[Kosh]

Wow, that is surprising to hear.  I thought that smoking restrictions were pretty universal in the States as far as public places go.

They are, but I don't live in the states anymore. I live in Nanjing, China.


Here the tobacco companies are all owned by the government. So all the profits go to the government. From what I have heard, that is quite a lot of cash.

[aldo_14]

Addiction is good for helping remove dissent, too.  For one thing, think of all that dopamine floating around in the smokers brain.

[Flipside]

Funny thing is that, mentally, watching TV has a very similar effect on the brain to smoking.

[WMCoolmon]

I figure if you want to smoke...do it in private and I won't care. Light up at a bus station or something that I'm at and I'll be miffed. Generally I'll be gone soon, so I usually don't make a deal out of it. I figure if people want to risk killing themselves and getting addicted to satisfy a little rebellious mood, sure, go ahead.

Of course at the same time, if a law gets passed to ban smoking, I won't be too sympathetic 'til someone can give me a reason why besides 'because I feel like it'. (At least, tobacco smoking).