>> ^demon_ix:
You do realize that in between breathing in fresh air, you're breathing in smoke, tar and nicotine?
I'm sorry, but that argument seemed too silly for me to ignore <IMG class=smiley src="http://static1.videosift.com/cdm/emoticon/wink.gif">
>> ^Samaelsmith:
It's also a good excuse to go outside and get some fresh air


Yeah, my girlfriend thinks I'm crazy too. There is a certain quality to outside air, whether it's ions or whatever, that is different than inside air. Even on a busy downtown street on a smoggy day there is a "freshness" to the air that indoors doesn't have. And I must emphasize that "fresh" air has absolutely nothing to do with "clean" air.

Even though I've been a non-smoker for long enough that my sense of smell has come back and I can more truly enjoy fresh air, I still miss sitting out on the porch and breathing in the cool night air. I know I could still do that but without a cigarette, I can't relax because my mind is constantly thinking that I shouldn't be sitting around doing nothing, I should go inside and do something.

Also, when I would go outside and take a deep breath of good clean air, my mind would think "Mmmm, delicious, a smoke would make it even better." Even I think that's ridiculous, but that's how it was.

I detect an LA resident.>> ^demon_ix:
You do realize that in between breathing in fresh air, you're breathing in smoke, tar and nicotine?
I'm sorry, but that argument seemed too silly for me to ignore
>> ^Samaelsmith:
It's also a good excuse to go outside and get some fresh air

You do realize that in between breathing in fresh air, you're breathing in smoke, tar and nicotine?

I'm sorry, but that argument seemed too silly for me to ignore
>> ^Samaelsmith:
It's also a good excuse to go outside and get some fresh air

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

^I wasn't saying that it was all about money - though I do think that's a part of it for many. I think that the medical profession appeals to individuals who enjoy having power over other people. I feel the same way about police.

I don't think it's right to paint all doctors as great martyrs- doing it all for their community. They are human, and there is a whole spectrum of motivations. I certainly don't think they deserve quite the pedestal that most people place them on - or a free-ride, or even the benefit of the doubt.

I'm generalizing and speaking from personal experience only for sure. These are my opinions, but I don't think it's fair to call them ignorant. There's a level of hubris, and blind certitude that goes along with medicine - that is, in my opinion unscientific.

Things like the over-prescription of anti-biotics, the over-use of epidurals, scheduled caesarians to match convenient days, the debacle of dangerous drugs like Viox, Fen-phen and others -- deserve scrutiny and assessment - not a white washing over, and dismissal that doctors play no role in these matters.

These guys are still around, they're just pushing other drugs besides nicotine:

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Bill, Hicks, Smoking, ciggarettes, nicotine, hilarious' to 'Bill, Hicks, Smoking, cigarettes, nicotine, hilarious' - edited by nomino

Well, I looked up some stuff for you.

"Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Therapy, called porn the 'most concerning thing to psychological health that I know of existing today.'

'The internet is a perfect drug delivery system because you are anonymous, aroused and have role models for these behaviors,' Layden said. 'To have drug pumped into your house 24/7, free, and children know how to use it better than grown-ups know how to use it -- it's a perfect delivery system if we want to have a whole generation of young addicts who will never have the drug out of their mind.'

Pornography addicts have a more difficult time recovering from their addiction than cocaine addicts, since coke users can get the drug out of their system, but pornographic images stay in the brain forever, Layden said.'"

This woman's opinion is rather extreme, but to an extent I agree with her, based on things that I've seen.

I didn't say that porn addiction is worse than alcoholism. I compared it to nicotine addiction. I admit, my assertion was based on purely subjective personal opinion. I have known several people who have overcome a nicotine addiction with no lasting physical or psychological affects. On the other hand, I have known people who have tried to beat a porn habit and either failed or are still tempted, even years later. A very good friend of mine married a guy who lied to her about his porn habit. She found out about it and went through some serious trauma. He bawled like a baby when she told him that she was emotionally incapable of having sex with him unless he quit the habit. He tried and failed to quit and the marriage ended. I know no less that three other guys who quit using pornography for personal reasons. Two of them, years later, expressed to me how difficult it was to quit. At times it felt impossible. And they are both still tempted. I have another friend who is manic depressive and he says that he can't get over his emotional dependency on porn, though he has been trying for years. One guy I talked to compared porn addiction to "chasing the dragon," a phrase that is used in reference to heroine. Another guy said that porn images still haunt him.

