Oregon considering raising smoking age to 21...

[Wild Cobra]

That might actually make sales go down. They'd rather just make a symbolic law so they can tell voters they are "doing something". If tobacco is so ing bad, then they should go ahead and make it illegal. As we've long discussed, look how well that works for everything else.

This isn't about the law, it's about control. The elitists think they know best.

[Winehole23]

21 to puff in Oregon. What is the country coming to?

[Strike]

Hey...

I live if this ed up state.

Lawmakers everywhere, not just Oregon, have stupid ideas. Why is that news?

Because I live in Oregon, too. It's news to me. Thought I'd share it with the group. If you don't give a crap, don't post.

[Strike]

Drinking age used to be 18 and was raised to 19, 20 and then 21 in consecutive years. And I'm not sure what the proportionate death doll for meth or heroin vs nicotine cigarettes is, but I'm willing to bet both of my balls that there are tens of millions more smokers than there are meth and heroin addicts. Without looking with the stats I'm also willing to bet that if you add up the annual death tolls of all amphetamines (including meth), cocaine and heroin, and then multiply that number by 10, it still won't equal the cigarette death toll.

That has nothing to do with the point I was trying to make. More people die from smoking than meth and heroin because more people smoke than use meth and heroin. That is painfully obvious. My point was that while cigarettes are bad for you, meth and heroin are probably worse. Most smokers who get sick from smoking usually do so after many years of use. On the other hand, you can do smack or meth for a month and it will not only trash the out of your body but it can also do irreversible damage. Generally not the case with tobacco.

[desflood]

Its an abomination to be mature enough to die for your country but not be mature enough to decide whether or not to smoke.

[Winehole23]

^^^Persuasive then, persuasive now.

[Wild Cobra]

Because I live in Oregon, too. It's news to me. Thought I'd share it with the group. If you don't give a crap, don't post.

[/sarcasm]
Actually, the particular fact was news to me too. My point was simply that politicians are always making stupid laws.

What do you think of the changes they made for school zones and changes in the crosswalk laws over the last few years? Bike boxes? You name it, and stupid things are not just in our state.

Where in Oregon do you live?

[Strike]

[/sarcasm]
Actually, the particular fact was news to me too. My point was simply that politicians are always making stupid laws.

What do you think of the changes they made for school zones and changes in the crosswalk laws over the last few years? Bike boxes? You name it, and stupid things are not just in our state.

Where in Oregon do you live?

Didn't catch the sarcasm. Usually I do. And I live in Portland. Milwaukie to be more specific.

I'm not aware of the changes made for school zones and crosswalk laws. I do remember for a short time that the speed limit in school zones was changed to 20 mph at all times instead of "school hours" or "when children were present". That was re ed, in my opinion. Thankfully it didn't last long.

I used to love this state and never considered living anywhere else. I've always been a fan of no sales tax and the bottle bill, especially the addition of water bottles to the standard. But after a few years ago when gay marriage was shot down I thought of Jello Biafra who said "So this is Oregon, huh? TOLERANT OREGON!" I thought Oregonians were more evolved than that. Apparently I was wrong. Now with this whole smoking thing being discussed I am forced to ask myself what the is going on in this state?

I continue to fall back on the cliche argument "If you're old enough to vote for your leaders and die for your country, why are you not old enough to have a beer (and possibly a smoke)?

I don't get it.

[J.T.]

That has nothing to do with the point I was trying to make. More people die from smoking than meth and heroin because more people smoke than use meth and heroin. That is painfully obvious. My point was that while cigarettes are bad for you, meth and heroin are probably worse. Most smokers who get sick from smoking usually do so after many years of use. On the other hand, you can do smack or meth for a month and it will not only trash the out of your body but it can also do irreversible damage. Generally not the case with tobacco.

I still disagree with you. Most of the meth and heroin death toll numbers come from ODs. Everyone knows that meth causes massive physical defects, heroin s up your veins as well and makes you feel like death, and both of them make you lose your teeth. But get real. A month of moderate use of either of those substances may increase and accelerate the physical addiction symptoms but you won't get meth mouth or have pitch black collapsed veins.

If users did those drugs every day for an extended period of time, of course it's going to quicken the onset of the more noticeable effects. But that kind of frequency is rare. Yes, meth and heroin have potentially more dangerous and hasty consequences of doing them, but you have to do high amounts of the substance, at a high potency and a high frequency. Cigarette smoking across the board is worse, and it has a laundry list of diseases and harmful effects that can occur LONG before getting lung cancer or dying from it.

[Obstructed_View]

This isn't about the law, it's about control. The elitists think they know best.

If they really thought that, they'd have the guts to try to outlaw it. They'd rather bad mouth it publicly, pass impotent laws and take the tax money that it generates.

[Wild Cobra]

If they really thought that, they'd have the guts to try to outlaw it. They'd rather bad mouth it publicly, pass impotent laws and take the tax money that it generates.

Isn't that a type of control?

[Heath Ledger]

I say go for it. This will be great for military recruting just think of the masses of Oregonians signing up to work for uncle sam so they can smoke their cancer sticks.

Brilliant I say....

[Obstructed_View]

Isn't that a type of control?

If by "control" you mean "not actually controlling it" then yes.