Smoking Roadgeeks

[GeauxLSU]

Do any of you smoke cigarettes? I've never seen a picture of a road meet with somebody smoking in it. I'm thinking about starting smoking because it's kewl and I want to be one of the kewl kids at school and on this chat board.

[hotdogPi]

You want to start because it's "kewl"? Don't start smoking, no matter what!

[Max Rockatansky]

Seriously people still want to start this crap with all the obvious cancerous effects not to mention diminished lung capacity?  Every once in a blue moon I'll have a single smoke...but that might have amount to maybe twenty times over the course my life.

[bandit957]

I wonder if there's any roadmeet photos of people bubbling.

[noelbotevera]

I wonder if there's any roadmeet photos of people bubbling.

I ate a chocolate bar in the Central PA meet photo, does that count?

[bandit957]

I ate a chocolate bar in the Central PA meet photo, does that count?

I almost choked on a cheese boulder at the Madison WI meet, which entertained the crowd.

[bandit957]

In my day, all the cool kids broke their eyeglasses into itty bitty pieces when they got tired of wearing them.

[Max Rockatansky]

In my day, all the cool kids broke their eyeglasses into itty bitty pieces when they got tired of wearing them.

In Michigan they smoked.  Anytime I go back there it's weird to see it so prevalent even to this day.  I was really surprised that smoking sections in restaurants actually got banned.  I suppose it made sense though in retrospect; lots of blue collar jobs and lots of quasi-manic depression with the oppressive winters. 

[1995hoo]

I've never been an habitual smoker and the last time I smoked anything was May 1998 a week after graduating from law school. One of my old college roommates gave me a cigar as a present, so I smoked it....between that, the Scotch, and the beer that day, I wound up very very sick the next morning. It was one of those awful mornings when you have to puke in the trash can, rather than the toilet, because you're already seated on the toilet at the time.

I'd feel like a hypocrite if I took up smoking because when we were kids, my brother and I nagged our father into quitting.

[Alex]

Do any of you smoke cigarettes? I've never seen a picture of a road meet with somebody smoking in it. I'm thinking about starting smoking because it's kewl and I want to be one of the kewl kids at school and on this chat board.

Already had a lengthy topic on this:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8530.0

[txstateends]

Long term, you'll realize it's not kewl/cool/otherwise to smoke.  It's costly, restricts your breathing capability, shortens your life, plus you already have enough to do with your hands (eat, drive, talk on the phone, yadayada) anyway.

I guess if we had internet back in the 1960s and 1970s, you'd probably see pics of roadfans/friends/family smoking.  Now, not so much.  So many places don't allow it.

So, just be yourself, whether you're popular or not, and don't make yourself look like a smokestack just cause your 'friends' are doing it.

[jakeroot]

There's no denying that smoking is a very social activity. But I don't think it's worth the side effects.

By the way, why is everyone taking him seriously? Obvious troll is obvious.

[jeffandnicole]

There's no denying that smoking is a very social activity.

True that.  It's amazing the info that gets passed around by the smokers outside my office building.

[Rothman]

It is more misinformation than not in my office.

[hbelkins]

By the way, why is everyone taking him seriously? Obvious troll is obvious.

I have my suspicions that the young Bayou Bengal is not really a 14-year-old LSU fan -- and I agree that Les Miles got the short end of the stick -- but instead someone most of us know who has adopted an alter ego and is trolling us here. My guess is that it's really Tom Jenior. 

[coatimundi]

When I worked at a call center (6 months in 2003-04), you were given two very specific, legally-mandated 15-minute breaks during your 8-hour shift. You had to clock in for them so, if you went too long too many times, you would get a talking to. However, if you smoked, then you could take multiple breaks to do so, remaining clocked in as regular work, and the smoking area was very social and active. Thus, most people who worked there smoked.

That said, I started smoking at 14 and was not able to fully give it up until I was close to 30. And I never even smoked that much. It's just so easy to get addicted. I have no idea how I'm going to convince my kid to not smoke, but I'll have to try. I wish I had never started. I think at least introducing the idea of it in a negative sense is a start, and that's something my parents never did.

[slorydn1]

That said, I started smoking at 14 and was not able to fully give it up until I was close to 30. And I never even smoked that much. It's just so easy to get addicted. I have no idea how I'm going to convince my kid to not smoke, but I'll have to try. I wish I had never started. I think at least introducing the idea of it in a negative sense is a start, and that's something my parents never did.

