Happy New Year!!

[A Black Falcon]

Drinking alchohol can probably be done safely in moderation... cigarettes, though, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that just one does immediate permanant harm to your health... as I've said before, I wish they were illegal. It's clearly bad, and has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Quite the opposite is true. Again as I've said before, this is why the people who say "marijuana isn't as bad as cigarettes (but it's close)" don't have a good point... even if they are right, that isn't exactly an argument I'd take as one in favor of legalizing the stuff. :) We are making good steps towards reducing smoking, though, with things like banning smoking in restaurants and bars (in this state, at least), and public buildings, etc... progress, anyway. Public building smoking bans are nationwide, but I hope to see the restaurant/bar ones spread too... a couple of European countries have done it (Ireland, not sure if any others have yet, maybe one or two), and a few US cities and states (New York City, Boston, Maine, etc)...

alchohol? Yeah, it's very damaging too, though I don't think scientific evidence clearly says 'even one is bad'... you know, those studies that say some wine might be good for you, etc... I don't drink, but my parents do (a glass of wine with dinner, for instance), and never had any problems with abuse of alchohol or anything... I'm just not interested. (oh yes, and when they did try to ban alchohol, it failed miserably. Leaving it legal,while making the best effort possible to keep people from drinking and driving, is probably the best we can do...)