New Zealand - you gotta be this old to have rights.

[onlinebiker]

Fuck off Lilly. Nobody cares about your problems.

[emjay]

Seem pretty fucked up to me.

They got a new law - that if you are born after a certain date - you can NEVER buy tobacco products....

As a tobacco addict, I wish someone had stopped me. The crap about "will" is just that.

I know it has to be the right time for anyone to quit smoking... it has to come from within, when you're ready yourself... ie no-one else can make the decision for you. But for what it's worth, in case you ever do want to quit, I was a die-hard smoker, as you describe yourself, and I never believed in a million years I'd be able to quit smoking - because I have very little willpower and had tried many times before. It took a doctor telling me I needed to, because they found what might have been cancer, to finally make me make that decision.

And how I did it was with a drug called Champix. The stuff is a miracle drug as far as I'm concerned... it only really required one instance of willpower; you take the drug for a few weeks prior to stopping, then make a decision at some point to actually stop... that was the only real instance of willpower needed in my experience. What the drug does is it makes cigarettes both taste and be emotionally bland... so while you're smoking while taking it, you're not getting anything out of it... and at some point you're ready to say 'this is completely pointless' about the cigarette in your hand and therefore make that decision to stop.

After that, I never looked back; just gently worked on covering all my triggers; tried to identify everything that had any potential to trigger me, went out and did it without smoking, and felt incredibly proud. Like I would usually have had several cigarettes on a long bus journey... one before I get on, one when I get off, but it was my challenge to go to a Pride march on several interlinking buses, as well as the march itself, without smokes, and that was a very proud achievement for me. At the end of the course of the drug, I stopped early because I thought I was well and truly now a non-smoker... so I've still got a bit of the stuff left, keeping it at the time with the thought that I might need it if I ever went back to smoking and wanted to quit again... but I seriously have never looked back, so profound is the effect of this stuff.

So, as I said, I know noone can quit smoking till they're ready, so please don't take this post as me being preachy or whatever, but just letting you know this is very solid option for die-hard smokers, which is how you seem to describe yourself and was how I was. So just putting this out there as something you could perhaps bookmark for the future, if you're interested. And if you are interested, all you'd need to do is ask your doctor. And if you can't get that, there's also another, similar drug, called Zyban, which has similar effects but achieves it in different ways... you could research them both to see which one you prefer.

[The Architect Of Fate]

Fuck off Lilly. Nobody cares about your problems.

No, you fuck off Debbie because you can't argue for shit.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

 You've led a sheltered life.

Hardly. I worked as a bouncer at a busy CW watering hole for years... I have seen countless cases of "instant assholes" - just add alcohol.

---

As a tobacco addict, I wish someone had stopped me. The crap about "will" is just that.

A spine is a prerequisite to will....

@onlinebiker

 I believe you. I couldn't work out how else you would say something so stoopid. You have no way of knowing such a thing. You thing battered wives wear a sign?  The bruises don't always show.  

My experience is having worked for Federal Social Security for 25 years. Saw a large number of women applying for a Single Parent's pension. A significant number were battered wives. Not hard to pick once you have them sat down in a private room.

Also saw a large number of homeless kids trying to get some support. Learned early on that happy kids do not run away from home. Most of them had endured some form of gross abuse.

@Brian37

I started smoking at 17.  By the time I quit I was 53 and smoking 70 a day. The motivation was not wanting to die.  Giving up smoking was the hardest thing I've ever done.

I do not criticise smokers because I'm aware that nicotine is more addictive than heroin.  It's an awful addiction.  It can almost be seen as a socially acceptable way to commit suicide. (although it has become much less socially acceptable in the last couple of decades.)

Even today, I often crave a smoke, especially after a meal, even though I'm pretty sure I would vomit.

Same goes for drinking; I quit in 2002. Also a very hard thing to do. In AA alkies still drinking are known  as "suffering alcoholics". To be addicted is to suffer. That's the thing, neither the non addicted nor most doctors know much about addiction.  I was lucky. I found the only doctor is South Australia specialising in addiction. 

I wish you success in your journey to non addiction.   I won't detail how I did it. I've never believed the fatuous claim "if  I can do it anyone can". It's simply not true .

