Happy No Smoking Day
A belated Happy No Smoking Day to you all. This is how Leg-iron planned on marking the occasion,
I have rolling tobacco, pipe tobacco and a pack of Henri Winterman’s Half Coronas. That should allow almost continuous smoke production throughout the day. If it’s fine I’ll fire up the chimenea too.
Our local weekly paper came out yesterday and contains a full-page “Smoking Feature.” There are two articles, plus an advert from “Healthier Scotland” part of the Scottish “Government”.
The first article’s headline is “New smoking laws to come into force”.
New laws are coming into force on 1 April 2011 which will affect around 47,000 under 18s in Scotland.
The new laws will also have consequences for the general public.
As of 1 April it will be an offence for:
Anyone under 18 to buy or attempt to buy tobacco products or cigarette papers.
Anyone under 18 who is in possession of tobacco products or cigarette papers in a public place to fail to comply with a request from the police to surrender these items or to supply a name and address.
Anyone 18 or over to buy tobacco products on behalf of anyone under 18.
And there is an extra warning to retailers – they must sign up to the Scottish Tobacco Retailer Register by 1st October or it will be illegal for them to sell tobacco, and those found to be selling tobacco “illegally” could be fined up to £20,000 and sent to prison for six months.
The other article is, “Youngsters urge smokers to put out their cigarettes.”
The children took part in a Smokefree Homes pilot project aimed at reducing their exposure to second hand smoke.
Smoking Prevention Officer, Abbie Wallace, presented Primary five to seven pupils with information and awareness on the dangers of second hand smoke in the home.
The Primary five pupils and their teacher were so enthusiastic about the topic that they decided to make their own leaflets to inform people of the dangers.
Some of the leaflets were so good that the Smoking Matters service has used some of the art work and literature to develop a poster highlighting the dangers of second hand smoke in the home.
The poster will be used as part of a region wide campaign aimed at reducing children’s exposure to second hand smoke.
And the youngsters are hoping that parents who smoke will stop and take notice of their message and put out their cigarettes.
Quotes from the pupils involved included: “I told my dad that the tar from the cigarettes sticks to your tongue and goes all black. He didn’t like that and now he’s down to one cigarette a day. My asthma’s too bad for me to ever smoke.”
The quarter-page advert basically says the same as the editorial.
I’ll tell you what I have against this, and that is using impressionable children to dictate to their parents. And what will happen when the Smokefree Homes project fails via this sort of “encouragement?” Why, of course, smoking will be banned in homes and children will be encouraged to report their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to the “Smoking Prevention Officer” and the police.
I told my dad that the tar from the cigarettes sticks to your tongue and goes all black. He didn’t like that and now he’s down to one cigarette a day.
The child’s father is an idiot too. Didn’t it occur to him simply to poke out his tongue and say ‘Look, no tar’?
The amount and degree of utter nonsense people will accept as true is astounding. You can forgive it in children, they think they are getting information from reliable adults when their teachers spout this rubbish at them. But the adults believe it too!
Okay, next I am going to tell them that fat cells are left on everything touched by a fat person and will be absorbed through the skin of the next thin person to touch it. Those fat cells will multiply and spread throughout their body. I bet I can get a few of them to believe it. It’s almost too easy.
Then I’ll add ‘Touched by fat’ alongside ‘Handled by smokers’ on every banknote that goes through my hands. I’m not obese, but the terrified morons won’t know that. They’ll just see the note.
Soon they won’t dare come out of their homes and the rest of us can get back to normal.
Soon they won’t dare come out of their homes and the rest of us can get back to normal.
If only, Leggy. If only.
Obviously, some parents believe whatever rubbish it is their children are “taught” at school. Then they tell their friends, who also believe it. It’s second and third-hand stupidity…
What also infuriates me is how the ’system’ seems to love making children constantly worried about anything and everything, from the environment to world poverty, not to mention exams. Next up will be four and five year olds fretting about their sexuality.
The State must be terrified of them being happy and carefree and normal. I suppose they are preparing them for an adulthood of being told what to think and to have no time to worry about sensible things, like the government.
I haven’t smoked for nearly 20 years, but I feel like torching a big, fat Cuban just to spite them.
Now you know what every dope smoker in the country has to go through. Actually it’s not so bad at all, i smoke but i keep myself to myself while doing it and no-one bothers me. Frankly I think your fears about this are grossly overstated. Children grassing up their parents? Come on now. Parents have by far the most influence over their children and if they don’t, frankly they deserve to be grassed up for that.
Belatedly stumble across this ….. for cigars I would recommend Romeo Y Julieta minis; though the otherwise lovely little box is masked with ‘monstrous’ image of a cancered something-or-other, alongside standard direst-of-dire warning.
Meanwhile, I’m off for an American Spirit ‘mild’.
So you’re on the pipe now too …. I was for a while. My tobbaconist in Paisley does a good range … of everthing really.
It is either a Montecristo or, if I’m feeling very indulgent, a Cohiba for me.
Eh ?(am cigar novice in truth) Must ask ‘my man’ about those. There’s a similar (size, quality) line to RYJ he stocks – but priced £2 more apparently ‘cos Castro used to smoke them. Two reasons not to sample then …..