Unless I'm mistaken you're talking opinions. I'm speaking not only from experience but from facts gathered through working with local and federal agencies and public and private researchers and the studies all support what I said.
I might have used some blunt language but it's true. It doesn't matter how kids are brought up. It's a fact of nature that adolescents are hard wired to rebel against whatever they were taught at home. They test their upbringing and usually come out the other end believing what they were taught to begin with plus or minus a few beliefs but in the middle they almost always try to see what's up for themselves. You'd be surprised how many kids who grew up in wonderful moral families end up abusing or addicted to drugs. The founder of the organization Im part of is a retired Chicago PD officer with a number of degrees in education. He brought his son up in a well off upper-middle class neighborhood with good schools and strong morals. This family might as well have the Brady Bunch. But his son got mixed in with heroin and died after a long struggle with addiction. This was exactly the type of kid you say won't use.
See, that's the big problem. Everyone thinks its a moral failing and they take the attitude that it's the neighbor's kid but never mine until it happens to you. There are so so many families this has happened to and their afraid to warn others for fear of being labelled bad parents who didn't provide a solid moral ethic to pass down to their kid(s).
I am a smoker and I'm happy to admit that others done want to breathe in my second hand smoke. I'll also give you the rule on smoking 15 feet away from buildings is a good one too. But there's a fine line where legislation doesn't need to go. Banning it in public altogether is just ridiculous. We're all adults. We can say something if we want a smoker to leave the middle of the street. I mean cigarettes are legal and public areas are public. Leave the poor smokers alone when they're not bothering you. You can also choose to walk away. I mean, we not do it for 5 minutes at a time. You won't get cancer in those minutes. Please don't take my freedom away from me. What if I don't want your crying child or strong perfume or breast feedi near me? I'm not going to make it illegal because it inconveniences me.
But what really bothered me about that last paragraph was how you called it "drug addict" smoke. Yes, they are addicts technically but using those words in a derogatory way like that just perpetuates the stigma carried by addicts. We aren't sun-humans, bottom feeders, or somehow just some class of undesirables. We're your friends, neighbors, and family and we need help. Most of us are incredibly intelligent and have a lot to offer society if we could just get the help we need. I know how bad the behavior of an addict can be because I am one but all of deserve a chance to get better before being written off.
I only meant "drug addict smoke" in the same way I'd moan about a morbidly obese person sitting next to me on a flight. It's antisocial behavior.
It's not getting cancer I'm worried about, it's the disgusting smell, making me+my kids cough etc. You may as well go up to people in the street and burp and fart in their face - it's as disgusting.
I know, I lack empathy etc. But I still believe most of it comes down to proper parenting. I don't have all the answers, but I don't believe legalizing more drugs is the way forward.
I might have used some blunt language but it's true. It doesn't matter how kids are brought up. It's a fact of nature that adolescents are hard wired to rebel against whatever they were taught at home. They test their upbringing and usually come out the other end believing what they were taught to begin with plus or minus a few beliefs but in the middle they almost always try to see what's up for themselves. You'd be surprised how many kids who grew up in wonderful moral families end up abusing or addicted to drugs. The founder of the organization Im part of is a retired Chicago PD officer with a number of degrees in education. He brought his son up in a well off upper-middle class neighborhood with good schools and strong morals. This family might as well have the Brady Bunch. But his son got mixed in with heroin and died after a long struggle with addiction. This was exactly the type of kid you say won't use.
See, that's the big problem. Everyone thinks its a moral failing and they take the attitude that it's the neighbor's kid but never mine until it happens to you. There are so so many families this has happened to and their afraid to warn others for fear of being labelled bad parents who didn't provide a solid moral ethic to pass down to their kid(s).
I am a smoker and I'm happy to admit that others done want to breathe in my second hand smoke. I'll also give you the rule on smoking 15 feet away from buildings is a good one too. But there's a fine line where legislation doesn't need to go. Banning it in public altogether is just ridiculous. We're all adults. We can say something if we want a smoker to leave the middle of the street. I mean cigarettes are legal and public areas are public. Leave the poor smokers alone when they're not bothering you. You can also choose to walk away. I mean, we not do it for 5 minutes at a time. You won't get cancer in those minutes. Please don't take my freedom away from me. What if I don't want your crying child or strong perfume or breast feedi near me? I'm not going to make it illegal because it inconveniences me.
But what really bothered me about that last paragraph was how you called it "drug addict" smoke. Yes, they are addicts technically but using those words in a derogatory way like that just perpetuates the stigma carried by addicts. We aren't sun-humans, bottom feeders, or somehow just some class of undesirables. We're your friends, neighbors, and family and we need help. Most of us are incredibly intelligent and have a lot to offer society if we could just get the help we need. I know how bad the behavior of an addict can be because I am one but all of deserve a chance to get better before being written off.