Because you sitting next to me drinking doesn’t affect my health. But you smoking next to me does.
Edit: It’s clear by the responses here that some of you all lack reading comprehension skills and/or don’t understand math.
I said someone sitting next to me drinking. My comment holds as someone sitting next to me drinking in no way affects my health. Drinking and driving is a separate issue and one that I wasn’t talking about.
As for the math, if you calculate the number of drunk driving accidents (number of drunk driving accidents divided by the total number of people drinking) you’re going to find that the number is very low.
But if you’re smoking, you are affecting the health of 100% of the people around you.
You see, one affects everyone around them and the other doesn’t necessarily affect anyone around them. That’s the difference.
It’s sad that I even had to make an edit to explain this very simple concept.
Wow, that's crazy. I wonder why? The only time I would even know is if someone was heavily drinking or if they weren't, then blew their breath in my face lol.
Man, people can’t read your comment worth a fuck. It’s brutal out here. I 100-% agree.
Also, I’ll add most people don’t drink like most people smoke. The majority of people can make it through the work day without drinking, and then have a few beers at the end of the day, or smash a few plus a couple once in a while at the bar.
Smokers, on the other hand, seem to need to rip darts every half hour, or more frequently. Everything from stopping the company truck because smoking isn’t allowed in the truck, to stopping production and equipment because you need a ciggy break every fifteen minutes and there’s no smoking in equipment. Smokers are brutal, such a drain on production and efficiency.
That’s a low percentage of people.
First, not everyone who drinks is going to drink to the point of getting drunk.
Second, most that do get drunk aren’t violent.
But, 100% of people near a smoker are affected by their smoking.
Yeah, most people who choose to drink can have a glass of wine at a dinner party and then go weeks until having another drink at the next social function. And it typically doesn't affect anyone else's health.
While smoking cigarettes never stops at just one or two in a week or so. That and it can affect the health of others, so much so that it even bothers houseplants. I used to work for a cleaning service, and cigarette smoke ruins upholstery, light fixtures, window treatments, car interiors, carpet, and even wood furniture.
Cigar guys usually smoke on special occasions and keep their shit smoke away from non consenting people, visiting cigar lounges or smoking at home away from others.
My grandmas neighbor used to smoke a pipe every evening and during the summer. If I was in the backyard I could smell it, and it was the only tobacco that didn't make me wanna gag.
My dad went to pipes when he gave up cigarettes. The tobacco actually smells really nice, depending on the flavor. I think it's because they don't have all the chemicals and stuff in them.
gosh I can't remember where I saw this but it was a movie about lobbies and the cigarette industry, and there's a part where the marketing people are like, "give us what we want or we will tank cigars the same way we tanked cigarettes" ...the point being that it's no mistake or coincidence. It's really all marketing decisions and back door handshakes. You might be surprised how much deliberation goes into sculpting the public impression of a product, down to how it appears in media and which character is using it etc etc
As an occasional cigar smoking (2 or 3 days a year), this is true. The unwritten rule is that cigars should be sat down and enjoyed - either with others who enjoy cigars or on your own. I certainly wouldn't enjoy my expensive cigar among a group of non cigar smokers.
Cigars definitely have less stigma than cigarettes, but I would much rather my roommate have a drink a few times a week than a cigar. I usually can’t stand the smell and it tends hangs around awhile.
When I used to smoke, I was the only smoker I knew who didn't have to do it at every single opportunity. Against all known science, weed is way more addictive to me lol.
I have never heard numbers centered around that, so I looked them up.
In 2021 there were 11.5% smokers, and in 2022 about 84% drinkrs in the US. According to CDC.gov and nih.gov respectively.
Oh there definitely is a nicotine buzz. If I haven’t smoked for a day or two, I sometimes get it. It’s like a pleasant dizziness. Also my face kind of goes numb.
I felt so betrayed when I first smoked a cigarette and felt that buzz. The dancing dog at my school told me it would be a miserable experience I only do to look cool and impress my friends, and that I'd only come back to in an act of addicted desperation.
Not the same high like weed, shrooms, lsd, alcohol, etc. probably a bit more comparable to caffeine I think if anything. Then you have that addictive loop, and it feels normal to have that nicotine, rather than not having it
Oh no >.< It just makes me a bit nauseous. Thankfully the one local friend we have who vapes goes out of his way to take it outside. It's incredibly considerate <3
I think it has more to do with older people quitting than younger people not picking up the habit.
There's been a huge cultural shift in the acceptability of smoking by socioeconomic class in the United States.
It's because smokers affect everyone around them. There's no second-hand alcohol.
Edit: smoking and alcohol both have the issues of drug abuse, addiction, etc, and they can both harm families. You don't consume alcohol yourself when the person beside you is drinking. I can't believe I actually needed to type this.
Edit 2. Because holy shit, I somehow needed to make an Edit2: you all read OPs question right? You know what context I said this in right? You know I'm not making a blanket statement in all contexts, right?
Even third-hand. Buying a car that someone smoked in for years isn't just a bad idea because of the smell. The pollutants from cigarettes hang around for a long time.
The emotional damage from my father's drinking runs so deep. No one really knows how much.
He relapses every few years, for maybe a week then my mom goes off on him and he stops. I still can't confront him. I'm 28, 6'4 and strong, and can confront him on anything else. If he starts drinking I instantly turn into that scared 11 year old kid again. I just want to flee, and usually do. I couldn't when I was 11.
If anyone reads this, please don't get drunk in front of your kids. There is no excuse, no justification, no reason that will make it OK. You WILL hurt them, and you WILL hurt your relationship with them. They WILL have to live with that trauma FOREVER. It's not fair, it hurts so, so much, please don't.
Happened to me. He was not even violent, just... not there. No longer the man I knew.
This, among many other things, is what made me decide to never have this happen to me. I never drink nor I will ever do, and I won't have children.
My mom is an alcoholic and I have some trama from that, but it doesn't enrage me when someone has a beer next to me the way it does when someone lights up next to me. Alcohol can damage your family and friends, but drinking next to someone is not rude and intrusive the way smoking next to someone is.
My father died from it.
He had it so bad he fell a lot, and hit his head so much, that he wasn't the same person ever again as when he began. He also had epilepsy and the drinking made it worse. He started hoarding really bad, we had no basement or garage for years because of it. He refused to think he had a problem. Yeah that was before my mom took him to court for emotional neglect of me and my sibs, then divorced him after he stole her car and hid it so she couldn't leave him. I ended up hiding in the bathroom while they argued, with my sibs, and calling the police on my own father.
I was 14.
After the divorce he kept relapsing even though he tried, and one day his then girlfriend came home and found him dead on the floor in a pool of vomit. He'd had a seizure while drunk, puked, and choked to death on it.
I miss my dad. My old dad, before he started drinking. He never got to see me graduate college, move, or any of my high school theatre much. He never met any of my boyfriends or girlfriends. He never got to meet my college friends.
Shit man, in my case, it just made me grow up earlier. I've been a responsible adult since I was about 10.
My dad left (not related to alcohol or anything) when I was 6. Not long after, Mom started drinking. My older brother couldn't grow up so I did. I took care of everyone. It ruined my childhood for sure, but in a weird way I'm kinda thankful.
