thespiritualcatalyst replied to your post: thespiritualcatalyst replied to your p...
Well in my experience the people who understand other coping mechanisms are the ones who have had one themselves. They know what it feels like, so therefore they’re not going to shit on someone else who has as unhealthy coping mechanism (or addiction
my problem is that cigarette smoking exposes other people to the substance against their will, putting other people at risk. most other substance addictions do not include this facet, esp since cigarettes are frequently smoked in public
i also frequently encounter cigarette smokers who leave their lit, hot butts on the asphalt despite the danger to small children and animals. once i was walking my dog and this guy dropped the cigarette but right in front of us OUT OF HIS HOUSE WINDOW and my dog almost ran right up to it. i've frequently experienced smokers blow their smoke at me, smoke right in front of door ways, at bus stops, on my old college campus right near people, walking down the street, liter with their cigarettes, smoke around their kids and pets, etc. it just seems to me that most smokers have little to no concern about how their cigarettes effect other people and considering that cigarettes addiction, unlike alcoholism, heroin addiction, crack addiction and most addictions involving substances is not mind altering nor does it seem to come with other forms of baggage around those substances, i don't see excuses for the behavior
i get that some smokers are disabled and are self-medicating, so i'm not going to fault people for that, but smoking in and of itself is in my view not a disability nor is it something that should be encouraged - it's not even something i think that is sympathetic or excusable in all cases