First off, SIN TAX can kiss my :moon:
I have been smoking since I was 13 years old...and my 30th b-day is only 8 months away. So, for the majority of my life I have induldged in the ONE vice I have truly ever had. (We aren't going to mention sex right now...
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I started smoking because of the friends I had at the time. (Yes, my parents smoked. BUT, they did their best to prevent me from becoming a smoker...including whipping my ass and taking my ciggs from me every chance they could.)
I continued smoking because it was the ONE thing that actually kept my nerves settled...and me from killing everyone around me. Also, since I had my ciggs, I didn't over-indulge in food whenever I was upset or so far down that nothing could pick me up. (Yeah, I used it as a crutch...but it DID prevent me from getting into heavy drugs or worse things.)
I have quit twice...because I was pregnant with each of my sons. I also tried to not start back up afterwards. Stress has been the main reason that I have started back each time.
I went from smoking indoors (before children) to smoking outdoors, in hopes that my children weren't hurt by my usage of tobacco. But, GUESS WHAT? My children still ended up with medical problems...and all of them had NOTHING to do with my habit.
Now, I smoke inside my home...because of the people that regulate the laws and everything in between. And as far as I know, they can't stop me from doing that...
I have to regulate where I eat out, where I drive, what I watch on tv/movies/dvds/vhs, etc. All because someone who doesn't know me or live my life feels that they know better than I do how to live my own life.
YEAH, I choose to continue to smoke...and fill my body with all the negativity from doing so. BUT IT IS MY BODY DAMMIT!
So, for me, I have to deal with paying anywhere from $1.20 to almost $5 (or more) per pack I smoke. And since we (hubby & I)both buy our ciggs in cartons, we spend between $12 and $50 per carton we buy. Which also means that we roughly spend between $96 and $400 a month to feed our habit.
Yes, I know that that is $$ that could be spent on other things...but when you get so sick from NOT smoking, you really don't have much other choice.
AND, as for the methods around for quitting, they are just as expensive, if not MORE. So, smokers have one of two choices...smoke and be thought of as disgusting and so forth...or we can "conform" and spend just as much trying to kick habits that are, for some, the only way to deal with normal pressures of life.
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NOW, as for the other topic that has been brought up...legalizing the usage of marijuana has been a debated topic since the 1960s. Until our government can figure out a money-making way to legalize the usage, it will continue to be deemed illegal for the majority of our populace.
And all the naysayers can gloat that they were right...that no matter what medicinal properties it has are irrelevant. And anyone who has experienced the medicinal properties (because of cancer, glaucoma, muscle spasms/tremors, etc.) will eventually get tired of the naysayers and continue their usuage -- often in fear of being caught and sentenced for using something that may very well be saving their lives.
Yet another situation that our government thinks they are handling so damn well...
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As for the thought that they may get the hair-brained idea of taxing sex...I'll still do that too.
WHAT I DO IN MY OWN HOME IS MY OWN DAMN BUSINESS! And if I choose to slowly kill myself...that is my choice.
All right, I have added my two cents...someone else want the soapbox??