You probably won't have to. Like you, I also started at 14, but I was in a situation where not only did my parents smoke, but so did all of my friends, including that really cute girl down the street that I really wanted to impress (oy vay!)

Fast forward 30+ years, none of my 3 kids smoke-2 mid twenties, the baby is 17. Although both of their parents smoked, none of their friends did-including any of the females that they wanted to impress. There-in lies the difference.

In high school, you or I could smoke on school property (outside of course) as long as we had a signed permission slip from our parents. In college, we could not only smoke in our dorms, depending on the professor we could smoke in CLASS. You could smoke at your desk at work, smoke in the store, smoke at pretty much every eating establishment, anywhere one wanted to except for Church. Hospitals allowed smoking in waiting rooms, the cafeteria, and in patient rooms if the patient had a signed note from their attending physician allowing them to do so. (Ok, I'm about 10 years older than you so you may not have dealt with this last one).

As far as our kids are concerned, they never knew a time where it was socially acceptable to smoke pretty much anywhere people congregate. Hell in my county we can't even smoke in a damn park anymore. Outside in a damn park, are you freakin kidding me???

The peer pressure is pretty much the reverse it was for us-so much pressure to not smoke. I don't think that will be where your problems will be. The big problems will be drugs. It's always been a problem, but with more and more people clamoring to legalize Marijuana, and with how easy it is to hook up with someone who knows someone who can hook them up with pretty much any pill they can imagine-that's going to be the big war you'll have to fight. It's more socially acceptable to get stoned now more than it ever was except maybe the late 1960's-but anyone caught smoking a Marlboro is an absolute pariah in society-kids just don't want to go down that road anymore.

[jakeroot]

The peer pressure is pretty much the reverse it was for us-so much pressure to not smoke. I don't think that will be where your problems will be. The big problems will be drugs. It's always been a problem, but with more and more people clamoring to legalize Marijuana, and with how easy it is to hook up with someone who knows someone who can hook them up with pretty much any pill they can imagine-that's going to be the big war you'll have to fight. It's more socially acceptable to get stoned now more than it ever was except maybe the late 1960's-but anyone caught smoking a Marlboro is an absolute pariah in society-kids just don't want to go down that road anymore.

Well, last I checked, marijuana doesn't cause cancer to the same degree as tobacco. It's still a carcinogen. But the two have different effects.

[vdeane]

There is a case to be made that marijuana has fewer detrimental effects than both cigarettes and alcohol.  Of course, the latter two have been considered "socially acceptable" since the nation's founding.  Personally, I don't think social tradition should have any influence on what is and isn't legal.  Laws should be based entirely on scientific facts and how one person's action could harm another.

[coatimundi]

In high school, you or I could smoke on school property (outside of course) as long as we had a signed permission slip from our parents.

You know, I had completely forgotten about that until you mentioned it. But I ended up moving overseas freshman year, and you couldn't smoke at school there. In Singapore, by that point, smoking was already banned indoors and in enclosed spaces.

I saw some pictures of a mall from the 80's recently that showed people smoking, and I thought "Wow, I totally forgot about that." It's surprising to me how quickly that was removed from my memory. It seems so absurd now.

And you're probably right: it's a different generation. They're growing up with a lot more stigma related to tobacco, and I guess I can partially rely on that to stick.

I think we're at a point now where marijuana has been pushed for so long as a dangerous drug and, now that mainstream society is starting to come around to it not being that, the true negative effects are more minimized than they should be. I'm happy it's now legal where I live, but we need more education and to keep it strictly excluded to those 21 and over, as it is now.

[bandit957]

I remember when people used to smoke in the waiting rooms of doctor's offices, of all places. I think some waiting rooms allowed it until the early '90s.

[Max Rockatansky]

In high school, you or I could smoke on school property (outside of course) as long as we had a signed permission slip from our parents.

You know, I had completely forgotten about that until you mentioned it. But I ended up moving overseas freshman year, and you couldn't smoke at school there. In Singapore, by that point, smoking was already banned indoors and in enclosed spaces.

I saw some pictures of a mall from the 80's recently that showed people smoking, and I thought "Wow, I totally forgot about that." It's surprising to me how quickly that was removed from my memory. It seems so absurd now.

