You are comparing crack addicts to smokers?? Please tell me you aren't really that rude and/or ignorant.
However, that does not give the smoker the right to inconvenience and annoy others. If you are a smoker, you can go poison yourself in private, but leave my air alone!
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Do you not understand that we are not talking about smoking in your face here? That businesses are PRIVATE property and their owners have a right to allow LEGAL activity (not crack smoking, fercryinoutloud!) on their premises? Many, many such establishments (not to mention airlines and a score of other public places) have created a separate smoking area so YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AROUND IT! What is so hard to comprehend about that?
If a business allows smoking on the premises and you don't like it, you are free to go elsewhere, or sit in the *gasp* non-smoking section if they provide one.
Isn't America grand?
Geeeze. I just sit here and shake my head. Our smoking threads sure bring them out from under their rocks, don't they?
And they think we should just fold under and take their rude remarks. Well, I for one am sick of it.
Yes, I most definitely and emphatically WAS comparing crack addicts to nicotine addicts. It was a comparison, but (of course) not an equivalence, for there is a matter of degree.
The point I was making was that there are similarities in all addictive behaviors, and that is true. We are even getting closer every day to understanding the biological basis of addiction. In both types I cited, antisocial behavior is a very common characteristic, as it is also in other forms of addiction, such as alcoholism and compulsive gambling. Family interests and other social relations are frequently sacrificed for the sake of the individual demands of the addiction.
When you consider the health implications of nicotine, there is not even any rational self-interest in continuing the habit. Addictions are jealous masters, however, and tend to crowd out competing, and possibly more innocent pleasures.