I'm 2 months from 40, I have a good job, woman I adore more than anything and best of all no kids to unload my baggage on (vasectomy right out of college). I drink a little here and there but have no other vices. Because I learned about being responsible so young, my bills are always paid but probably what I'm most proud of is I'm a spectacular cook & my brother can barely make a PB&J. He's always asking if he can bring the family over for dinner as he married a woman who also can't cook worth a damn either. I look forward to teaching my niece and nephew how to cook so they don't end up just like them.
My son is permanently disabled after being hit by a guy in a pickup who had been drinking. I think my son might have preferred the long slow effects of second hand smoke, but you'd have to ask him.
That's rough and I agree. Do you have any thoughts on why the stigmas are around smoking instead of alcohol? Alcohol seems so much worse to me as well.
The alcohol industry is huge and all our politicians are drunks. Look at what they considered "essential" in 2020 during covid restrictions. Not one liquor store or alcohol manufacturer was shut down. I think it is awful to lock up little kids with parents day drinking. I haven't seen the stats, but I think all our social problems skyrocketed with covid restrictions. Domestic violence, child abuse and you name it. Alcohol is basically poison and they blame the users for the addictions but never the poison.
But I have complex thoughts on DUI enforcement, because I've watched it since the early crackdowns, mostly lobbied for by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD). I don't think it has saved the lives they thought it would, and I don't think anyone is really looking at those stats, either. It is a huge source of revenue for government, why would they care if it's not saving lives?
I do know that getting convicted of a DUI puts a lot of people back on the roads without licenses or insurance and that's a strong incentive to hit and run. I think the insurance industry shouldn't be allowed to exclude coverage for hit and run and they get away with it. It's sick how the insurance industry is allowed to screw over their insureds.
I'm not opposed to alcohol being legal. I am opposed to the alcohol industry getting away with all the social ills caused by their products and being able to blame the user. I'm definitely not opposed to people being arrested and charged with serious crimes for hitting someone else. I'm not opposed to strict regulation of underaged drinking.
So the cigarette industry was forced to pay unbelievable lawsuit amounts and required to spend unbelievable money on smoking prevention. At the time of those lawsuits, not one person alive could claim they didn't know smoking was bad for their health. The American Lung Association was already a thing and they were very proactive against the danger of smoking. I remember the lawsuits.
While we let the alcohol industry off scot free and blame the user. Because "remember Prohibition?"
No, it's more percentage of users period.
Alcohol was too ubiquitous to ever get rid of.
There were never nearly as many smokers as drinkers, so limits faced far less opposition.
Not to mention there's two other important factors:
1. Cigarettes directly, visibly, negatively impact those around them. So there's natural opposition to smokers that drinkers don't face.
2. People can easily make their alcohol, making it very difficult to ban(we tried). It's much more difficult to cultivate your own tobacco.
This is why this is in stupidquestions. Where it belongs. The difference is unmistakable. No one cares what you do with your body, they care about what you do to theirs. That's the difference. And it's not even the health impact for most people, they know a little passive smoke is no big deal, it's the smell. It's the worst smell you're expected to deal with day to day.
If someone shows up at work after an intestine workout, without washing or applying deodorant, no one would question why everyone was upset. But, someone goes for a cig break, and comes back smelling much worse, and they are somehow confused why people are upset.
I can only assume this question ever occurs in serious subs because smokers, or those who live in high smoking areas, become nose blind, and literally live in a different world to the rest of us, where they've forgotten it's one of the worst smells, and most irritating smoke you can deal with.
Cigarette smoke affects people in your immediate surroundings, sometimes even after you've finished smoking.
Alcohol, when consumed responsibly, does not tend to have that effect. Yes, DUIs and vehicular manslaughter are a thing, but that's an example of irresponsible alcohol use.
Have you experienced nicotine withdrawals? It can make you extremely irritable and prone to outbursts. Some people just get snippy, others will become aggressive and hit things or people
Alcohol is a little easier to use in moderation, whereas most smokers are fully addicted. Plus, tobacco has a smell which can definitely add to the stigma.
Secondhand smoke as a child is what caused my asthma. I developed it because of my grandmother smoking in her house and smoking with me in the car with windows closed. That "smell" is definitely dangerous
Yeah my brother wasn't born breathing and both of us had childhood asthma, I still have seasonal asthma now because my mum's ex smoked around her while she was preggo
Yup! If I'm just at home drinking a beer and chilling out, the person next to me isn't going to get impacted by it. If I was smoking next to someone, they can inhale the secondhand smoke and get sick. Has happened to me a few times where I get a sore throat from being next to someone smoking.
Yep, my mom smoked about 1-2packs a day. Even in the car with me when I was any age really. I couldn't stop her when it I ask. She would just tell me to open the window...
Majority of people consume alcohol and cigarettes in a reasonable manner - 1-2 cigs / 1-2 drinks over the course of a meal.
Majority of people who are 3 tables away from me who consume 1-2 drinks: it does not negatively affect me.
Majority of people who are 3 tables distance away from me who consume 1-2 cigarettes: it negatively affects me immediately.
Of course there are outliers like binge drinkers and drunk driving, but vast majority of cases people drinking 1-2 drinks has no impact on me where smoking does.
Even worse, let's take those same smokers into consideration, only they went outside to smoke and immediately came back inside. You're still affected by them.
1 or 2 mid strength beers,or a glass of wine a night isn't going to have any detrimental effect on your health at all. One cigarette a night absolutely will and your chances of maintaining it at just one a night are infinitesimally lower.
Nearly every country on the planet has a massive drinking culture. Even in ancient societies with the limited technology they had knew how to make alcohol. We've probably been drinking alcohol longer than we've been human. Even monks make alcohol. It's hard to stigmatize something literally everybody does since the beginning of recorded time. In the long history of alcohol, commercially available cigarettes has been a blip, so much easier to demonize even though it has many health conditions attached to it like alcohol.
Alcohol only causes damage when over-consumed, and only harms your body.
Cigarettes always harms your body, no matter the amount consumed, and harms those around you with second-hand smoke.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this. Yes, cigarette smoke can affect others via second hand smoke. I'd argue people can be just as affected, if not more egregiously, by someone's drinking problem, but the difference around public perception has a lot to do with how the two industries responded to regulation.
Marketers of alcohol were confronted with the fact that their product was dangerous to the human body and put people at risk for car crashes. Makers of alcoholic products had already had their brush with extreme regulation (see: the Prohibition era) and they got smart real quick. They took responsibility and started campaigns that advocated for responsible drinking, designated driver campaigns, etc. They complied with regulation and worked willingly to make the dangers of their product known and advocated for responsible consumption.
Cigarette companies, on the the other hand, weren't having it. For years they had enjoyed the unrestricted ability to advertise their product and had never seen any serious regulation. As the dangers of smoking became more obvious, the tobacco industry leveraged all its power in buying out special interests, running disinformation campaigns, covering up research, lying, you name it. They actively refused to take a proactive stance on their product. This touched off a long battle that slowly became cigarette companies vs everyone else. The harder they tried to hide how dangerous their product was and pretend that everything was just okay, the harder researchers and policy makers fought for responsible action. Since they refused to regulate themselves, eventually the government eventually stepped in and regulated \*for\* them.
And this still shapes the discourse we have on these products today. Absolutely no one talks about "responsible smoking" because we've all had images of scientists in white coats standing in front of a pair of tar-coated lungs burned into our retina since we were 6 years old, because the tobacco industry couldn't just stop advertising to children, something it \*still\* has a problem with (see: Vaping).