And you're probably right: it's a different generation. They're growing up with a lot more stigma related to tobacco, and I guess I can partially rely on that to stick.

I think we're at a point now where marijuana has been pushed for so long as a dangerous drug and, now that mainstream society is starting to come around to it not being that, the true negative effects are more minimized than they should be. I'm happy it's now legal where I live, but we need more education and to keep it strictly excluded to those 21 and over, as it is now.

The problem was that it was listed as a Schedule I narcotic which basically means that in the eyes of the people who created the Controlled Substances Act that Marijuana was on par as being dangerous as LSD, Heroin, and Mescaline.  That means according to the way the act was created the Feds viewed Marijuana as even more dangerous that things like Cocaine, Oxy, Morphine, Fentanyl, and everything else in Schedule II.  It's interesting to look at the back story on how things became to be considered that way.  In the early 20th century Marijuana was viewed as some great societal evil which was really put in the spot light by this little nugget of a movie:

Basically it's sensationalism like that led to prohibition....it's weird that Marijuana stuck in the minds of so many as some "forbidden evil."  A lot of the drugs that are banned nowadays that are in Schedule I and II were fairly common back in the early 20th century....cocaine was even in Coca Cola.    So basically people figured out over time that Marijuana wasn't everything that the Controlled Substances Act and older society presented to be....really it would probably wouldn't have gained so much backlash traction if it was assigned to Schedule III-V from the get go.

But the irony was that tobacco always stayed okay even though there was ample evidence in the mid-20th century that it had huge health risks...you can probably talk that up to money talks and carries influence.  God...I remember everyone smoked in the house, when you went out to eat, in the car, and in the office just to name a few back in the 1970s/1980s...it was just normal.  Basically tobacco is being choked to death by each passing generation until it becomes niche or outright banned.

Regardless I'm not a fan of the Marijuana sub-culture...if I was king for a day I'd ban it along with tobacco outright.  There is a lot of shady underhanded people that suddenly became "legit" in several states once it became legal.  Now I say all that being a beer and in general alcohol drinker.  That's already been banned once and it's definitely an addictive substance to be certain that can carry very negative health effects.  I'd say do what you like if it's legal, just know what the consequences might be.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I've heard that marijuana being ostracized was also largely tied to racism, which is a long, complicated history that I not only can't fully recall but wouldn't be able to effectively summarize if I did.

I've smoked on a few occasions and gotten pretty F'd up on a couple of them (also had an experience with edibles in Colorado that was memorable). But even being a "repeat user" I have no real need to do it on any regular basis, although I certainly wouldn't turn it down if the opportunity presented itself in the future. Like anything, some people just end up getting their priorities out of order; they don't "need" weed (well, assuming they don't need it for health problems) but they waste money on it when they don't need it. I see no difference between a "pot enthusiast" and the guy who sits in the basement playing video games 15 hours a day.

[coatimundi]

I've heard that marijuana being ostracized was also largely tied to racism, which is a long, complicated history that I not only can't fully recall but wouldn't be able to effectively summarize if I did.

Oh, quiet now, you're going to wake up the Fox News , "there's no racism in America," crew on here...

I'll stoke it anyway. During the 80's, at the height of the "War on Drugs," sentencing for crack versus cocaine was much harsher, and that's become major evidence for the point you're relaying. Poor, mostly black, people tended to use crack while wealthier, mostly white, people tended to use cocaine. But they're essentially the same thing.

I think it's just kind of a body chemistry thing: some people are functional and proactive while stoned. I turn into a lump not able to do anything but eat Doritos, watch TV and lie in bed. And I don't need to be doing that at 5pm on a Tuesday. If I use just enough, it does help me sleep though (too much and I can't sleep).

[vdeane]

Plus the word "marijuana" first came into vogue here as part of a propaganda campaign to make it illegal.  At the time, "marijuana" was a Mexican slang term for hemp, which is what everyone called it here.  But by making the name sound foreign, it got people afraid and willing to vote to make it illegal.  Wasn't enough to stop the beginnings of the War on Drugs, though.

As for why a group of people wanted to make hemp illegal in the first place?  Turns out the paper, oil, and pharmaceutical industries were petrified that industrialized hemp production would put them out of business.