I admit that experts can't agree on whether or not porn is "addictive." Most of them agree, on the other hand, that it is a compulsion, habit-forming, and that the effects are lasting.

Skeeve, you said that my "pizza consumption (or at least some people's) does hurt people besides you... America is dying at continually younger ages of early onset heart disease, diabetes, etc., largely thanks to unhealthy diets. I guarantee you that fatty foods are not only physically responsible for more deaths in America than porn but also lead to more psychological problems in the people who develop negative body image thanks to that bad nutrition."

I started writing a response, but then I realized that it isn't worth my time to try and explain why your porn vs. pizza comparison is bogus.

>> ^NetRunner:
How about dropping our puritanical discomfort with our own bodies, and one of the more important and wonderful parts of human relationships?
I think our prudish behavior about sex leads to a large variety of our society's sex-related issues, be it unwanted pregnancies, the transmission of STDs, and possibly even some subset of sexual harassment or sexual assault.

I think this is spot on. America is really the only non-Islamic theocracy where someone pushing for the end to porn would be taken seriously, and I think NetRunner and QM are spot on in that it stems from a puritanical religious streak. Further, I have no proof but I'd bet my last pair of pants that this is also the reason why porn is such a huge business in America.

The sickening hate for the human body evidenced by so many religious people is, I guarantee you, more psycologically damaging than porn.

>> ^thepinky:
Alcohol, cigarettes, and fatty foods are very, very different from porn. Cigarettes aren't as addictive as porn. 8-year-old don't often access alcohol from their computer chairs and become addicted for the remainder of their lives. Fatty food manufacturers aren't emotionally scarred and degraded. The only comparable example that you gave is drugs, and the illegal drug industry is almost as bad as porn. It is destructive to both creator and consumer.
Nothing good comes from fatty foods? I LOVE fatty foods! I can eat fatty foods without becoming addicted. My pizza consumption doesn't hurt anyone but me. The same cannot be said of porn.

There's so much wrong with this post. First, alcohol and nicotine develop physical dependency. Alcohol withdrawal, unlike many drug withdrawals, can actually kill you. A person can be psycologically addicted to porn but it is exactly that, psychological. Don't even compare those.

Next, a good parent is aware of what their child is looking at on the internet. An 8 year-old getting porn is a sign of bad parenting. That said, I'd much rather an 8 year old saw the completely natural sight of a naked body, even in the act of sex, than see half of the violence in the average movie/video game.

Third, your pizza consumption (or at least some people's) does hurt people besides you... America is dying at continually younger ages of early onset heart disease, diabetes, etc., largely thanks to unhealthy diets. I guarantee you that fatty foods are not only physically responsible for more deaths in America than porn but also lead to more psychological problems in the people who develop negative body image thanks to that bad nutrition.

