[ClearCase_guy]

I have long said that we traded the health problems of smoking for the health problems of obesity. And we got additional layers of government over-reach in the bargain.

Then we got legalized cannabis (who cares about any health problems there??) and we got a lot of placid people who are easily controlled.

[nitzy]

The flaw in this argument is obese children.

Children didn’t smoke in 1970 so the explosion of obese children can’t be blamed on them smoking less.

It’s the food and the chemicals. The food and the mass produced goods are poisoned.

[Macoozie]

“progress in the realm of public health”

The Nudge works.

When it’s propaganda that you agree with, is it wrong?

People are malleable as tin.

[Fiji Hill]

In 1930 we didn't have Ozempic or yoga, but we ate healthy food. For breakfast, bacon, biscuits, and oatmeal with lox.

Cooking Breakfast for the One I Love--Fanny Brice (1930)

[fruser1]

Whether it’s smoking, obesity, or something else, the government will find a way to dictate your life as long as you have government paying for health.

[ek_hornbeck]

The main reason there was less obesity 100 years ago than there is today is that people were more physically active: they tended to have jobs in agriculture or heavy industry that required movement, as opposed to most people sitting behind a desk in an office or sitting behind a register or booth in retail. So attributing their slimmer physiques to smoking sounds a little like those who claim that eating ice cream causes drownings because there is an uptick in both during the summer.

And while it's true that nicotine does suppress appetite to some extent, so do cocaine and amphetamines - are we supposed to advocate their use as well? Even if you can lose a few pounds by smoking, I think most people would take a few extra pounds over lung cancer or emphysema later in life.

[Vaduz]

In 2024, approximately 15% of Americans reported smoking marijuana, a figure consistent with combined 2023-2024 data, showing an upward trend in recent years. An estimated 64.1 million people used marijuana in the past year in 2024, according to Statista. These figures highlight increased marijuana use, which has been growing since 2021 and is now more common than alcohol use, with 18 million people reporting daily or near-daily marijuana use compared to 15 million for alcohol in a study from November 2024, notes The New York Times.

[ansel12]

People forget that we had mealtimes, we sat down and ate 3 meals a day at set times.

Having mother set the table for 3 meals a day now without all the snacking and tween meals, and random eating, night time TV eating, and soft drinks, fattening coffee drinks, fruit drinks, all those 100 calories here, 300 there, all day, everyday would have a massive effect on obesity.

People and kids did not have the money for snacks during the day and there were very few snacks to tempt them, now snacks are everywhere, and loaded with calorie enhancements like cheese, literally everywhere, and we all have the pocket change to buy them without thinking, and then we consume them while walking or driving, or on the electronic device, or even at our work desks.

[DeplorablePaul]

There is a really good documentary “Addiction” on the streaming services about cigarettes. It’s about a research biologist who was hired by a cigarette company to develop nonaddictive cigarettes. In the course of research, tinkering with the tobacco recipe, he accidently discovered how to make cigarettes 100% more addictive. When called to an executive meeting to report on the progress of his research he told them about the 100% more addictive recipe. The execs stood up and applauded him.