GE bans smoking on all properties!!!

[FLBK7]

It's been a wild ride, hasn't it! Probably costs the tobacco companies 20 cents a pack, but the taxes have pushed most of them leaps and bounds beyond $5 each!

Yes, it's the taxes on the ciggies. I've reached the point that the rare times I see someone smoking, I actually LOOK at them because these days they're such a minority, at least in my area.

When I smoked, I smoked a pack a day. Go figure the expense...

NO WAY!!!

[WhatMoney]

i have to laugh when you say only 18% smoke in your state, also California says smoking is down. they base this on cigarette tax revenue.....did anyone ever stop to think that smokers are wising up and buying cigarettes online from indian casinos that charge NO state tax??? i have a friend that buys 8 cartons a month from a casino in New York, pays NO cigarette tax to New York OR California

The state percent smoker stats are from health records and surveys, not state cigarette taxes. How would you know the % smokers in SC or KY where taxes are low? Note CA is only 14.3% smokers. And Utah has the lowest death rate from lung cancer in the nation (they just die from boredom).

The number of smokers who illegally smuggle cigarettes across state lines using Internet ordering is only a small percent of smokers. Most still buy their cigarettes at local convenience outlets, bars, and supermarkets. But this does not change the % estimate for smokers, in any case. Your friend with his 2.7 pack a day habit is driving up all our health care costs. That's over 50 cigarettes/day. His lungs must be a mess. Ever see someone die from throat cancer?

Smokers always think there are more of them than reported. So do pot smokers, alcoholics, and crack heads. (Not that I have anything against alcohol or pot.)

State Current Cigarette Use (%)

Alabama 22.5
Alaska 22.2
Arizona 19.8
Arkansas 22.4
California 14.3
Colorado 18.7
Connecticut 15.5
Delaware 19.0
District of Columbia 17.3
Florida 19.3
Georgia 19.3
Hawaii 17.0
Idaho 19.2
Illinois 20.2
Indiana 24.1
Iowa 19.8
Kansas 17.9
Kentucky 28.3
Louisiana 22.6
Maine 20.1
Maryland 17.1
Massachusetts 16.4
Michigan 21.2
Minnesota 16.5
Mississippi 24.0
Missouri 24.6
Montana 19.5
Nebraska 19.9
Nevada 21.5
New Hampshire 19.4
New Jersey 17.2
New Mexico 20.8
New York 18.9
North Carolina 22.9
North Dakota 21.0
Ohio 23.1
Oklahoma 25.8
Oregon 16.9
Pennsylvania 20.9
Rhode Island 17.0
South Carolina 21.9
South Dakota 19.8
Tennessee 24.3
Texas 19.4
Utah 11.7
Vermont 17.6
Virginia 18.6
Washington 16.8
West Virginia 27.0
Wisconsin 19.6
Wyoming 22.1

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
2008 statistics.

[WhatMoney]

the homeless people you refer to as smokers that are a problem for police and cant afford their rent because they smoke must be the ones picking up all the bottles and cans. thats really a ridiculous statement you made. you are saying because someone smokes they cant afford their rent and cause problems for police???? .

OH i forgot to mention the used pampers strewn along with the fat food wrappers..you dont really care about people littering..just smokers that litter..

Wow - where do you live that the roadsides are strewn with Pampers and Big Mac wrappers? Remind me to never go there. I lived on the Northern CA coast for 14 years - I guess northerners were more considerate of the environment than your area.

I didn't say homeless people were smokers, and since most of us return our empty bottles and cans for cash, the homeless have a tough time making a living picking up the trash.

I had a 3 pack a day woman living below me for a couple years. It was misery - I had to seal every crack and wall outlet and keep my windows closed from the stink. Her white painted walls were yellow from tar when she moved out. It took 4 years for the management to get rid of the smell, which had permeated the walls. And yes, she was evicted because she couldn't afford her rent. Her habit was costing her about $400/month.

All the noisy partiers that once lived here were heavy smokers and drinkers of course. The cops arrested two of them for throwing empty beer bottles at the resident cars a level below me, and running their stereo at full blast with the speakers outside all day and night. They only put the jerks in jail for 5 days and a $600 fine - not enough. They were from Ga, btw, and left the state after that. And they also lived below me. I've had the neighbors from hell several times. It all cleared up once they restricted the place to non-smokers.

[helpmeout]

It's about time.

Also, why do smokers throw their butts on the ground. It is called littering by the way.

I agree, it's about time. Fortunately, the state I live in has banned smoking in public places (except outside). It's nice not to have to say non-smoking or having to walk through the smoking section to get to the bathroom at a restaurant. Or have a smoker walk through the non-smoking section with a lit cigarette.

I remember one time when I went to the store, opening my car door and seeing that someone had literally emptied the ashtray in their car in the parking lot. And then there is the time I was driving to school, it was bumper to bumper traffice. I looked down by the divider, it was like an ashtray. Guess the smokers didn't want to dirty up the ashtray in their car.

