Attention Smokers! Save at CVS!

[ABetterDetroit]

I love how free people feel to scold about cigarettes.

It really shows you that it isn't a public health issue at all. It's a moral crusade.

For myself it is really about giving a damn, and not enjoying watching youth make the same stupid mistakes I made. I enjoy watching the human species evolve for the better and it happens every day. But aggressively putting smoke in the lungs of people that are young, just not a good thing, so I wish it would slow more. I see so many beautiful young people smoke hard these days, and my life experience has taught me that if they don't stop they will grow old to be ugly or dead. Kind of a shitty choice .

[Detroitnerd]

Em, maybe a little of both actually.

Whatever happens to harm an individual or a group usually beckons moral choices and judgments. Everything from CIG smoke to CIG butts on a sidewalk bugs me. I can't help being bothered by it, but I never crusaded against smoking. I am however glad some people had the fortitude to fight for less smoke in the public space. I care less about smokers' rights than non-smokers' frankly.

I know I'll get crap for saying this, but protecting individual rights even when they annoy us or seem self-destructive is vital in a functioning democracy.

That said, if it were all done in the spirit of a public health campaign, without the finger-wagging and fines and citations, I'd get behind it, even as a smoker. [[And I might drop some paper or tobacco in public, but I pocket my filters.)

[Hermod]

I know I'll get crap for saying this, but protecting individual rights even when they annoy us or seem self-destructive is vital in a functioning democracy.

That said, if it were all done in the spirit of a public health campaign, without the finger-wagging and fines and citations, I'd get behind it, even as a smoker. [[And I might drop some paper or tobacco in public, but I pocket my filters.)

Are your individual rights violated by a business deciding to stop carrying a certain product line?

[Detroitnerd]

Are your individual rights violated by a business deciding to stop carrying a certain product line?

No, Hermod. I felt the conversation had moved beyond CVS and into a discussion of the nanny state.

[Pam]

I know I'll get crap for saying this, but protecting individual rights even when they annoy us or seem self-destructive is vital in a functioning democracy.

That said, if it were all done in the spirit of a public health campaign, without the finger-wagging and fines and citations, I'd get behind it, even as a smoker. [[And I might drop some paper or tobacco in public, but I pocket my filters.)

You don't really have a right to pollute everyone else's air though. That's why it's not just an issue of individual rights. Thanks for pocketing your filters. You must be one of the few who do since I see butts everywhere.

[Detroitnerd]

You don't really have a right to pollute everyone else's air though. That's why it's not just an issue of individual rights. Thanks for pocketing your filters. You must be one of the few who do since I see butts everywhere.

Well, what about coal-fired power plants that pollutes air [[and rain) for miles around? That might be a good place to begin a campaign against polluting people's air. Or SUVs or rolling coal or any of a number of things that pollute the air. Or wearing too much perfume, for that matter? If people were really concerned about polluted air, there are a thousand other places to begin a campaign for environmental justice.

But you don't see that. Why? Because it's essentially a moral crusade dressed up as a public health campaign. And if people were really honest about their motives, it's because they believe those who smoke are somehow inferior to them.

Anyway, I'm conscientious. I don't smoke indoors, unless a space is occupied by majority smokers. I don't litter butts everywhere. I just want to be left alone by all of YOU who are trying to pollute MY personal space with your SANCTIMONIOUSNESS.

[Pam]

Well, what about coal-fired power plants that pollutes air [[and rain) for miles around? That might be a good place to begin a campaign against polluting people's air. Or SUVs or rolling coal or any of a number of things that pollute the air. Or wearing too much perfume, for that matter? If people were really concerned about polluted air, there are a thousand other places to begin a campaign for environmental justice.

But you don't see that. Why? Because it's essentially a moral crusade dressed up as a public health campaign. And if people were really honest about their motives, it's because they believe those who smoke are somehow inferior to them.

Anyway, I'm conscientious. I don't smoke indoors, unless a space is occupied by majority smokers. I don't litter butts everywhere. I just want to be left alone by all of YOU who are trying to pollute MY personal space with your SANCTIMONIOUSNESS.

I'm for clean air no matter what the source but smoking used to be much more prevalent than those things. I never had a coal fired power plant in the next office cubicle or standing next to me at a night club. I'm glad people can no longer smoke in places like that. If that makes me scantimonious, so be it.