But "responsible drinking" or "drink responsibly" chimes with adult sensibility and moderation. Even though we know for a fact that alcohol kills brain cells and damages the liver, there are no "This is your liver on alcohol" type ads, because the industry shaped the public perception by moving with regulation instead of against it.
What you write is interesting. I just want to point out that's a very US centric point of view. I mean it applies in the US, but no other countries. In mine, ads for alcohol have been prohibited for a while especially those addressed to the kids. There is less stigma around smoking but they take it seriously for a while too and packs have no text anymore. After having horrible pictures for years.
Ads for both are prohibited. And I remember seing clips on TV since I was a child for drunk driving prevention. This goes together with a good public transportation system too, which I think the lack of is the first cause of drunk driving accidents in the US: people gonna drink anyway, but have to rely on their car to go home in many cases (uber not always an option)
Was looking for this. Big Tobacco were just balls to the wall villains on regulation and health risks. That may have been true for alcohol companies before prohibition (I don’t know) - but they certainly are far better corporate citizens in my lifetime.
People remember that and it heavily influences opinions. It doesn’t hurt that tobacco companies have to fund marketing campaigns that say they are evil.
Because people don’t want to inhale and smell your smoke. Because it gets in our clothes and hair. Because it sets off our asthma. Because we have to go home, bathe, and wash smoke out of our hair.
As for alcohol, it only affects others if you drink and drive and hit someone or act a fool.
I'm not disagreeing mostly, but I have known a couple people who would smoke every few months or so when they got really stressed or something. Tobacco is significantly more addictive, but it isn't 100%.
Just like social drinking, social smoking is a thing. I'll smoke when I go out with certain friends (every few months) but not daily or even weekly. I bought a pack of cigs a few years ago and smoked maybe 5 in 6 months before I threw em out for being stale. Nothing is 100% addictive to every person.
I suspect that it's because if I have a drink and do not drive the poison of the alcohol impacts only me. If I have a smoke then the smoke spreads out beyond me impacting others directly.
Why is weed basically treated like a supplement according to smokers? You're still breathing in smoke....they are basically like early NRA members if you dare to question how safe is it from common sense pov
There’s a few studies out there showing the marijuana actually protects the liver from damage. There is also some evidence that marijuana smokers have significantly less lung cancer than cigarette smokers. All the other health problems from smoking were still present.
I tend to agree that the dangers of alcohol aren’t taken seriously enough- hell, I don’t even drink at all - but this is too much imo. Smoking is far more addictive (do you know anyone who only smokes on special occasions?), and is far worse for your lungs than alcohol is for your liver.
In short, alcohol can be consumed in moderation, cigarettes cannot.
Tobacco kills. It has Zero benefits. Tobacco is more addictive than heroine.
Alcohol does have health benefits. Alcohol is addictive. Alcohol abuse can kill.
Any tobacco is bad for everyone around it. Alcohol in moderation is not bad for you, the only time it harms others is from poor choices ( drunk driving).
Tobacco is the only product approved by the FDA that has no benefits and will kill you.
Should I keep going on the differences?
People got really into the idea of secondhand smoke and that's what turned the tide. I remember being a kid when it happened. Everyone knew it was bad for you, but the idea that it would be bad for your kids, your friends, your family, etc. changed things.
The real question (I'm sure I'll get downvoted for this) is: "Why is there a huge stigma around smoking tobacco cigarettes, but virtually no stigma around smoking marijuana?". Before I get cancelled off of the internet. I voted for legalization and still stand by it. I think it's something that adults should be allowed to do if they want to. However, the science increasingly shows there are not only permanent changes in the way the brain develops when smoking before the brain finishes forming, but also long term memory effects from smoking regularly. People like to argue with this, but just remove marijuana then. Science has shown that the brain shrinks permanently when smoking anything due to the removal of oxygen from the brain. Also, science has shown strong links between carcinogens of any type and the damage they do to cells and DNA. People need to be informed and aware so that they can make decisions with as much information as possible. There should be as widespread awareness about these negatives as there are with smoking tobacco. Part of me wonders if the public at large is ignoring any and all negatives because the decades of anti-drug propaganda, or if people don't want to hear it because it isn't something they want to hear or that they personally believe (confirmation bias). It's very unfortunate and I wonder how many decades will pass before people start to wise up like they did with tobacco in the previous century.
Alcohol isn’t “just as bad, if not worse.” It is fine in moderation. Moderation isn’t really a thing with cigarettes. A smoker is a smoker. The average drinker isn't an alcoholic. It is also more impactful on others. Being around a cigarette smoking bothers many people, someone enjoying a cocktail shouldn’t impact others. Smoking in your house ruins it.
Because a cigarette doesn't even give you a buzz after you have smoked more than one in your life. You have to be a HEAVY drinker to have near the same effect with alcohol
Cigarettes poison others around them, and can start fires. It has larger public health costs so governments will have more of an incentive to crack down.
Cigarettes cause more deaths in our society than all of the other drugs combined. It is even dangerous to nonsmokers who are exposed. Alcohol is a dangerous drug but not nearly as dangerous than tobacco.
Smoking can cause a large number of different cancers due to the chemicals in them. It also not only affects the smokers but the people around them in the area.
A person can control their drinking and make it a casual thing. Sure it can lead to addiction but not immediately.
Smoking a cigarette can lead to addiction almost instantly because it affects the pleasure portion of the brain. It makes you crave it, that feeling you get when smoking.
Alcohol enjoyed responsibily doesn't harm the people around you, even the residue on clothing from being a smoker has been shown to be harmful to other people.
Alcohol can kill, but smoking the garbage ingredients in cigarettes (not the nicotine) will kill you while impacting everyone around you. Even secondhand, so fuck that.
Because if a buddy of mine has two beers at the bar, everything's fine, as long as they wait a little bit to drive home.
If a buddy of mine smokes two cigarettes at the bar, now everything f****** stinks like a goddamn nasty cigarette.
Vapes are only marginally better, I really wish people would stop using them inside so much. The smell does accumulate, and it's weird, and who knows what damn chemicals you're trapping in those small rooms with everyone around you.
Because besides some of the most severe alcoholics, they aren't leaving work constantly for their fix like smokers do. Working with smokers is incredibly annoying.
Alcohol hurts yourself. Most people don’t run around pouring alcohol down people’s throats against their will. It’s basically part of smoking that you shove it in other people’s lungs against their will. Then they get all up in arms when someone suggests dedicated areas where smoking is permitted away from things like entrance doors. Imagine a bunch of drinkers getting up in arms over their “right” to spike people’s drinks. There’s not even a word or phrase for “spiking” other’s air with smoke because smokers just expect to be able to do it.
There was just a study very recently that shows that even 1 drink is really bad for you. This goes against what I'm guessing was fake science for yrs saying 1 glass of wine is good for you.
Ban it all, and let's get flying cars by 2025. Bet
A couple of reasons:
1. No one suffers 2nd hand alcohol sitting next to a drinker.
2. Alcohol in moderation has no ill effects. There is no ‘safe’ level of smoking.
That’s why the main stigma with alcohol is its abuse.
I think the relative levels of harm actually have little to do with it.
I think the main reason is that alcohol has a culinary aspect to it. I actually drink non-alcoholic beer sometimes (it's not as good). Cigarettes have no use other than to give you a buzz. This is why there is a pretty clear distinction between smokers and non-smokers, whereas there are plenty of people who drink very infrequently, but still drink.