[helpmeout]

wow, more whining about cigarette smokers and their littering. has anyone walked about a 100 yards down the side of any major road? sure you will find a handfull of cigarette butts, but you will also find numerous beer bottles and cans, fast food wrappers from the fat slobs that roll out of Mc d,s and taco bell, nobody says anything about them, how about giving cigarette smokers a break, it seems to be all about the non smokers rights, a drunk driver can mess up your day a whole lot more than a little smoke yet no one complains about a drunk throwing beer cans out his car window. . if you feel threatened by the smoke why dont YOU move away from it. it seems everyone has mass hysteria about a little smoke, the trouble is no one can see through the smoke and see some of the other more serious problems... by the way i do NOT smoke,

Any type of litter is wrong. But having driven on major roads in bumper to bumper traffic (which does allow one to see the litter tossed on the side of the road, especially when one is the passenger), the litter was mostly tossed cigarette butts.

Hysteria about a little smoke? No, just facing reality that when a person smokes around other people, that person isn't the only one smoking. Why should I have to move away in a public place because of someone else's addiction? I'm not the one forcing secondhand smoke on people, the smokers who smoke in public are. They should be the ones to move away.

[OhioFiler]

Yes, it's the taxes on the ciggies. I've reached the point that the rare times I see someone smoking, I actually LOOK at them because these days they're such a minority, at least in my area.

When I smoked, I smoked a pack a day. Go figure the expense...

NO WAY!!!

Another brilliant liberal idea!

Supposedly to raise tax revenue to pay for medical expenses caused by smoking. In reality, just another fat cat spending resource. And of course, the people who end up being smacked the most? The poor. The poor smoke at rates much higher than the wealthy.

I thought liberals were all about helping the poor.

[helpmeout]

Another brilliant liberal idea!

Supposedly to raise tax revenue to pay for medical expenses caused by smoking. In reality, just another fat cat spending resource. And of course, the people who end up being smacked the most? The poor. The poor smoke at rates much higher than the wealthy.

I thought liberals were all about helping the poor.

Well, they can revolt by just saying no and quitting smoking. They would be healthier by doing that.

[WhatMoney]

Another brilliant liberal idea!
Supposedly to raise tax revenue to pay for medical expenses caused by smoking. In reality, just another fat cat spending resource. And of course, the people who end up being smacked the most? The poor. The poor smoke at rates much higher than the wealthy.

I thought liberals were all about helping the poor.

Another incredibly ignorant statement by OF. It's not even worth responding to.
I guess he wants to eliminate cigarette taxes so every poor 14 yr old kid can afford to get hooked early in life, and remain poor and sickly all their life.

[Logan]

if you feel threatened by the smoke why dont YOU move away from it.,

I was on vacation at Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos a couple of weeks ago. If you don't know Beaches it is a Kid friendly resort. We were at a talent show one night and one of the judges of the show decides to smoke a cigarette. One person in a crowd of 100 with many kids around decided that her right to smoke was more important than the other 100 peoples right to clean air.

I went to a parade one year in my town (a kids Christmas parade). My wife and I arrived early to get a good seat. Unfortunately for us a family sat next to us and the guy lights up. I asked him politely to smoke elsewhere and he basically was an A$$. I took his cigarette and broke it in half. He wanted to fight and I said OK--you take the first shot. He didn't.

Smokers affect everyone around them. I look down on smokers...Smokers are LOSERS!!!!

Logan

[Logan]

a drunk driver can mess up your day a whole lot more than a little smoke yet no one complains about a drunk throwing beer cans out his car window. .

Are you kidding?

[Logan]

Another brilliant liberal idea!

Supposedly to raise tax revenue to pay for medical expenses caused by smoking. In reality, just another fat cat spending resource. And of course, the people who end up being smacked the most? The poor. The poor smoke at rates much higher than the wealthy.

I thought liberals were all about helping the poor.

This is supposed to be a free country yet I can't sit on the beach without breathing someone else's smoke. So you're just less free if you don't smoke.

Actually, smokers are slaves to the cigarette so they are not free at all.

[OhioFiler]

Another incredibly ignorant statement by OF. It's not even worth responding to.
I guess he wants to eliminate cigarette taxes so every poor 14 yr old kid can afford to get hooked early in life, and remain poor and sickly all their life.

You have to my little troll. You can't stay away. I own you!

Why don't you just ignore me as I have you for weeks? I know why!

[OhioFiler]

Well, they can revolt by just saying no and quitting smoking. They would be healthier by doing that.

They don't realize who it is that is taxing them. They have no idea it is the "champions of the poor" like Pelosi, Reid and Kennedy (was).

[backtoschool]

You have to my little troll. You can't stay away. I own you!

Why don't you just ignore me as I have you for weeks? I know why!

I don't think that WhatMoney is a troll any more than you are OhioFiler.

Seriously, how could you possibly have a problem with cigarette taxes? My father had a massive heart attack and a stroke due to his cigarette habit. Nasty stuff.

[FLBK7]

Well, they can revolt by just saying no and quitting smoking. They would be healthier by doing that.

Bingo!