The United States should ban cigarettes, but should continue to allow tobacco to be used in smoke-free forms.
If you want to poison yourself, that should be your choice, but poisoning others should not be allowed.
In countries with solidary health insurance expenses to cover unnecessary, tobacco related cancers are paid by the whole population.
That happens in the US too. We just also pay CEO salaries and shareholder disbursements.
And health care for Israel
We're such a generous nation ❤️
/s
Dead wrong.
The whole population benefits from what smokers pay.
From a study in NL it shows that they generate far more than what it costs in healthcare.
And it also said should the small percentage of smokers suddenly quit and live longer, the loss of income for the state and the extra cost of them living longer and needing more care would be unsustainable.
And if you want to be selfish and not have solidarity then let's start about the much bigger cost of the SELF-INFLICTED diabetic epidemic.
They require an avg of 28 years of aid.
And almost no country wants to tackle that because of their opportunistic politicians.
Who cares about antagonizing a small percentage that smokes.
But the many sugar addicts poisoning themselves are too important for their precious votes to touch.
And those same hypocrite politicians can be seen regularly with a glass of alcohol (hard drugs) in their hand.
And as an edit, I don't want to pay for your skin cancer treatment also, should've stayed out of the sun.
The United States should ban cigarettes
Never read about the Prohibition?
Yeah as the article notes people have switched to nicotine pouches to get their fix. Which are better because they don't produce smoke and lung cancer, but they can still give you other oral cancers and dental diseases. If anything they're probably worse in that aspect due to being constantly pressed against the gums and lips. But at least they're smokeless.
More research is needed. Nicotine on its own is not cancerous. Tobacco is. Nicotine pouches that aren't tobacco might carry much lower risks, but there is other stuff in them.
The only known negatives with nicotine is that it's apparently a bit stressful for the heart. So it's still good to avoid taking it, but if you're going to take nicotine anyways, it's the safest delivery method.
Do other countries also have an ingredients list on nicotine pouches? Sweden has always had it (even on snus), as it's classified as a food product. I've always found it interesting that a product that shouldn't be swallowed has an ingredients list, but products that "should" be swallowed (such as alcohol) doesn't.
It's the whole coronary system not just the heart. It also comes with the same swath of possible symptoms as most stimulants including high blood pressure, stress/anxiety, etc.
That said, IMO the biggest issue is the litter. Used pouches should go into the trash can and away from animals.
I don't think the US has strict regulations on the ingredients... I don't know why, likely lobbyist behavior, but also I think people just accept that if you smoke you don't give a shit and it's unhealthy by default, so it's not a big deal if they add chemicals.
Which becomes more ridiculous with nicotine pouches for this reason. Nicotine isn't cancerous, so it would be super shitty to add carcinogens in the pouches and then claim it's a tobacco product so you should expect it.
it’s the safest delivery method.
hitting your head with a 2 pound hammer is safer than hitting your head with a 10 pound hammer.
Nicotine on its own is not cancerous.
Man... if you really want misinformation, read Lemmy on the subject of vapes and nicotine. Everyone just copy pastas incorrect "facts".
and
and
Not to mention the littering problem is even worse than with cigarette butts.
it's somewhat nice to not risk fires breaking out, though.
People just need to rediscover pipes. Tolkien knew what was up 👍
I love my pipe. Much more enjoyable experience.
I haven’t smoked in a long time, but I used to love my pipe. It’s been getting more and more tempting to try it again, since I have one of the few health issues where nicotine can sometimes help.
I know nothing of pipes other than shape. What is the functional advantages to it?
I think it’s “smoother” but I’ve never smoked one so I cannot confirm
In my very subjective opinion they taste better and are more fun.
The longer the stem is (the piece between the bowl and your mouth), the more time the smoke has to cool down before it hits your mouth, and some believe this gives a better smoking experience.
Some pipes also use filters, with don't so much for chilling but remove some of the moisture from the smoke if you live in a humid area.
Longer stems also look badass
Fantastic. About 75% of the people I know still smokes though. Paywall stops me from reading the article but I do wonder what the sample size is.
I'm pretty sure i got the whole article:
Sweden has reached its target of fewer than five percent of the population smoking regularly – and is consequently considered "smoke-free".
"It is an incredible development that a harmful behaviour can be reduced to this extent," Mats Ramstedt, head of research at the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAN), told the TT news agency.
For the first time in CAN's surveys, fewer than five percent smoke regularly in Sweden, according to the 2025 annual report on smoking and snus habits, which means that the political goal for Sweden to be smoke-free by 2025 has been achieved.
The proportion of daily smokers dropped from 16 to 4.8 percent between 2003 and 2025, according to the new report.
"It is not just the proportion of smokers that has decreased; we also see that people are smoking fewer cigarettes. Given the health risks associated with cigarette smoking, this is obviously very positive," said Ramstedt.
Smoking has been declining in Sweden since the late 1970s (for comparison: in the early 1980s, over 30 percent of Swedes smoked daily), thanks to broad preventative work, according to Ramstedt.
"The first and perhaps most vital point is that accessibility has been drastically reduced. It is both harder and more expensive to smoke today," said Ramstedt, citing taxes and real-term prices rising by 45 percent since 2003.
FROM THE LOCAL'S ARCHIVE: How Sweden is close to stubbing out smoking for good
He also credited efforts made to deter people from starting to smoke in the first place, such as advertising bans, and to make it easier for people to quit.
Meanwhile, Sweden has seen a sharp increase in the use of snus in recent years – the small nicotine pouches popular in Sweden – a factor that the tobacco industry often highlights as a major reason for Sweden's low proportion of smokers.
"One must keep in mind that smoking had already decreased sharply before we saw this rise in snus. In a way, that argues against it being a decisive factor in reducing smoking," said Ramstedt, but conceded that more research into its role could provide useful insights. "My assessment is that there is a lack of studies proving this, and I would maintain that it is primarily down to preventative measures."
My country is fentanyl-free. Less than 5% of the population consumes it.
That said, congrats on Sweden.
Thank you. Looks like they ask 18 000 people at random yearly. Quite a good sample size for a country of 10 million citizens. But I'd take it with a scoop of salt as it's self reported and other numbers are weirdly worded if not wrong. I recall cigarettes being 38 SEK for a pack in 2008. Now they're 78 SEK, which is far more than +45% and in a shorter time span.
Edit: found the summary. 30% are still using nicotine, allegedly.
That inspired me to look up my own country's rate of smoking over the years and I'm shocked that we're over 10% still, and were at 20% in 09. I know everything used to stink of cigarettes all the time, but that still feels so high
If they follow the rest of the EU and start banning flavored snus in favor of only menthol flavors you can expect to see a sharp spike in cigarette usage again. It's funny this study doesn't mention vapes, which, anecdotally, are massively popular in Sweden.
using Reader Mode in Firefox does work.
They're all ramming Snus against their gums like there's no tomorrow though.
'Smoke free contry'
It's about cigarettes
Bruh
Yet they attack France for banning nicotine pouches and calling it an attack on the Swedish way of life.
But yet when the British government does this, Lemmites claim it's an attack on personal freedom and fascism.
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