The smoking debate

[Weltall]

Originally posted by A Black Falcon
Okay, maybe Virginia doesn't have the cigarettes out by the checkout.

But the states in that area do keep things such as smokeless tobacco in convenience stores in stands that are just out in the store... something that is quite definitely illegal up here.

Wrong again. Snuff and chew are kept in the same locked areas that smokes are. That's a federal law, I believe.

Yet beer and wines aren't locked up. Ever. Now, in Virginia all liquors are sold directly from state ABC stores, so minors can't easily get to the hard stuff, but beer and wine can do just as much damage.

What I can't understand is that while alcohol is a serious threat and a much faster and deadlier killer than tobacco, it's tobacco that is always under the microscope. I don't know about you guys, but a substance that results in not only deaths resulting from drunk driving (which kills FAR more innocents than Secondhand smoking does), to say nothing of how it destroys the lives of individuals and their families seems, to me anyway, a far more serious health hazard than a substance which might kill you if you expose yourself to it for years on end. You have as much chance of getting skin cancer from standing out in the sun unprotected as you do getting lung cancer from second-hand smoke.

Therefore, I propose we ban the sun, since some people are forced to work in an environment where they cannot avoid sun exposure.