If you needed yet another reason to quit smoking, here it is.
I live in the US and it’s becoming more and more unusual in many places to see people smoking. As a result, I see fewer discarded cigarette butts than ever. Still not zero, but getting there.
I live in the U.S. too and I still see a ton here in Indiana, but we also apparently have a nicotine addiction epidemic here that no one talks about much.
As of 2022:
Nearly 29% of Indiana adults currently use tobacco. Combustible cigarettes are the most used tobacco product, followed by e-cigarettes.
I’m in Western NY, but even in NYC it’s less than 9%. The state offers a lot of support for quitting, perhaps that’s why.
Aren’t cigarettes like $15 a pack there? That probably has something to do with it.
They’re $15 throughout the state. So they’re probably more in the city.
Reservation cigarettes negate those prices though.
Reservation cigarettes negate those prices though.
TIL that, on at least some Indian reservations in the United States, cigarettes are sold, sold at a lower price and sold to the general public. I could not find a reference on Wikipedia; all I found was a seemingly unofficial webpage.
The reason they’re cheaper is because they don’t need to charge tax on them. Regular cigarettes are the same price, but they have all of the taxes on top of that, which makes them cost three times as much.
That’s interesting there isn’t anything on wiki about it. It’s not a secret or anything.
The reason they’re cheaper is because they don’t need to charge tax on them.
I understand. Thank you for confirming it.
I’ve heard people here in Europe sometimes save on cigarettes in a similar way, by buying them across the border, where taxes are lower, or in duty-free shops at airports, but that’s possibly outdated or even made-up hearsay I’ve never checked.
That’s interesting there isn’t anything on wiki about it. It’s not a secret or anything.
There may be something I missed, or it might be such an inconsequential and uncontroversial phenomenon that no one deemed it worth documenting.
That’s exactly it. I’m a smoker from one of the states with the lowest taxes on cigarettes. I’m heading to New York in a couple of weeks and I’ll be stocking up before I leave. If I lived there I would quit, can’t justify spending that money. I’ve already switched to a cheaper brand that has deals at Sheetz that make them roughly $5 a pack.
I’ve never done this myself, but I’ve known a couple people that take a ton of cigarettes with them when they go to New York. This is highly profitable and highly illegal.
I doubt there’s much support here at all and there was pretty much a red wave in this state in November, so there will probably be even less next year.
I remember when I left Indiana 25 years ago that it was the highest per capita state for smoking, with Kentucky being number 2.
So what would you be your solution?
Why do I need a solution to recognize a problem? Or are you saying that many addicts is a good thing?
how harmful do you consider tobacco in the context of booze?
Is it a contest?
No, i dont think so, i just don’t think its fair to demonize smoking if we celebrate drinking. everyone has a vice.
When did I celebrate drinking? Both addictions are huge burdens on the healthcare system.
Both should be demonized.
It’s the hardest thing about traveling to Europe for me. I love being in Europe, but after living in a part of the US with almost no smokers it is jarring to smell cigarette smoke everywhere on the streets there.
I get nostalgic whenever I smell cigarettes, which is very rare these days.
“hmm, the smell of cancer, addiction and poverty!”
Is it just being replaced by other equally bad habits? I just found out that disposable vape pens are a thing. Those have plastics and electronics inside. I have no idea what the numbers there are.
Although vaping has become really big, there’s a lot more people quitting smoking than there are picking up vaping.
And vaping is not equally bad by a long shot. Cigarettes are far worse for you. Also, vaping isn’t nearly as annoying for the people around the user. I say all this as a cigarette smoker myself.
Those disposable vapes are disgustingly wasteful. Apparently you can take them apart and make them reusable or repurpose the battery, but very few people are going to mess with that.
Weed is more or less legal and available everywhere in the US.
That’s not at all true.
I never see people smoking in the Puget Sound area. I saw people smoking all over NYC when I was there.
