Why is smoking demonised in our society but alcohol isn't?

Question

I'm not defending cigarettes but aren't alcohol users much more likely to engage in violence against their families and innocent bystanders then smokers?

Answer 1

I have often wondered this very thing myself! For instance, why did they ban cigarette advertisements on TV and billboards, but they still have alcohol ones? It is absurd--you can conceivably be killed if you drink too much alcohol once, but cigarettes take years to kill a person. Although I would steer clear of cigarettes, I would say alcohol is just as risky.

Answer 2

That's an overgeneralization. It's not alcohol users but alcohol ABUSERS who would be more likely to engage in violent acts. Since everyone acts differently when drunk, a drunk person is not necessarily a violent person.

The difference here lies in the inherint difference between alcohol and smoking: alcohol remains inside the body while smoke always leaves the body, affecting all of those people surrounding the smoker.

I think that the reason smoking is demonized is the behavior of the typical smoker. I feel particularly annoyed when I find cigarette butts of the smoking neighbor in my front yard when raking up the leaves. I feel annoyed when the driver in front of me chucks a still-lit cigarette out the window on the freeway, which bounces up towards my engine. What happened to the ashtray!

It looks like the prime difference here is the annoyance factor. Alcohol is typically consumed in private, often with fellow alcohol consumers, but cigarettes often show up in public.

Hichifheidi raised an interesting notion: make driving while smoking illegal.

Answer 3

The crimes caused by drunk people are not an intrinsic effect of alcohol. The vast majority of people DON'T go out and start a fight after they have had a drink. Alcohol doesn't contain any intrinsic violence inducing compound.

However, cigarettes are intrinsically damaging to the health of people around you regardless of who is smoking them. Hence the only safe smoker is someone who smokes away from other people.

Tobacco and Alcohol are intrinsically different drugs. You might as well have asked why are heroin addicts demonised in our society but people who take paracetamol aren't? They are different drugs and need to be treated differently.

Answer 4

Lots of answers have focussed on the harmful effects of cigarette smoke on others, but, like global warming, the whole theory of passive smoking is based on junk science. Consider the 2 largest studies ever: the WHO announced with much fanfare that those who were subjected to passive smoking ran a 16 to 17% greater chance of contracting lung cancer. What they failed to mention is that the chances of a non-smoker contracting lung cancer is only 0.01%, meaning the increased risk equates to only 0.0017%, which in statistical terms is zero.

The other large study was conducted with a sample of over 35,000 non-smoking spouses of smokers, by scientists from the Universities of Califonia and New York. They found that there was no statistical evidence ot suggest these non-smokers (in a study which ran from 1959 to 1998) suffered greater mortality rates than non-smokers generally from either coronary heart disease or lung cancer at any time or any level of exposure.

The simple answer to your question is that more people drink than smoke, making it an easy target.

Answer 5

Smoking is more addictive than alcohol. The states demonize it, but that allows them to place additional taxes on it and increase tax income. If it's so bad for you why isn't it outlawed completely? Because the states are addicted to the taxes they raise from it. No one's going to ***** about the tax increases on cigarrettes, because smokers are viewed as "trashy" or "uneducated" people who shouldn't have a say anyway. More people drink than smoke, so raising taxes or outlawing alcohol would create a big backlash. Look up what happened during "prohibition".

Answer 6

The chances of someone drunk affecting my health is very unlikely, i've never been in a drunken bar brawl or hit by a drunk driver.

My health does suffer everytime i go into a room where there are smokers, i do have some choice not to go into bars and clubs but what a sad lonely life i would have.

Get rid of smoking, most people who smoke want to stop and will do the more difficult it is for them to light up.

Answer 7

It’s because liberal left wingers along with their cousins the ultra-conservative right wingers and almost everyone in-between loves alcohol. They love their parities they love losing their minds to the most abused drug on the planet. It’s the one place that the upper crust can go to that holds that appearance of respectability. It doesn’t hurt that many of the senior members of congress are heavily involved in the alcohol industry in this country. Many in our government own interest in wineries, distilleries and breweries. The senior senator from the state of Massachusetts’s own grandfather and father made the family fortune from illegally imported/smuggled alcoholic beverages. All under the guise of repeatability, which is easy to buy if you have enough money. It’s all about money and though the tobacco industry is very rich its nothing compared to alcohol industry.

Answer 8

Only a small number of drinkers are likely to start attacking other people because they have had too much, mostly they are only causing themselves harm and no one else. However, every smoker is potentially screwing with the health of those in the immediate vicinity by producing second hand smoke, also the disgusting smell it leaves in the room, on their breath and on everyones clothes is pretty awful in my opinion.

Answer 9

You may well be right, but maybe the powers that be are making a fortune from Taxes on it and enjoy it themselves. Until such time as the whole world frowns on drinking as they do smoking, then I should imagine the current Political Correct morons will continue to skim money off the alcohol industry and keep quiet.

Answer 10

Alcohol, in moderation, is often used in celebration. Also, in moderation of course, is not dangerous. Cigarettes are much different; they serve no other purpose than to give the smoker a high at the disadvantage of their lungs.