Hide 'em
In the continueing saga ... 
Quote:
Fri, April 15, 2005
Hide-the-cigs law won't get the job done
By LAURIE MUSTARD
Time for a rant. The Aug. 15 hide-the-ciggies law is idiotic. For all the difference it will make, it's not worth the effort.
Not that I'm opposed to discouraging kids from smoking, but this seems a lot more like posturing than prevention.
I smoked two packs a day for several years. I didn't start because cigarettes called to me from the shelves.
I started for a variety of reasons, all relating to role models, peer influence, curiosity and even just for the hell of it. I was 17. It was another way of feeling like I wasn't a kid anymore.
It was a prop, it was fun, and once I started, I liked everything about it. I'd still be smoking and loving it if I hadn't thought my way through it.
Out of sight, out of mind? The packaging will be out of sight, but smoking won't.
Education is the key in the war against smoking. Leave the cigarettes where they are, in plain view, but put a big, I mean big, sign in front of them, with huge lettering warning, "SMOKING CAUSES CANCER, HEART DISEASE, EMPHYSEMA, A MILLION OTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS, INCLUDING DEATH. ENJOY!"
Then have an e-mail address available for the kids to ask of the government, "SO WHY DO YOU STILL SELL THEM?"
If hiding life-threatening products is going to become the norm, we're going to have some pretty empty stores.
I checked out your average service station-type convenience store yesterday and everywhere I looked I saw death and destruction.
Endless junk food -- chips, sweets, candies -- and drinks (pop, fruit and otherwise) that are pretty much pure sugar. Very little if anything that supports or promotes a healthy, nutritious lifestyle.
Hello heart disease
Pump that stuff in for a few years and hello heart disease, hello cancer, hello diabetes, arthritis, obesity ... yadda yadda yadda.
Picture the shelves of your average big box grocery store if everything dangerous to your health had to be hidden away, including a good chunk of the meat department. Barren.
"But food isn't addictive!" some might say.
Oh yeah? You think quitting smoking is tough, try radically changing your diet. And just like quitting smoking, it's way harder for some people to ignore those cravings than others.
Education -- the earlier in life, the better -- is the key. Then there's the role model thing. You want to help your kids, brothers, sisters, friends ... whatever ... resist the temptation to start? Don't smoke in front of them. Quit.
Set an example. I haven't met one smoker who wants their child to start smoking. Responsible behaviour definitely makes a difference.
Government ... put fewer cigarettes on the shelves, make them more expensive. Make just getting them a pain. As for the junk food on the shelves, raise the standards of what can be produced, create higher standards for what retailers can sell.
I feel the word Nazi coming at me any minute now, but common sense tells us we have to find ways to improve our quality of life rather than just maintain the status quo and hide the stuff we don't want people to think about.
They take pain killers/anti-inflammatories off the market that may lead to heart/health problems, but hide a sure killer behind a curtain, and sell on.
Brilliant. The kids will be smiling at this one.
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