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

And where does it end?

I hate gambling. (I probably lost a grand total of $50 in my lifetime. Poker was a big thing in the service and the few times I participated I came out about even or down a few bucks).

I have seen people loose houses and businesses over dumb assed weekends at the casino. I saw a friend of my SO have her entire ( sizable) inheritance by her (now ex) husband in 6 months.

If we are making a list of bad habits to ban - gambling should be at the top of the list.....

---

Cigarettes vs alcohol:

I have never seen an alcoholic poison the other people in the room with him.

Boru

Get over it.  We have laws that prohibit smoking in public. You are NEVER required to suck someone else' s poison. If you do - it' s on you.

And do you have laws that prohibit people smoking around their children?

Boru

[The Architect Of Fate]

And where does it end?

I hate gambling. (I probably lost a grand total of $50 in my lifetime. Poker was a big thing in the service and the few times I participated I came out about even or down a few bucks).

I have seen people loose houses and businesses over dumb assed weekends at the casino. I saw a friend of my SO have her entire ( sizable) inheritance by her (now ex) husband in 6 months.

If we are making a list of bad habits to ban - gambling should be at the top of the list.....

---

Get over it.  We have laws that prohibit smoking in public. You are NEVER required to suck someone else' s poison. If you do - it' s on you.

And do you have laws that prohibit people smoking around their children?

Boru

Or around disabled people or the very old ....etc

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

And where does it end?

I hate gambling. (I probably lost a grand total of $50 in my lifetime. Poker was a big thing in the service and the few times I participated I came out about even or down a few bucks).

I have seen people loose houses and businesses over dumb assed weekends at the casino. I saw a friend of my SO have her entire ( sizable) inheritance by her (now ex) husband in 6 months.

If we are making a list of bad habits to ban - gambling should be at the top of the list.....

---

Get over it.  We have laws that prohibit smoking in public. You are NEVER required to suck someone else' s poison. If you do - it' s on you.

And do you have laws that prohibit people smoking around their children?

Boru

It is an offence in this state to smoke in a car if a child under 16 years is present. Link below to a  comprehensive list of places smoking is banned . It's not the  same in each state, but the list below applies to South Australia as far as I know. Interesting list of outside venues.

Here in Oz smoking is banned just about everywhere once you leave home. .


15.7 Legislation to ban smoking in public spaces - Tobacco in Australia

[onlinebiker]

And where does it end?

I hate gambling. (I probably lost a grand total of $50 in my lifetime. Poker was a big thing in the service and the few times I participated I came out about even or down a few bucks).

I have seen people loose houses and businesses over dumb assed weekends at the casino. I saw a friend of my SO have her entire ( sizable) inheritance by her (now ex) husband in 6 months.

If we are making a list of bad habits to ban - gambling should be at the top of the list.....

---

Get over it.  We have laws that prohibit smoking in public. You are NEVER required to suck someone else' s poison. If you do - it' s on you.

And do you have laws that prohibit people smoking around their children?

Boru

Why are you hiding behind children?


Nothing says "my arguement sucks" more than linking it to " save the children".

Your new law still allows older people to smoke around children....

[The Architect Of Fate]

Nothing says "my arguement sucks" more than linking it to " save the children".

Says the man who has to hid behind a slippery slope fallacy 

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

And do you have laws that prohibit people smoking around their children?

Boru

Why are you hiding behind children?


Nothing says "my arguement sucks" more than linking it to " save the children".

Your new law still allows older people to smoke around children....

I hate gambling too. I have never gambled, at least not for money.  Stopped buying raffle tickets 30 years ago. If I want to make donation I will do so.

  A couple who were my parent's friends lost their house through addiction to poker machines. I know of many more examples

In Australia there is one legal casino in each state.  Poker machines are legal in pubs and clubs, so they're  everywhere. Many of these venues would simply not survive without poker machines. I have no problem with that. I don't mean one or two, I mean dozens in most pubs.

IMO poker machines are a public evil. It's not just the gambling addict who suffers. His/her family as well as the local community. Money which would usually be spent in the community goes to poker machine profits.