On Smoking

Recently government announced, that they will increase tobacco restrictions. As much as I hate smokers for puffing these toxic substances near me. Some cigarettes made of such toxic substances, it makes me cough and hard to breath if someone smokes in two meters distance. I however do not think that simply doing the whole heath warning more and more will help the cause.

I think health warnings already did their thing. Those who care for their health already quit or have never picked smoking. Those who remain, will not be swayed by threat of cancer death. To the contrary they might be even enticed by it.

One reason for people to smoke that it is associated with being cool. People think that smoking gives you anti-social rebel credo. For people like this the more government cracks down, the more they are inclined to pick up the habit.

Some informal social groups could consider smoking as part of initiation. A way to prove yourself. People end up picking it up to fit it. The fact that smoking is dangerous to health only make them more likely to do it. To show their peers that they are not pussy and not afraid of no cancer.

The fact that smoking is forbidden for minors, will make them think this is something associated with adulthood. They will do it to show everyone that they are adult.

Another thing is association of smoking with sex. Some older movies show couples smoking after sex. Thus, people might want to smoke to show others that they have sex. Misguided may be, but that is what they possibly think.

To tackle all that you need much more nuanced and comprehensive approach.

First of all, you need associate smoking with something lame. Something only losers do. That way people will start think that it does not makes them cooler.

Informal social groups are harder to deal with. However, they too often care for coolness, so they will be unlikely to do anything lame.

Then we need to disassociate smoking with adulthood. Harder said that done. Legalizing it for minors will not do. Perhaps some other form of socially acceptable adult thing to do. There is drinking beer, but that is much more cumbersome and inconvenient.

Associating smoking with sex is possibly the biggest problem of them all. In modern culture, where proving you are not a virgin and have sex regularly works as social credo, anything that works are 'proof' of sexual life will be picked up like hot doughnuts. Time for studies that show that smoking causes impotence and infertility. 

One final thing: going to smoke is a socially acceptable reason to take a break from work. There should be some other form of socially acceptable breaktime, possibly mandated in Labor Law.

In conclusion I would like to hope that smoking can indeed be eliminated one day. If not, replacing it with vaping is sure much better. In fact, banning cigarettes and only allowing vapes would make life better for everyone.