig smoke. Why do you think prohibition came about? Because it was seen as an ill to society because of addiction and the social implications of that. So they banned it, but found it only made matters worse.

Smoking is bad for you, but it is no where near as reckless as drinking on those who become addicted and it has a very nasty way of effecting innocent people in detrimental ways.