UK Government To Offer One Million People Vapes To Cut Smoking Rates - Slashdot

UK Government To Offer One Million People Vapes To Cut Smoking Rates

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  We did grow up. And we discovered the world is full of far more interesting and satisfying drugs than the sugar and caffeine that were easily accessible to us as children.

  I've never really understood the appeal of nicotine, especially considering the health costs associated with tobacco - but then I rarely use caffeine either. Both are highly addictive with long withdrawal periods, and intensely habituating so that you need to consume them in ever-greater quantities to get the same high - with regular no

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      No thanks, I'll continue following in the footsteps of all the greatest and most successful minds our species has produced.

      Pretty much everyone who advocates either "growing up" or avoiding drugs is a waste of space interested only in increasing your value as a cog in the machine that will keep your head down to produce wealth and power for your betters, while keeping little of it for yourself.

      Virtually everyone who has ever actually been successful in their own right, or developed art, science, or technolo

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        I would like to say

        2) Using drugs responsibly

        but quite a few actually died young from drug-excess related problems of one stripe or another. But they still did more for society and/or their families than a hundred teetotallers who lived long and productive lives

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          Do you have numbers to back that up?

          A teetotaler may be too stuck on following the rules and being the good guy, where they fail to innovate and shake up the status quo. But it isn't necessarily the drugs that help with success.

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            I never said there was a causal relationship.

            I said our best and brightest have consistently used drugs and encouraged a childlike perspective.

            When our best and brightest all agree that something like drug use is a desirable activity, while a bunch of mostly-worthless authoritarian assholes all scream about how bad it is...

            Well, I know which group I'm going to listen to. No contest.

            I'm also going to use them with caution and respect, since even our best an brightest can sometimes fall prey to the dangers o

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            Oh, and as for numbers... not offhand - but I challenge you to find more than a handful of examples of great minds who did not drink alcohol, the most popular recreational drug in the West in recent centuries.

            I suppose I should also make explicit that I have no objection to teetotalers, provided they keep their choice a personal one.

            If you feel that, for you, the risks outweigh then the benefits, far be it from me to second-guess your decision.

            If you look at people consuming alcohol, nicotine, opium, or wha

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        I agree with maintaining a childlike perspective on the world.

        But using Drugs isn't really a good connection to success. I would say not being a prat around others who use drugs is important, just because you end up closing a possible business connection in the future.

        But having a childlike perspective is indeed important. Too many failures happen, because we do things like we have already done it in the past, and reject a new idea and approach.

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    But telling other people what drugs they should avoid is extremely egotistical.

    
    
    Exactly. Since people keep dying in droves from using drugs despite all the warnings, it's time to stop wasting all those taxpayer dollars and let nature take its course. Get rid of government programs to prevent usage or stop usage, no clean needle programs, no detox programs, no PSAs warning of the dangers, no nothing.

    
    
    It's your body and the government shouldn't have a say in what you do with it.

  • But telling other people what drugs they should avoid is extremely egotistical.

    Your freedoms end when they infringe on mine. Do pretty much what you want if it doesn't impact others. Smoke in your own house or designated place, but don't smoke in public places or around those who don't enjoy second-hand smoke. Drink if you desire, but don't drive when impaired. If pregnant, avoid drugs which could harm the baby. You get the basic idea.

    Doctors and other experts have an obligation to warn about possible side-effects of drugs (eg. tell others which drugs they should avoid). It's up to you to decide whether to listen.

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      Agreed.

      And, especially when you have a socialized medical system, the government has a vested interest in mitigating self-harm as well - such as by encouraging vaping rather than smoking carcinogens.

      Though, from a strictly financial perspective I seem to recall hearing that smokers actually put a below-average load on the health system since they tend to die from smoking-related illnesses before they develop all the really expensive chronic end-of-life problems that plague older people. So such damage miti

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        And, especially when you have a socialized medical system, the government has a vested interest in mitigating self-harm as well - such as by encouraging vaping rather than smoking carcinogens.

        And there you have it....when the govt. is in charge of your healthcare....THEN, they start to make behavioral decisions for you and you lose your bodily autonomy.

        It's been creeping up on us in the US (mandated vaccines), and denials for abortions, etc....but if we do govt. payer medical here, you lose control e

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          ... diving into all that wonderful data being gathered on you to see if you've been naughty and bought cigarettes...
          
          I'm a smoker, but they can look all they want and never find me buying cancersticks. That's because I smoke a pipe, and one thing you don't want to do is put cigarette "tobacco" in a pipe. It burns too fast, too hot and tastes terrible.

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          Nope, that door opens as soon as the government has a mandate to promote the general welfare - such as is established in the opening sentence of the US constitution.

          And it was wielded as such within a decade of being ratified, when in 1798 congress passed “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen.” which established government-operated marine hospital services and mandated that privately-employed sailors purchase health care insurance. To a resounding silence from the founders themselv

        • Re: This sounds stupid

          That's not the smoking gun you think it is.

          Government also mandates seatbelts and helmets, and has done so long before being involved in healthcare. They mandate buildings that don't fall down and pay for firefighters. They invest heavily in medical research.

          The gov have a vested interest to keep their population reasonably safe, educated, and healthy. Welcome out of the third world. But sure, it must be a freedumb thing, right?

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    A lot of it, is due to kids to what they see Adults and other people they look up to do.
    So as a kid, you see your older brother, or a friend of his who you see as really cool, and he smokes, then you will will associate it to what the cool older folks do.
    When you get into High School and College, and your friends who you trust and respect start smoking, you will want to fit in, and join them.

    I didn't get into smoking or drinking (or harder drugs), but I was such an unpopular outsider, that I didn't look up