I love smoking. I know it’s killing me. I realize it stinks to other people. I never smoke indoors. I try my best to be considerate of others and never throw my butts on the ground.
But it’s getting a bit ridiculous the demonizing of smokers in the US. If I walk to the edge of a business’s property where there is literally no one and smoke a cigarette, I shouldn’t be harassed by cops or security to cross the street, go several blocks away, or similar.
I thought tires were responsible for like 25% of micro plastics.
Never mind. I just read what I wrote, and realized they’re two different things.
I also had the idea that fishing nets were the most common sea plastic.
Just ban the filter. Let them smoke raw and unfiltered.
We should go back to using natural materials for filters, like asbestos. /s
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Any smoker already knows they’re killing themselves. Now it turns out their “filters” are harming us. I can’t even use a plastic straw anymore for fuck’s sake. Why not get rid of the filter?
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I doubt that filters provide any real harm reduction beyond trapping a little bit of tar, quick internet search will confirm. They seem to do more harm than good when you consider their environmental impact. From my pov, keeping them around is needlessly cruel and results in no benefit whatsoever
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Bro don’t cherry pick when quoting me, wth. They absolutely harm the environment more than help. Again smokers know the risk when they started smoking. They don’t get to mitigate that risk by poisoning the environment with their trapped tar filters that they flick everywhere with out a care for themselves or nonsmokers or the environment.
You’re wrong on this one
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If we were serious about getting people to quit, it would be better to force producers to slowly decrease the nicotine content, and the other addictive additives used in cigarettes. Of course the producers lobby and sue governments trying to limit them in any way.
Or, and hear me out here, since no one would die from withdrawal and the product has no medicinal benefits and directly causes adverse health outcomes with no redeeming qualities: stop production completely.
I spent over 20 years enslaved to nicotine. Now that I’m free, I don’t want to see anyone else have to go through it.
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Smoking with a filter has no health benefits. Statistically, there are even more illnesses with people that smoke with filter cause they on average smoke more cause it irritates the throat less.
Our local cancer NGO even lobbied to ban filtered sigarettes as they cause more smoking and are plastic litter.
Being very cynical, how does killing them faster not lessen the burden on society at large? It’s a burden I’m glad we choose to bear, but just literally mathematically, the amount spent worldwide on treating people with smoking damage is astronomical.
Statistically, it’s at least possible that the amount of cost saved by killing some smokers faster could be offset by causing other smokers to need medical treatment who would otherwise have avoided it.
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Pretty typical response these days. “jUsT BaN iT!”
And as the article already says what’s even worse is the cocktail of chemicals in those filters which are even more harmful than simple PET and the like.
Dislike smoking but realize that for addicts often public infrastructure doesn’t give you a lot of options for getting rid of butts. Seems like biodegradable butts should be mandatory. On the other hand I will lean into my horn if I see someone throwing butts out of their car. That is inexcusable - get an ashtray for your vehicle.
I mean, who cares? It’s the smokers’ problem? If you can’t dispose of your trash take it with you or stop producing it until you can. That’s true for any trash.
We expect people to carry doggie bags, too. Just clean up after yourself.
I realize that’s idealistic and it’s never going to happen because smokers be littering, but it makes me mad regardless.
I just get all the tobacco out of the butt and put it in my back pocket until I find a trash can. It makes me stink even worse but that’s better than littering.
I do the same thing, but if you thought we stunk before that…man.
Aren’t microplastics from car tires more common?
I thought so too, and maybe they are using a different metric in this article, but I couldn’t tell you since their source URL is a deadline…
That we know of, I bet microplastics is actually worse but we can’t measure it in aggregate well.
I wasn’t aware cigarettes contained any plastic at all
The filters are basically all plastic except the paper around them.
Not a smoker, but I believe smokers are treated poorly, as are businesses that cater to smokers.
But my beliefs are really put to the test everytime I see a smoker throw their butt on the ground.
Not treated poorly enough.
Why should any human being be treated poorly?
For being disrespectful to the people around them.
