Was a long time ago now, from memory 80pct of the kids smoked. Certainly ALL of my friends did, but it’s irrelevant to this discussion because the fact is, I and millions of others did start smoking for a million different reasons.

Throughout my life upto 1.5 years ago, I would have said legalise all drugs and that people should have the choice to smoke as many cigarettes as they wished 24 hours a day, inside or outside. Over my life I have been an avid user of everything. No laws ever held me back.

But…..

Now that I’m so sick……

Now that I have learned what these things do to us……

Now that I have learned how addictive these things are…..

Now that I have learned that the only people who benefit are the share holders…..

Now…….My head says “No” these horrible things should be banned.

Why should share holders benefit from killing and hurting people? Why should governments benefit from the tax? The government’s job is to protect the people not kill ‘em.

Do you really think its ok if you smoke a bit, but in doing so, this enables so many other people to have problems?

Wouldn’t you, kinda feel like you are helping people? Helping the world be a better place if you passed over the opportunity to smoke to save some others? Do you really feel good about having the right to smoke…but in doing so enable millions of other less informed people to get hurt? Is your right to smoke so important that millions of people can die? I’m NOT saying you are responsible, not in the slightest, you are not, but insisting on your right to smoke is a little short sighted given the magnitude of the problem.

Googled at randiom and taken from here…… http://www.inforesearchlab.com/smokingdeaths.chtml

• Around 5.4 million deaths a year are caused by tobacco.
* Smoking is set to kill 6.5 million people in 2015 and 8.3 million humans in 2030, with the biggest rise in low-and middle-income countries.
* Every 6.5 seconds a current or former smoker dies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Over 438,000 Americans (18.1 percent of all deaths) die because of smoking each year. Secondhand smoke kills about 50,000 of them.
• 1.2 million people in China die because of smoking each year. That's 2,000 people a day.
• Tobacco use will kill 1 billion people in the 21st century if current smoking trends continue.
• Around 100 million people died because of tobacco use in the 20th century.
• 650,000 Europeans die each year from tobacco-related diseases, EU figures reveal.
• In India, about 900,000 Indians a year die from smoking-related diseases, that's nearly one in 10 of all deaths in India. Half of Indian males use tobacco and it is becoming more popular with younger people.
• In Russia, smoking kills between 400,000 and 500,000 Russians every year from smoking ailments.
• In Japan, smoking is the leading cause of death and is responsible for 20% of all cancers. 50 percent of men and 14 percent of women smoke.
• About 140,000 Germans die every year from tobacco-related illnesses. Nearly one in three German adults smokes regularly. Some studies estimate that 3,000-4,000 deaths per year can be attributed to passive smoking.
• In Turkey, around 110,000 people each year die of smoking-related illnesses, according to official figures.
• In France, there are about 66,000 smoking-related deaths each year and up to 5,800 deaths from passive smoking, inhaling the smoke of smokers. About 12 million people are smokers, 25 percent of the population.
• Mexico has around 65,000 cigarette-related deaths a year. The country has 105 million people.
• In Spain, there are 50,000 smoking-related deaths annually. About 30 percent of Spaniards smoke.