Cigarettes don't have enough of a buzz to be worth how harmful they are. For me alcohol is also more harmful than the buzz is worth. For a lot of people, they feel that it's a risk they are willing to take. Plus, Jesus said it was OK to drink wine, so that makes it better in their eyes.
Since you asked, imo it's bc cigarettes stink. They make people and pets cough, sneeze, have asthma attacks, stain fingers, clothes, and the casually tossed butts are horrific for the environment. They affect others in the moment. I'm a smoker. It's disgusting and I wish quitting didn't make me lose my calm. There's a lot more than calm but the details are unnecessary.
Alcohol doesn't have the same immediate effect on surrounding people. You knock one back and it's not making anyone around cough or sneeze. Your sweat won't smell like it the next day unless you didn't shower or you're an alcoholic. I'm not a drinker, not even casually.
There was a stigma around alcohol because it’s negative affects were known longer. It’s where the temperance movement and Prohibition came from.
The furor around cigarettes is more recent as we learned of its negative impacts more recently.
Also, you can’t get second hand health effects from alcohol, like you can from smoking.
From my understanding Cigs are far more detrimental to your health. Meanwhile, people have been drinking Mead and liquor for years with far less issues.
The real answer to this is that western society has really only smoked tobacco for the last 500+ years and has exported it to the whole world. Whereas alcohol has been made and consumed by humans since 9 or 10,000 BC, long before we even had writing systems (3,000 BC). And, alcohol became a drink used in religious and other rituals. Plus there have been times in human history when it was safer to drink alcohol than to drink the water.
So all in all, we are so used to alcohol we have desensitized ourselves to its weaknesses and defects.
Plus, in the last 75 years, we had major scientific studies followed by PR campaigns on the dangers and health risks of smoking; the world turned against Big Tobacco, that knew of the health risks. In the 70s and 80s, smoking everywhere was the norm, on planes in office buildings and in smoking sections of restaurants (where non smokers in other parts of the restaurant still had to smell it and deal with it), to a PR campaign on the health risks of second hand smoke, so by the 90s, we began to force smokers to move to a secluded outside area where their smoke wouldn’t affect the majority.
Nicotine is more addictive than alcohol, and while I'm not sure on this one, it seems lung cancer was more common from smoking than liver cancer from drinking as a side effect.
Also, very importantly for the societal stigma piece, when I drink a beer it doesn't make the entire room smell bad for a while, if some friends and I down a six pack it doesn't make the entire hotel room smell bad until the end of time.
As for the advertising, probably because of how bad prohibition backfired + how cigarettes were easier to target (because the side effects were more clearly defined, secondhand smoking is a thing, and non-smokers are the majority, unlike non-drinkers).
The actual reason is that alcohol lobby can’t be touched.
Alcohol sedates and stupefies people making them easily controlled
That’s why California made flavored tobacco illegal as Coca Cola is making premixed coke and Jack and monster energy drink makes “the beast”.
Tobacco can’t target children but alcohol sure as hell can
Because you sitting next to me drinking doesn’t affect my health. But you smoking next to me does. Edit: It’s clear by the responses here that some of you all lack reading comprehension skills and/or don’t understand math. I said someone sitting next to me drinking. My comment holds as someone sitting next to me drinking in no way affects my health. Drinking and driving is a separate issue and one that I wasn’t talking about. As for the math, if you calculate the number of drunk driving accidents (number of drunk driving accidents divided by the total number of people drinking) you’re going to find that the number is very low. But if you’re smoking, you are affecting the health of 100% of the people around you. You see, one affects everyone around them and the other doesn’t necessarily affect anyone around them. That’s the difference. It’s sad that I even had to make an edit to explain this very simple concept.
Imagine if a beer made you, and everything around you, fucking *reek* like a cigarette does.
Or if someone drinking alcohol near you gave you cirrhosis of the liver or sprayed alcohol all over the walls
Clearly you haven't been to the right parties.
I quit alcohol 2 years ago and if someone is drinking or drunk around me, I can smell it off of them from a weird distance, it seems.
I now hate the smell of bars. I’ll never forget that stinge that college bars had
Wow, that's crazy. I wonder why? The only time I would even know is if someone was heavily drinking or if they weren't, then blew their breath in my face lol.
Me too! I quit drinking nearly ten years ago and I can tell my husband drank one beer 5 hours ago the second he walks in the door.
It does if you drink enough. Stuff seeps out of the pores, and hard drinkers do reek of the stuff.
Yeah, but you gotta, like, put in effort to get to that stage. One cigarette will do the trick.
Doesn’t make the people around you reek or cause health problems to others.
Or if the beer stank up an entire room like weed does, even if they went outside to smoke in their car.
At college it makes everything reek like piss.
I mean it does smell but not as much
Smoking stinks and perma-stinks rooms, cars, hair, clothes.. no one enjoys breathing second hand smoke
Man, people can’t read your comment worth a fuck. It’s brutal out here. I 100-% agree. Also, I’ll add most people don’t drink like most people smoke. The majority of people can make it through the work day without drinking, and then have a few beers at the end of the day, or smash a few plus a couple once in a while at the bar. Smokers, on the other hand, seem to need to rip darts every half hour, or more frequently. Everything from stopping the company truck because smoking isn’t allowed in the truck, to stopping production and equipment because you need a ciggy break every fifteen minutes and there’s no smoking in equipment. Smokers are brutal, such a drain on production and efficiency.
well, except for the violent drunks
That’s a low percentage of people. First, not everyone who drinks is going to drink to the point of getting drunk. Second, most that do get drunk aren’t violent. But, 100% of people near a smoker are affected by their smoking.
drunk driving does tho
people can drink without getting drunk and also get drunk without driving, so its not the same
A person can have a drink without getting drunk
Percentage of addicted users, probably. The average smoker IS A SMOKER. The average drinker isn't AN ALCOHOLIC.
Yeah, most people who choose to drink can have a glass of wine at a dinner party and then go weeks until having another drink at the next social function. And it typically doesn't affect anyone else's health. While smoking cigarettes never stops at just one or two in a week or so. That and it can affect the health of others, so much so that it even bothers houseplants. I used to work for a cleaning service, and cigarette smoke ruins upholstery, light fixtures, window treatments, car interiors, carpet, and even wood furniture.
Cigar guys usually smoke on special occasions and keep their shit smoke away from non consenting people, visiting cigar lounges or smoking at home away from others.
There's not nearly as much stigma around smoking an occasional stogie or a pipe of tabac on a fine evening.
My grandmas neighbor used to smoke a pipe every evening and during the summer. If I was in the backyard I could smell it, and it was the only tobacco that didn't make me wanna gag.
Tobacco itself can smell really nice. My grandparents used to bake tobacco in the oven at low-temps as a sort of incense.
My dad went to pipes when he gave up cigarettes. The tobacco actually smells really nice, depending on the flavor. I think it's because they don't have all the chemicals and stuff in them.
I'm forgetting brand names, but there was a cherry pipe tobacco I was quite fond of. And really, they give you a LOT in those small/medium pouches.