I was a fiend before I became a teen
I melted microphone instead of cones of ice cream
Music orientated so when hip-hop was originated
Fitted like pieces of puzzles, complicated
cause I grabbed the mic and try to say, yes y'all!
They tried to take it, and say that I'm too small
Cool, cause I don't get upset
I kick a hole in the speaker, pull the plug, then I jet
Back to the lab ...without a mic to grab
So then I add all the rhymes I had
One after the other one, then I make another one
To dis the opposite then ask if the brothers done
I get a craving like I fiend for nicotine
But I don't need a cigarette, know what I mean?
I'm raging, ripping up the stage and
Don't it sound amazing cause every rhyme is made and
Thought of, cuz its sort of...an addiction,
Magnatized by the mixing
Vocals, vocabulary, your verses, you're stuck in
The mic is a drano, volcanoes erupting,
Rhymes overflowing, gradually growing
Everything is written in the cold, so it can coin-
Cide, my thoughts to guide,
48 tracks to slide
The invincible, microphone fiend rakim
Spread the word, cause I'm in
E-f-f-e-c-t
A smooth operator operating correctly,
But back to the problem, I gotta habit,
You cant solve it, silly rabbit
The prescription is a hypertone thats thorough when
I fiend for a microphone like heroin
Soon as the bass kicks, I need a fix
Gimme a stage and a mic and a mix
And Ill put you in a mood or is it a state of
Unawareness? beware, its the reanamator!
A menace to a microphone, a lethal weapon
An assasinator, if the people ain't stepping
You see a part of me that you never seen
When I'm fiending for a microphone, Im the microphone fiend...

After 12, I'm worse that a gremlin
Feed me hip-hop and I start trembling
The thrill of suspense is intense, your horrified
But this ain't the cinemas of tales from the darkside,
By any means neccesary, this is what has to be done
Make way cause here I come....
My dj cuts material....
Grand imperial.
It's a must that I bust any mic youre hand to me,
Its inherited, its runs in the family
I wrote the rhyme that broke the bulls back,
If that dont slow em up, I carry a full pack.
Now I dont want to have to let off, you should of kept off
You didnt keep the stage warm, step off!
Ladies and gentleman, youre about to see
A pasttime hobby about to be
Take it to the maximum, I cant relax see, im
Hype as a hyperchrondriac cause the rap be one-
Hell of a antidote, something you cant smoke
More than dope, you're trying to move away but you cant, you're broke
More than cracked up, you should have backed up
For those who act up need to be more than smacked up
Any entertainer, I got a torture chamber
One on one and Im the remainder!
So close your eyes and hold your breath,
And I'm a hitcha wit the blow of death
Before you go, you'll remember you seen
The fiend of a microphone, I'm the microphone fiend

The main cause of all cancers caused by smoke, whether it be tobacco or opium, is not some secret chemical contained only in mass in a single species (like nicotine for tobacco, morphine for opium, and thc for MJ) but rather it is the main body of smoke. This may come from ANY species in the plantea kingodom.

The burning of any kind of cellulose (the material that makes up the cell wall of almost every cell in every plant ever) creates a tremendous amount of tar and other carcinogeons which will inhabit the smoke of ANY plant you ever try to roll up (like maple leaf or lawn grass). Everything said by the expert is totally accurate and everything said by MSNBullshitBC as fake as the last girl I fucked. Peace

Stop using these damn things as crutches. Just quit. If you try, you can quit.

I smoked from the age of 14 until my thirties, and I was able to quit without any aids (snicker, I said AIDS).

The problem here is the nicotine. It's not all the "other additives" as this knucklehead suggests. Nicotine is the addictive poison. Your body needs to detox from that drug. Just quit. all the other additives are what make smoking fucking rad.

I quit smoking 13 years ago when an antidepressant prescribed to me (Wellbutrin - generic name: bupropion) had the side-effect of reducing the craving for nicotine. (Doctors at the time didn't know about this, but when they figured it out the makers of Wellbutrin came out with Zyban, which is the EXACT same drug, just with a new name, and marketed as a smoking-cessation product.) Anyway I guess I got lucky, because several other attempts before that all failed.

All I can suggest to you is to give this e-cigarette a try if it really interests you. Do whatever it takes to quit. The more times you try to quit, the better your chances are of success. It only makes sense, because if you don't try you'll never quit. A little more advice:

- If you're going to try prescription drugs to quit smoking, Chantix is supposed to work better than Wellbutrin, but they both have side effects, so be informed.
- If you try nicotine patches and they don't work, try nicotine gum. And if you try nicotine gum first and it doesn't work, try the patch. Some people find more relief from gum, while others find the patch more effective.
- Get used to the idea that you will gain weight by quitting, because VERY few people don't gain weight when they quit. Just remember that you're still healthier carrying an extra 10 or 20 pounds than you are when you're smoking.

