In recent (American) television, there has been an uprising of smoking PSA's. They might have been going on since last year to my memory, still unsure if the same company has been making them since.

https://www.youtube.com/user/KnowThe...?query=smoking here is most of the ones I have been seeing. Pretty shock value.

Whats your opinion on smoking? I feel like if you have the money to spend 7 dollars a pack and dont care about the risks there is no problem. its not like nobody knows what the actual issues with them are. If you were to ask a bunch of smokers what health risks they contain, they would all tell you it can obviously kill you.

Nevermind the fact Obesity and Alcoholism are almost never harped on.

In my opinion, smoking is a horrible and senseless habit. I mean, back in the day when smoking was a status/cool thing to do I can see how people would be willing to smoke. However, now that there's images on the packages, people teach about the dangers of smoking in school, and there is just general knowledge about the horrible things it can do to your body, I think that smoking is rediculous in this day and age. I've never understood how people get in to smoking... I mean, I don't imagine the first puff would make you want to go back, but people do anyway. I guess that's how they drag you in (pun intended).

Smoking causes many severe health risks, pollutes the environment, and where I live and how I was raised, it's really unattractive. Some people smoke a pack or more a day. By smoking, you are spending thousands of dollars which could be spent elsewhere. Furthermore, they are so easy for children/teens to access, that it has the potential to ruin futures.

I get what you mean though, alcohol, obesity, and other drugs are not as advertised, but I honestly don't think they're as damaging. There's not a whole lot of obese people where I live, and alcohol isn't usually a huge deal. There's some stoners around, but joints usually aren't smoked as often as cigarettes. Basically, the other issues just aren't as life threatening it seams.

There's supposedly talk of a ban in the UK for those born after 2000 who want to buy cigarettes. I think it's a great idea (even though it may be bad for the economy).

Good topic for discussion. Sorry if I come off as biased, but I'm just stating my opinion.

- a non-smoker.

smoking and drinking and driving and doing drugs and doing bad things is cool. If you think it is not cool then you are not cool.

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Smoking is a public health issue. Just because other public health issues do not receive as much attention does not mean that smoking does not deserve the level of attention it receives.

Considering it's a product that's more addictive than most illegal drugs, can directly harm individuals around the smoker (as a person with severe childhood asthma, I can attest to this from first hand experience), and often costs health care providers and taxpayers a ridiculous amount of money each year to treat the various health problems it causes, it certainly merits the attention.

yes, agree with you

If you do not smoke or not use other drugs will never know how cool is.

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Smoking may be a health issue, but honestly. It is their choice. In any case, any PSA is an attempt to shut down a "bad" corporation, or it's simply them ripping the people of their choices. Sure, drugs may be illegal, sure, they may kill you. But simply, it is their choice. As long as they do not harm anyone else in their actions, it should be allowed. But, I wouldn't say this extends to other laws where someone "Might" have be harmed. But that's beside the point. But to wrap it up, smoking isn't good for you, but it's your choice, and if you want to fill you body with hundreds of toxins, I'm not stopping you. And nor should anyone tell you to stop.

I agree. Drugs wouldn't be a problem if there weren't innocent deaths and ruined lives because of them. If you're not pregnant or, a person with lung cancer tendencies smoking shouldn't be much of a problem.
Smoking is a public issue in Spain for example, in which many provinces allow smoking inside public spaces; such as Madrid, which had more than 2 people smoking at the same time in a closed space.
Situations like this are health issues for the ones surrounding smokers.
Which leads to my claim: smokers should respect everyone's space, if you abide by this, there's no problem in smoking tobacco.

The point of a PSA is to bring awareness to a rather unknown subject, not to harp on something someone already knows. When I see these I just think they are nagging me into "smoking is bad dont do it!!". If someone made a PSA on the state of a 3rd world country id have no problem with it. I can understand your points though, taxpayers money and wasted resources, but I think its just a waste to keep making these.

As it's a public health issue, what do you think governments should be doing about it (if anything)?