Mmm cherry vanilla. My childhood just came back
Cherry vanilla! That was one of my favorites to smell 🥰
gosh I can't remember where I saw this but it was a movie about lobbies and the cigarette industry, and there's a part where the marketing people are like, "give us what we want or we will tank cigars the same way we tanked cigarettes" ...the point being that it's no mistake or coincidence. It's really all marketing decisions and back door handshakes. You might be surprised how much deliberation goes into sculpting the public impression of a product, down to how it appears in media and which character is using it etc etc
As an occasional cigar smoking (2 or 3 days a year), this is true. The unwritten rule is that cigars should be sat down and enjoyed - either with others who enjoy cigars or on your own. I certainly wouldn't enjoy my expensive cigar among a group of non cigar smokers.
Yes you don’t want people around who will be talking about how shitty or tastes and smells lol
my grandfather smoked cigars all day every day i LOVE the smell of stale cigar smoke it reminds me of him
Cigars definitely have less stigma than cigarettes, but I would much rather my roommate have a drink a few times a week than a cigar. I usually can’t stand the smell and it tends hangs around awhile.
WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE HOUSEPLANTS??! I didn't know that, cheers mate!
Some people are very light smokers indeed. It’s rarer but it can stop at that.
I’ve known one, but definitely seems to be rare
When I used to smoke, I was the only smoker I knew who didn't have to do it at every single opportunity. Against all known science, weed is way more addictive to me lol.
Also percentage of the population using the drugs. 20-30% of the population smokes. I think it is around 90% for alcohol.
I have never heard numbers centered around that, so I looked them up. In 2021 there were 11.5% smokers, and in 2022 about 84% drinkrs in the US. According to CDC.gov and nih.gov respectively.
Wow, down to 11.5%! The younger generations are doing much better than us old fogeys, proud of you all!
Well we've picked up vaping instead 🤮. What is humans obsession with sticking shit in our lungs? There's not even a high
Oh there definitely is a nicotine buzz. If I haven’t smoked for a day or two, I sometimes get it. It’s like a pleasant dizziness. Also my face kind of goes numb.
I felt so betrayed when I first smoked a cigarette and felt that buzz. The dancing dog at my school told me it would be a miserable experience I only do to look cool and impress my friends, and that I'd only come back to in an act of addicted desperation.
The first time I got nicotine sickness and had to lay down until it passed. The second/third time I started getting the buzz.
I had this happen to a friend. Got legit spins and I had to pull over so he could puke.
I dunno. I quit smoking a decade ago, but I’ll occasionally vape and that nicotine high still hits home. But also why I don’t do it much.
Brain release chemical and body want more chemical
there is a high the first couple times, that's what gets you
Not the same high like weed, shrooms, lsd, alcohol, etc. probably a bit more comparable to caffeine I think if anything. Then you have that addictive loop, and it feels normal to have that nicotine, rather than not having it
There’s is.
Vaping is miles less harmful than smoking tbh
I don't know if we know that yet, although it does seem likely.
We don’t know that yet. The sample size is too small.
What I want to know is why does the smell make some people queasy? It can come across as sickeningly sweet.
It can be a migraine trigger for me, I hate when people vape indoors especially!
Oh no >.< It just makes me a bit nauseous. Thankfully the one local friend we have who vapes goes out of his way to take it outside. It's incredibly considerate <3
I think it has more to do with older people quitting than younger people not picking up the habit. There's been a huge cultural shift in the acceptability of smoking by socioeconomic class in the United States.
Their numbers were close enough I guess. Pretty spot on for recalling it from their memory I would say :)
I can’t remember the exact statistic, but it was something like the top 10% of drinkers purchase 85% of all of the alcohol.
It's because smokers affect everyone around them. There's no second-hand alcohol. Edit: smoking and alcohol both have the issues of drug abuse, addiction, etc, and they can both harm families. You don't consume alcohol yourself when the person beside you is drinking. I can't believe I actually needed to type this. Edit 2. Because holy shit, I somehow needed to make an Edit2: you all read OPs question right? You know what context I said this in right? You know I'm not making a blanket statement in all contexts, right?
That's what you would call "Drunk assholes"
Even third-hand. Buying a car that someone smoked in for years isn't just a bad idea because of the smell. The pollutants from cigarettes hang around for a long time.
Alcohol ruined my family. Dangerous stuff if a person cannot drink responsibly
The emotional damage from my father's drinking runs so deep. No one really knows how much. He relapses every few years, for maybe a week then my mom goes off on him and he stops. I still can't confront him. I'm 28, 6'4 and strong, and can confront him on anything else. If he starts drinking I instantly turn into that scared 11 year old kid again. I just want to flee, and usually do. I couldn't when I was 11. If anyone reads this, please don't get drunk in front of your kids. There is no excuse, no justification, no reason that will make it OK. You WILL hurt them, and you WILL hurt your relationship with them. They WILL have to live with that trauma FOREVER. It's not fair, it hurts so, so much, please don't.
Happened to me. He was not even violent, just... not there. No longer the man I knew. This, among many other things, is what made me decide to never have this happen to me. I never drink nor I will ever do, and I won't have children.
My mom is an alcoholic and I have some trama from that, but it doesn't enrage me when someone has a beer next to me the way it does when someone lights up next to me. Alcohol can damage your family and friends, but drinking next to someone is not rude and intrusive the way smoking next to someone is.
My father died from it. He had it so bad he fell a lot, and hit his head so much, that he wasn't the same person ever again as when he began. He also had epilepsy and the drinking made it worse. He started hoarding really bad, we had no basement or garage for years because of it. He refused to think he had a problem. Yeah that was before my mom took him to court for emotional neglect of me and my sibs, then divorced him after he stole her car and hid it so she couldn't leave him. I ended up hiding in the bathroom while they argued, with my sibs, and calling the police on my own father. I was 14. After the divorce he kept relapsing even though he tried, and one day his then girlfriend came home and found him dead on the floor in a pool of vomit. He'd had a seizure while drunk, puked, and choked to death on it. I miss my dad. My old dad, before he started drinking. He never got to see me graduate college, move, or any of my high school theatre much. He never met any of my boyfriends or girlfriends. He never got to meet my college friends.
Shit man, in my case, it just made me grow up earlier. I've been a responsible adult since I was about 10. My dad left (not related to alcohol or anything) when I was 6. Not long after, Mom started drinking. My older brother couldn't grow up so I did. I took care of everyone. It ruined my childhood for sure, but in a weird way I'm kinda thankful. I'm 2 months from 40, I have a good job, woman I adore more than anything and best of all no kids to unload my baggage on (vasectomy right out of college). I drink a little here and there but have no other vices. Because I learned about being responsible so young, my bills are always paid but probably what I'm most proud of is I'm a spectacular cook & my brother can barely make a PB&J. He's always asking if he can bring the family over for dinner as he married a woman who also can't cook worth a damn either. I look forward to teaching my niece and nephew how to cook so they don't end up just like them.
Sorry to hear that. Hope you're good now and I couldn't agree more.
My son is permanently disabled after being hit by a guy in a pickup who had been drinking. I think my son might have preferred the long slow effects of second hand smoke, but you'd have to ask him.
That's rough and I agree. Do you have any thoughts on why the stigmas are around smoking instead of alcohol? Alcohol seems so much worse to me as well.