Small things can also help you quit:

- Put your cigarettes and lighters in the most inconvenient location in your home. Every time you want a cigarette you'll have to go all the way to that location to grab the smoke and the light. And leave them there, thus ensuring every time you want to have another smoke you'll have to go out of your way to get to them.
- Get rid of your ashtrays. Force yourself to go outside to smoke, thus making it more inconvenient. Your home will eventually stop stinking of smoke too.
- Stop hanging around rottenseed. He's a dirty smoker too.

I break shit up so just chill, and sit still
I'm not on the pop hop but yo my shit still
Sells like a mother, there's not another
Dark brown brother who grew up undercover
Running game on a dame like Too $hort
I'll smoke an MC like a Newport
Or a Marlboro, or a Salem
It doesn't matter cause I take him and I wail him
Get a rush of the nicotine, battle?
Nigga please, I won't even attempt
But if the crowd thinks he's a worthy opponent
I'll grab the mic and show I own it
Yo bust it, better off if you not sing, God bless the pothead
As I remember what my moms and my pops said
Strive for the best, you gain your respect
Or you can settle for a public assistance check
If you don't want to break your neck
So I said "What the heck?"
People always say "Hey we like the way you make beats"
He doesn't use breakbeats
But I take it in stride and do my work on the inside
Won't fake on the flimside

From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli
My style slams, but some still want to get with me
I don't understand, kid you just can't see me
When my LP drop all my friends will want a freebie
Whether in a car or you ride the train
My style stands out like a vericose vein
So don't front cause you know I'm the champ
Better off trying to buy a pack of Newports with a food stamp
Cause the odds are none
Cause like Jimmy Castor, I've just begun
Brothers can't believe how the skills have gotten
Spicy as a steak with potatoes au gratin
But I'm not soup, I just got a lot of nerve
Cause motherfuckers want to see me shoot to the curve
But I just won't slip cause a slip ain't hip
I stay on my toe like Broadway Joe
One time I did I thought the girl was a friend of me
So I started sleeping with the enemy
I won't let a stunt misguide me
And you can jump on my tree stump if you want to ride me

See like hotcakes, people have prostate cancer of the liver
Yo, cause I deliver
Legt new shit that hits like a mule kick
Don't try to flip, moneygrip, or you'll get
A very swift kick in the anus, yeah
Homeboy, I'll make you famous
As a young buck people used to call me shorty
When I was broke I used to chip in for forties
But there's no retreat or surrender
And my pockets stay stuffed with legal tender
So give a shout if you with me (Yeah!)
Give a shout if you with me (Yeah!)
So give a shout and let me know if you like the way the flow, goes
And yo, does it matter on the FDR or the Westside
People contemplate what's the best side
But I sit back and observe like a Bhuddist monk
Cause Diamond gots spunk
For the new generation like Pepsi
I'll make your grandmother say "Heavens to Betsy"

*drugs nicotine/tobacco

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
You should kill this and do it over.
Drug of choice?
1. Marijuana
2. Alcohol
3. Nicotine
4. Caffeine
5. Shrooms
6. Cocaine/Crack
7. Ecstasy
8. Prozac (or other manufactured prescription drug)
8. Religion
9. Other
10. No drugs for me


I would if I knew how - but I was only given 5 slots...I'm just a lowly silver star.

Also, I DID think of Videosift (I created the poll in the wee hours of the night), but I knew it would stomp all challengers. It's kinda obvious - if you're reading this you partake in Videosift...

*Really shoulda thought of that coffee/tea though*

You should kill this and do it over.

Drug of choice?
1. Marijuana
2. Alcohol
3. Nicotine
4. Caffeine
5. Shrooms
6. Cocaine/Crack
7. Ecstasy
8. Prozac (or other manufactured prescription drug)
8. Religion
9. Other
10. No drugs for me