Why has smoking been demonized by the general public but somehow, alcohol and getting drunk is acceptable?

You can buy tobacco and smoke.
You can buy alcohol and drink.
Tobacco smoke affects others around you.
Drinking doesnt affect a person next to you.
Theres a place for everything.

All the whiny Karens didn't want to smell like ashtrays when they went out drinking every night. So they campaigned to ban smoking, and won.

Now they can drink in peace while smokers have to light up outside.

Just a wild guess.

Or follow the $$$$$.

Drunk drivers kill people.

smoking just plain ages people. go look at women 45-55 I can typically pic you out a smoker by the first picture

excessive drinking does as well.

but buzzed 1-3 times a year and 1 beer or 2 a night really doesn't.

if we are looking at the long term medical effects of the two.

getting drunk to the point you are stumbling , slurred speech and then even walking home or being in public is illegal.

generally people also stop drinking to the point of drunkenness relatively early in life like mid 20s maybe early 30s or it is an infrequent event after that age.

people generally continue smoking much longer leading to a lot of medical complications after 40-50.

you also don't have to drink the beer of the person next to you , but smoking you need significant air space to not breath their smoke.

it also has a lot to do with anti smoking messaging from the 80s and 90s people are conditioned to be more critical of smoking.

where a beer is just a beverage until you drink too many of them.

smoking tobacco is bad but smoking weed is good

incapacitated, under capacitated , and distracted. divers kill people.

we are getting to the point where texting and driving caused deaths is catching up to drunk driving.

while at the same time proving they were looking at their phone is a lot harder than blood alcohol level after the crash.

I won't argue that at all. Just pointing out that drinking CAN and does affect other people.

I don't get that either

now I do have a cousin who quit drinking and just smokes pot

he may actually be healthier.

he was drinking heavily , he quit drinking and just smokes pot. he lost 50 pounds and does seem healthier.

but he is also stoned a lot.

It very much can. as can almost anything when it effects your function and you operate machinery.

if your co-worker sitting across the desk from you has a 6 pack during the day at work over 8 hours and walks home you are not effected.

if your co-worker across the desk lights up and has 6 smokes in a day it does.

My momma smoked, drank and did Valium when pregnant and after I was born….
I turned out normal…..

The jury is still out on that, lol

Young people at work act like smoking is like licking poo and nothing good could come from it. One day I pointed out they were completely missing the social aspect of it and they asked how that was. I pointed out that they could go ask the big boss to go burn one and get ten minutes of uninterrupted time standing outside with the big guy 1 on 1 talking shop if they knew how to smoke and they never really thought of it other than just giving you cancer.

there was a social component to it where I worked
several of the big bosses smoked in the 90s and it was time out talking.

not so any more none of them smoke anymore.
any of the smokers at work from the late 90s early 2000s that didn't quit smoking are dead. a mix of heart attacks and cancer.

Gen X saw alot of grandparents in their 60's die from smoking that had smoked all thieir lives starting at 18. Seems like starting at 50 would have better odds.

I believe the leading cause of heart and lung disease is smoking.

Drunk driving is illegal.

A friend of mine smokes....he's had 3 heart attacks and 2 strokes, still kicking, still smokes....his cardiologist asked him how long he smoked, he replied 70 years...cardiologist looks at his chart and said, wait, you're 70 now, what do you mean?
Friend said, my mother smoked during pregnancy, my father smoked, my grandparents smoked, everyone around me smoked, I've been exposed to smoke my whole life!

Cardiologist just looks at him confused, and said huh, I never thought of that in that way, lol....true story!

My ex has never had a cig in her mouth. She was force-fed smoke for her first 18 yrs and today has a bad cough and has lost her voice. Has had a chronic cough her entire life.

Mom smoked like a freaking train engine all her life, eventually slowed down and finally quite, dead 8 years later for a bad liver, from drinking, though she was on inhalers to help her breath !!


Drinking and smoking both will kill you one way or another, its just the amount and time that is involved, they both affect others in ways you won't know, was always asked for a cig in high school, told them I don't smoke all called me a lier, I just could not smell it on my clothes !

When I was old enough to leave home and then be away for some time I could hardly stand to be inside to visit my Mom, was so smoke stained and tainted.

Mom and step dad would drink an army to death and still go on, blasting each other beating each other up, was horrible when we were younger, no friends in would visit, would never be invited to party's cause we always were smelly !

Ironic as it is I became a professional welder of many types and never worried about the smell of smoke only the burns and my eyes !!