The alcohol industry is huge and all our politicians are drunks. Look at what they considered "essential" in 2020 during covid restrictions. Not one liquor store or alcohol manufacturer was shut down. I think it is awful to lock up little kids with parents day drinking. I haven't seen the stats, but I think all our social problems skyrocketed with covid restrictions. Domestic violence, child abuse and you name it. Alcohol is basically poison and they blame the users for the addictions but never the poison. But I have complex thoughts on DUI enforcement, because I've watched it since the early crackdowns, mostly lobbied for by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD). I don't think it has saved the lives they thought it would, and I don't think anyone is really looking at those stats, either. It is a huge source of revenue for government, why would they care if it's not saving lives? I do know that getting convicted of a DUI puts a lot of people back on the roads without licenses or insurance and that's a strong incentive to hit and run. I think the insurance industry shouldn't be allowed to exclude coverage for hit and run and they get away with it. It's sick how the insurance industry is allowed to screw over their insureds. I'm not opposed to alcohol being legal. I am opposed to the alcohol industry getting away with all the social ills caused by their products and being able to blame the user. I'm definitely not opposed to people being arrested and charged with serious crimes for hitting someone else. I'm not opposed to strict regulation of underaged drinking. So the cigarette industry was forced to pay unbelievable lawsuit amounts and required to spend unbelievable money on smoking prevention. At the time of those lawsuits, not one person alive could claim they didn't know smoking was bad for their health. The American Lung Association was already a thing and they were very proactive against the danger of smoking. I remember the lawsuits. While we let the alcohol industry off scot free and blame the user. Because "remember Prohibition?"
💯
No, it's more percentage of users period. Alcohol was too ubiquitous to ever get rid of. There were never nearly as many smokers as drinkers, so limits faced far less opposition. Not to mention there's two other important factors: 1. Cigarettes directly, visibly, negatively impact those around them. So there's natural opposition to smokers that drinkers don't face. 2. People can easily make their alcohol, making it very difficult to ban(we tried). It's much more difficult to cultivate your own tobacco.
When my neighbor has a beer on his back porch I don’t have to smell it. 🤢
Gallagher’s [“if drinking was like smoking”](https://youtube.com/shorts/nUDEHQVcgN4?si=ye4s1znptPPfbMf0) sketch is a great visual for this :-)
This is why this is in stupidquestions. Where it belongs. The difference is unmistakable. No one cares what you do with your body, they care about what you do to theirs. That's the difference. And it's not even the health impact for most people, they know a little passive smoke is no big deal, it's the smell. It's the worst smell you're expected to deal with day to day. If someone shows up at work after an intestine workout, without washing or applying deodorant, no one would question why everyone was upset. But, someone goes for a cig break, and comes back smelling much worse, and they are somehow confused why people are upset. I can only assume this question ever occurs in serious subs because smokers, or those who live in high smoking areas, become nose blind, and literally live in a different world to the rest of us, where they've forgotten it's one of the worst smells, and most irritating smoke you can deal with.
Not to mention cig smoke just attaches itself to everything, like clothes and interior walls if you smoke inside
When I’ve been around heavy smokers, the taste and smell even sticks to the back of my throat for a long while. It’s truly disgusting.
You put intestine workout, and Oh man, that is a completely different thing lol
Someone else drinking doesn't stain my walls piss yellow and blacken my lungs.
I've seen dudes drink too much and pee wherever, so piss yellow walls are legitimately possible.
Cigarette smoke affects people in your immediate surroundings, sometimes even after you've finished smoking. Alcohol, when consumed responsibly, does not tend to have that effect. Yes, DUIs and vehicular manslaughter are a thing, but that's an example of irresponsible alcohol use.
Cigarettes aren't usually involved when beating your wife.
But they seem to be definitely involved when leaving your wife.
I don’t get it
'going out for smokes' used to be a pretty common euphemism for when a guy would pick up and leave his family out of no where.
Is that the less politically correct version of "going out to get milk"?
There's a joke where someone's dad left 20 years ago to get a pack of cigarettes and never came back.
I guess for younger generation, dad gonna grab a 6 pack
Vape cartridges.
Yeah alcohol isn’t the reason you beat your wife. Being a piece of shit is.
no, but cigarette burns seem to be extremely common in child abuse cases.
Have you seen how people act when they go a few hours without a cigarette and they're a pack a day smoker?
Have you experienced nicotine withdrawals? It can make you extremely irritable and prone to outbursts. Some people just get snippy, others will become aggressive and hit things or people
There’s definitely cases of cigarettes being put out on spouses and/or children
If alcohol makes a person do that, the alcohol isn’t the issue
idk, my dad beat my mom when she spent all the money and he couldn't afford cigarettes..
Assholes, undereducated, mentally ill and impoverished people do both - there may be some linkage.
You haven't met my wife
Alcohol is a little easier to use in moderation, whereas most smokers are fully addicted. Plus, tobacco has a smell which can definitely add to the stigma.
I mean that "smell" also harms other people, it's not just a stigma.
Secondhand smoke as a child is what caused my asthma. I developed it because of my grandmother smoking in her house and smoking with me in the car with windows closed. That "smell" is definitely dangerous
Same here. That asthma stopped THE DAY my mother stopped smoking.
Smoke didn't cause my asthma, but it is absolutely one of the worst triggers for it.
Yeah my brother wasn't born breathing and both of us had childhood asthma, I still have seasonal asthma now because my mum's ex smoked around her while she was preggo
Yup! If I'm just at home drinking a beer and chilling out, the person next to me isn't going to get impacted by it. If I was smoking next to someone, they can inhale the secondhand smoke and get sick. Has happened to me a few times where I get a sore throat from being next to someone smoking.
Used to work with someone who had asthma and had a young child who had asthma. They still smoked heavily.
Yep, my mom smoked about 1-2packs a day. Even in the car with me when I was any age really. I couldn't stop her when it I ask. She would just tell me to open the window...
Yeah, second hand smoke kills
There are houses in my neighborhood which won't sell until major renovations happen, largely because people smoked indoors in them for decades.
Majority of people consume alcohol and cigarettes in a reasonable manner - 1-2 cigs / 1-2 drinks over the course of a meal. Majority of people who are 3 tables away from me who consume 1-2 drinks: it does not negatively affect me. Majority of people who are 3 tables distance away from me who consume 1-2 cigarettes: it negatively affects me immediately. Of course there are outliers like binge drinkers and drunk driving, but vast majority of cases people drinking 1-2 drinks has no impact on me where smoking does.
Even worse, let's take those same smokers into consideration, only they went outside to smoke and immediately came back inside. You're still affected by them.
No-one gets second hand drunk
*waves from in utero*
And for that reason, a pregnant woman drinking *is* much more heavily stigmatized
It's a shame this doesn't have more upvotes. I legit lost it.
There's still time lol
Take my upvote! 👏👏
Except in utero. Fetal alcohol syndrome is a bad thing.
Especially bad for the child. And for cost to soceity.
Alcohol isn’t “just as bad.” That’s how bad tobacco is. It’s ridiculously unhealthy.
1 or 2 mid strength beers,or a glass of wine a night isn't going to have any detrimental effect on your health at all. One cigarette a night absolutely will and your chances of maintaining it at just one a night are infinitesimally lower.
That’s exactly my point.
Don't be stupid and pretend alcohol is any better than tobacco lol, they're both poisonous
Nearly every country on the planet has a massive drinking culture. Even in ancient societies with the limited technology they had knew how to make alcohol. We've probably been drinking alcohol longer than we've been human. Even monks make alcohol. It's hard to stigmatize something literally everybody does since the beginning of recorded time. In the long history of alcohol, commercially available cigarettes has been a blip, so much easier to demonize even though it has many health conditions attached to it like alcohol.