[Jimaz]

A weird bit of science:

Cigarette Butts May Help Birds Ward Off Parasites

As horrifying as the idea of baby birds growing up in a cigarette-filled home sounds, a new study suggests that some birds may benefit from weaving the fluffy plastic from cigarette butts into their nests. The nicotine lingering in smoked filters may serve as a natural insecticide, driving parasites and other harmful insects away from the nests and the baby birds living within. [[Tobacco plants generate nicotine because it defends against insects and their larvae that would otherwise devour the plants.)...

In the study, researchers at the Autonomous University of Tlaxcala in Mexico set up heat traps, which attract parasites, in 55 nests around Mexico City. Some traps were lined with filter fluff from smoked cigarette filters. The others were lined with fluff from unsmoked filters, which did not contain nicotine and other smoking by-products. Whether the nest held eggs, chicks or nothing, the unsmoked cigarette traps collected more parasites, suggesting the chemicals drove parasites away and not another property of the filters.

In a second experiment, the researchers collected 28 house sparrow nests and 29 house finch nests from Mexico City immediately after the chicks flew out for good. They found that the more smoked filter fluff padded a nest, the fewer parasites it had.

The missing piece of the puzzle is whether the reduced parasite load in the nests actually provided any benefit to the chicks. It is also unclear if nicotine or another chemical found in cigarettes, such as hydrogen cyanide, arsenic or ammonia, may have turned the parasites out of the nests.

... but I pocket my filters.)

Bird hater.

Kidding! just kidding!

[Detroitnerd]

A weird bit of science:

Cigarette Butts May Help Birds Ward Off Parasites

Bird hater.

Kidding! just kidding!

Heh. Pretty interesting that!

I think lots of people forget that the world 40 years ago was a lot different. It was … dirtier. Really dirtier. Like, you'd go into a store and it wasn't like Target, where you have a zillion lights and a thousand products and everything is presented really well and you can spend an hour there with popcorn and a slushy. Stores were sorta dingy, stock was a bit dusty, and people didn't smell like a can of body spray. In those days, cigarette smoke was actually CLEANER than a lot of the stuff around, and smelled like civilization. You could walk into a room that smelled like smoke and know that it was a place of respectable leisure. And, yes, it probably did ward off a lot of the insects, mites, and other pests that abounded in those infrequently mopped environments.

[Honky Tonk]

Heh. Pretty interesting that!

I think lots of people forget that the world 40 years ago was a lot different. It was … dirtier. Really dirtier. Like, you'd go into a store and it wasn't like Target, where you have a zillion lights and a thousand products and everything is presented really well and you can spend an hour there with popcorn and a slushy. Stores were sorta dingy, stock was a bit dusty, and people didn't smell like a can of body spray. In those days, cigarette smoke was actually CLEANER than a lot of the stuff around, and smelled like civilization. You could walk into a room that smelled like smoke and know that it was a place of respectable leisure. And, yes, it probably did ward off a lot of the insects, mites, and other pests that abounded in those infrequently mopped environments.

Nowadays everyone lines up, like scene in Soylent Green, to get their "shots" @ "The BIG Pharm".

[Inkadinkado]

The old saw along the lines of do what you want so long as it's not out in the streets and frightening the horses is a good rule for smoking and a lot of other personal choices. Smoking is a dirty and unhealthy habit, but so long as the pollution is contained and the costs laid solely at the feet of the smoker then I'm ok with it. Illogical and even immoral behavior come with a free society so smoke away, just not around me and certainly don't leave a trail of butts. Bravo to Nerd for cleaning up his mess.

[Wesley Mouch]

Why are the sales always on cancer-INDUCING drugs?

Because the price of these items so exceeds their actual production costs that there's lots of room for price reductions.

While meanwhile up the 401 your immensely-paternal government agency chews on a ban on electronic cigarettes in spite of the fact that they have actually helped many people step down from real cigarettes [[I can say from personal experience).

[Hypestyles]

what will CVS replace tobacco products with? Candy? Nicotine Patches? Condoms?

[Honky Tonk]

what will CVS replace tobacco products with? Candy? Nicotine Patches? Condoms?

Hopefully.......

[Meddle]

Is it true they chickened out and restocked cancer sticks?

[Honky Tonk]

Is it true they chickened out and restocked cancer sticks?

It sounds like a ruse to me. You release thousands of cigarettes @ a reduced price, then when people become hooked, you charge them inflated prices for more.

[izzyindetroit]

Is it true they chickened out and restocked cancer sticks?

Yup... http://www.theonion.com/articles/str...after-o,37580/

This is too bad.

[catch22]

Yup... http://www.theonion.com/articles/str...after-o,37580/

This is too bad.

No. Just satire, like everything else The Onion publishes.