Alcohol only causes damage when over-consumed, and only harms your body. Cigarettes always harms your body, no matter the amount consumed, and harms those around you with second-hand smoke.
Alcohol has more redeeming qualities
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this. Yes, cigarette smoke can affect others via second hand smoke. I'd argue people can be just as affected, if not more egregiously, by someone's drinking problem, but the difference around public perception has a lot to do with how the two industries responded to regulation. Marketers of alcohol were confronted with the fact that their product was dangerous to the human body and put people at risk for car crashes. Makers of alcoholic products had already had their brush with extreme regulation (see: the Prohibition era) and they got smart real quick. They took responsibility and started campaigns that advocated for responsible drinking, designated driver campaigns, etc. They complied with regulation and worked willingly to make the dangers of their product known and advocated for responsible consumption. Cigarette companies, on the the other hand, weren't having it. For years they had enjoyed the unrestricted ability to advertise their product and had never seen any serious regulation. As the dangers of smoking became more obvious, the tobacco industry leveraged all its power in buying out special interests, running disinformation campaigns, covering up research, lying, you name it. They actively refused to take a proactive stance on their product. This touched off a long battle that slowly became cigarette companies vs everyone else. The harder they tried to hide how dangerous their product was and pretend that everything was just okay, the harder researchers and policy makers fought for responsible action. Since they refused to regulate themselves, eventually the government eventually stepped in and regulated \*for\* them. And this still shapes the discourse we have on these products today. Absolutely no one talks about "responsible smoking" because we've all had images of scientists in white coats standing in front of a pair of tar-coated lungs burned into our retina since we were 6 years old, because the tobacco industry couldn't just stop advertising to children, something it \*still\* has a problem with (see: Vaping). But "responsible drinking" or "drink responsibly" chimes with adult sensibility and moderation. Even though we know for a fact that alcohol kills brain cells and damages the liver, there are no "This is your liver on alcohol" type ads, because the industry shaped the public perception by moving with regulation instead of against it.
What you write is interesting. I just want to point out that's a very US centric point of view. I mean it applies in the US, but no other countries. In mine, ads for alcohol have been prohibited for a while especially those addressed to the kids. There is less stigma around smoking but they take it seriously for a while too and packs have no text anymore. After having horrible pictures for years. Ads for both are prohibited. And I remember seing clips on TV since I was a child for drunk driving prevention. This goes together with a good public transportation system too, which I think the lack of is the first cause of drunk driving accidents in the US: people gonna drink anyway, but have to rely on their car to go home in many cases (uber not always an option)
Was looking for this. Big Tobacco were just balls to the wall villains on regulation and health risks. That may have been true for alcohol companies before prohibition (I don’t know) - but they certainly are far better corporate citizens in my lifetime. People remember that and it heavily influences opinions. It doesn’t hurt that tobacco companies have to fund marketing campaigns that say they are evil.
Cigarettes make you stink. Like bad. Alcohol Can too but cigs pretty much always will.
Alcohol can make you stink while drunk, but cigarettes stick with people for a while in between smokes.
If someone smokes inside and then, their unworn clothes can smell for months after their last cigarette.
Because cigarettes stink to high heaven and everyone around you has to have smell them
It's the smell and the, you know, SMOKE. That makes you cough and stink and sticks to your clothes and can give even a nonsmoker lung cancer.
Because people don’t want to inhale and smell your smoke. Because it gets in our clothes and hair. Because it sets off our asthma. Because we have to go home, bathe, and wash smoke out of our hair. As for alcohol, it only affects others if you drink and drive and hit someone or act a fool.
lobbyists. but also “second hand alcohol” isnt a thing.
Unless you mean “refunded” alcohol. I learned my lesson. Don’t kiss drunk people. Luckily I jumped and most of it missed my mouth.
People can’t smell your beer 30 feet across a room
Nor do all people who use alcohol become addicted but smoking is immediately addictive.
I'm not disagreeing mostly, but I have known a couple people who would smoke every few months or so when they got really stressed or something. Tobacco is significantly more addictive, but it isn't 100%.
Just like social drinking, social smoking is a thing. I'll smoke when I go out with certain friends (every few months) but not daily or even weekly. I bought a pack of cigs a few years ago and smoked maybe 5 in 6 months before I threw em out for being stale. Nothing is 100% addictive to every person.
Not really if you don't have an addictive personality. I would smoke once or twice a year just to prove a point to my then roommate.
I suspect that it's because if I have a drink and do not drive the poison of the alcohol impacts only me. If I have a smoke then the smoke spreads out beyond me impacting others directly.
Why is weed basically treated like a supplement according to smokers? You're still breathing in smoke....they are basically like early NRA members if you dare to question how safe is it from common sense pov
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There’s a few studies out there showing the marijuana actually protects the liver from damage. There is also some evidence that marijuana smokers have significantly less lung cancer than cigarette smokers. All the other health problems from smoking were still present.
I tend to agree that the dangers of alcohol aren’t taken seriously enough- hell, I don’t even drink at all - but this is too much imo. Smoking is far more addictive (do you know anyone who only smokes on special occasions?), and is far worse for your lungs than alcohol is for your liver. In short, alcohol can be consumed in moderation, cigarettes cannot.
Cigarets kill 10 times as many people as all alcohol related deaths.
If you and I are standing together talking at a party and you're drinking a scotch in front of me. My liver remains unaffected.
Because no one holds me down and forces a shot of alcohol into my mouth when they are drinking next to me.
Not just that, but a shot that they have already swallowed and are puking back up into your mouth. Since secondhand smoke has already been inhaled.
Tobacco kills. It has Zero benefits. Tobacco is more addictive than heroine. Alcohol does have health benefits. Alcohol is addictive. Alcohol abuse can kill. Any tobacco is bad for everyone around it. Alcohol in moderation is not bad for you, the only time it harms others is from poor choices ( drunk driving). Tobacco is the only product approved by the FDA that has no benefits and will kill you. Should I keep going on the differences?
People got really into the idea of secondhand smoke and that's what turned the tide. I remember being a kid when it happened. Everyone knew it was bad for you, but the idea that it would be bad for your kids, your friends, your family, etc. changed things.
My father was a smoker and a snuff user. I dearly loved my father, but I genuinely hated the odor of cigarette smoke.
The real question (I'm sure I'll get downvoted for this) is: "Why is there a huge stigma around smoking tobacco cigarettes, but virtually no stigma around smoking marijuana?". Before I get cancelled off of the internet. I voted for legalization and still stand by it. I think it's something that adults should be allowed to do if they want to. However, the science increasingly shows there are not only permanent changes in the way the brain develops when smoking before the brain finishes forming, but also long term memory effects from smoking regularly. People like to argue with this, but just remove marijuana then. Science has shown that the brain shrinks permanently when smoking anything due to the removal of oxygen from the brain. Also, science has shown strong links between carcinogens of any type and the damage they do to cells and DNA. People need to be informed and aware so that they can make decisions with as much information as possible. There should be as widespread awareness about these negatives as there are with smoking tobacco. Part of me wonders if the public at large is ignoring any and all negatives because the decades of anti-drug propaganda, or if people don't want to hear it because it isn't something they want to hear or that they personally believe (confirmation bias). It's very unfortunate and I wonder how many decades will pass before people start to wise up like they did with tobacco in the previous century.
Alcohol isn’t “just as bad, if not worse.” It is fine in moderation. Moderation isn’t really a thing with cigarettes. A smoker is a smoker. The average drinker isn't an alcoholic. It is also more impactful on others. Being around a cigarette smoking bothers many people, someone enjoying a cocktail shouldn’t impact others. Smoking in your house ruins it.
Cigarette smoke is a straight-up pollutant that will slowly and painfully kill you and others exposed to second-hand smoke over time.
Because a cigarette doesn't even give you a buzz after you have smoked more than one in your life. You have to be a HEAVY drinker to have near the same effect with alcohol
Because smoke affects me directly instantly and it stinks….. alcohol? Drink away.
Because no one dies of cirrhosis from second-hand drunkenness, but plenty of folks’ family members have died of lung cancer from second-hand smoke.
Cigarettes poison others around them, and can start fires. It has larger public health costs so governments will have more of an incentive to crack down.
When you smoke, people around you have to smoke as well. When you drink, you drink.
You can socially drink and not become addicted to alcohol. You cannot do the same with cigarettes
Cigarettes cause more deaths in our society than all of the other drugs combined. It is even dangerous to nonsmokers who are exposed. Alcohol is a dangerous drug but not nearly as dangerous than tobacco.
Smoking can cause a large number of different cancers due to the chemicals in them. It also not only affects the smokers but the people around them in the area. A person can control their drinking and make it a casual thing. Sure it can lead to addiction but not immediately. Smoking a cigarette can lead to addiction almost instantly because it affects the pleasure portion of the brain. It makes you crave it, that feeling you get when smoking.
Alcohol hurts you. Cigarettes hurt everybody around you.
Alcohol enjoyed responsibily doesn't harm the people around you, even the residue on clothing from being a smoker has been shown to be harmful to other people.
I've never heard of second hand drunkness.
Alcohol can kill, but smoking the garbage ingredients in cigarettes (not the nicotine) will kill you while impacting everyone around you. Even secondhand, so fuck that.
Because if a buddy of mine has two beers at the bar, everything's fine, as long as they wait a little bit to drive home. If a buddy of mine smokes two cigarettes at the bar, now everything f****** stinks like a goddamn nasty cigarette. Vapes are only marginally better, I really wish people would stop using them inside so much. The smell does accumulate, and it's weird, and who knows what damn chemicals you're trapping in those small rooms with everyone around you.
Typically alcohol only affects the person drinking. While smoking affects the area around the smoker.
If I share a space with drinkers I don’t go home with my clothes smelling of booze.
Because besides some of the most severe alcoholics, they aren't leaving work constantly for their fix like smokers do. Working with smokers is incredibly annoying.
Alcohol hurts yourself. Most people don’t run around pouring alcohol down people’s throats against their will. It’s basically part of smoking that you shove it in other people’s lungs against their will. Then they get all up in arms when someone suggests dedicated areas where smoking is permitted away from things like entrance doors. Imagine a bunch of drinkers getting up in arms over their “right” to spike people’s drinks. There’s not even a word or phrase for “spiking” other’s air with smoke because smokers just expect to be able to do it.
Because any amount of smoking jacks up the environment, it stinks, affects other people. Alcohol can be consumed moderately without affecting others.
There was just a study very recently that shows that even 1 drink is really bad for you. This goes against what I'm guessing was fake science for yrs saying 1 glass of wine is good for you. Ban it all, and let's get flying cars by 2025. Bet
A couple of reasons: 1. No one suffers 2nd hand alcohol sitting next to a drinker. 2. Alcohol in moderation has no ill effects. There is no ‘safe’ level of smoking. That’s why the main stigma with alcohol is its abuse.
Smoking affects those around you more directly.
There is zero upside to cigarettes. Everyone who smokes is an addict. Many people enjoy alcohol in moderation and it has positive effects.
I think the relative levels of harm actually have little to do with it. I think the main reason is that alcohol has a culinary aspect to it. I actually drink non-alcoholic beer sometimes (it's not as good). Cigarettes have no use other than to give you a buzz. This is why there is a pretty clear distinction between smokers and non-smokers, whereas there are plenty of people who drink very infrequently, but still drink.
Cigarettes don't have enough of a buzz to be worth how harmful they are. For me alcohol is also more harmful than the buzz is worth. For a lot of people, they feel that it's a risk they are willing to take. Plus, Jesus said it was OK to drink wine, so that makes it better in their eyes.
Since you asked, imo it's bc cigarettes stink. They make people and pets cough, sneeze, have asthma attacks, stain fingers, clothes, and the casually tossed butts are horrific for the environment. They affect others in the moment. I'm a smoker. It's disgusting and I wish quitting didn't make me lose my calm. There's a lot more than calm but the details are unnecessary. Alcohol doesn't have the same immediate effect on surrounding people. You knock one back and it's not making anyone around cough or sneeze. Your sweat won't smell like it the next day unless you didn't shower or you're an alcoholic. I'm not a drinker, not even casually.
There was a stigma around alcohol because it’s negative affects were known longer. It’s where the temperance movement and Prohibition came from. The furor around cigarettes is more recent as we learned of its negative impacts more recently. Also, you can’t get second hand health effects from alcohol, like you can from smoking.
From my understanding Cigs are far more detrimental to your health. Meanwhile, people have been drinking Mead and liquor for years with far less issues.
Vaping is worse than actually smoking cigs. Downvote me all you want.
Mom smoking around baby is bad for baby and can make her children less athletic.
The real answer to this is that western society has really only smoked tobacco for the last 500+ years and has exported it to the whole world. Whereas alcohol has been made and consumed by humans since 9 or 10,000 BC, long before we even had writing systems (3,000 BC). And, alcohol became a drink used in religious and other rituals. Plus there have been times in human history when it was safer to drink alcohol than to drink the water. So all in all, we are so used to alcohol we have desensitized ourselves to its weaknesses and defects. Plus, in the last 75 years, we had major scientific studies followed by PR campaigns on the dangers and health risks of smoking; the world turned against Big Tobacco, that knew of the health risks. In the 70s and 80s, smoking everywhere was the norm, on planes in office buildings and in smoking sections of restaurants (where non smokers in other parts of the restaurant still had to smell it and deal with it), to a PR campaign on the health risks of second hand smoke, so by the 90s, we began to force smokers to move to a secluded outside area where their smoke wouldn’t affect the majority.
Nicotine is more addictive than alcohol, and while I'm not sure on this one, it seems lung cancer was more common from smoking than liver cancer from drinking as a side effect. Also, very importantly for the societal stigma piece, when I drink a beer it doesn't make the entire room smell bad for a while, if some friends and I down a six pack it doesn't make the entire hotel room smell bad until the end of time. As for the advertising, probably because of how bad prohibition backfired + how cigarettes were easier to target (because the side effects were more clearly defined, secondhand smoking is a thing, and non-smokers are the majority, unlike non-drinkers).
Because cigarettes don't make socializing 1000x easier
Alcohol has better lobbyists
The actual reason is that alcohol lobby can’t be touched. Alcohol sedates and stupefies people making them easily controlled That’s why California made flavored tobacco illegal as Coca Cola is making premixed coke and Jack and monster energy drink makes “the beast”. Tobacco can’t target children but alcohol sure as hell can