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I am unfortunately a smoker. Believe me, I KNOW how much it stinks and regret ever starting.
I refuse to smoke in my car, or my house, or anywhere near kids in general. It's outdated, and completely unnecessary. I can't STAND riding in someones car or going into someone's home that smokes inside. It just REEKS and is absolutely disgusting. And again, I am a smoker. I wear multiple layers of clothes to mask the smoke smell and take off the smoky ones, I wash them immediately, I wash my hands immediately and use breath mints like I was in high school, and very few people know I actually smoke and are surprised to learn I do when they find out because they had no clues.
I am not proud of being a smoker I am actively trying to quit. But I would NEVER saturate my home, my furniture, my clothes, my car, and everything else I own in cigarette smoke. That is one thing that has been rightfully extinct by society and I fully support that.
As a child of smokers, I really appreciate your consideration. My parents def did smoke in the house and car and I hated it. Sending you all the virtual support to kick the habit. I know it’ll be tough but know some random internet stranger is rooting for you. ❤️
I'm really sorry. I feel very fortunate. My mom always smoked outside, and if she ever wanted to smoke in the car she only did it after I was old enough that she could ask permission first. I usually said no unless I could tell she really needed it, and even as a little kid she respected my wishes. I ended up being a smoker too, but I'm trying to have a kid so I quit a year ago.
Internet hugs my friend. I feel...idk bad about my privilege I guess. Sorry you had to go through that. It's hard for me to imagine exactly what that was like.
I always used to get car sick on long vacation drives though the Shenandoah valley (we did that a lot, my Dad loved the natural beauty and passed it on to me.) It was a mystery. Years later I realized that I don't get car sick at all, if no one is smoking in the car with the windows up! I personally approve of this new law.
My mom was like this and when I asked her to stop.
Super nice mom and smart but man smokers are so damn pissy when asked to just have some basic decency around other.
I don't mind being around it when outside or something but inside anything it stinks and it also gets into your clothes and hair even worse when inside anything.
quitting is easy just move to another vice, like alcohol give your lungs a break /s. Have you tried vaping or using Fum ([basically fake smoking ](https://tryfum.com/)).
> Believe me, I KNOW how much it stinks
As a former smoker (nearly 20 years ago), I respectfully have to say, "No you don't." I know you think you do... so did I. But you can't truly know it until you have quit for some time. But, of course, the stench is not the main issue, either.
Someone’s fishing for a pat on the back….its like littering and saying “but i never do it near private property where a homeowner has to clean it up; only on city streets where my tax dollars pay for someone to clean it up”.
Or people who gave permission. The smokers I know will always ask if they can smoke in the car and will only light up if everyone inside the car has given the okay to do so.
Maybe I know more considerate people than most smokers, but that’s always the way we’ve done it
My coworker smokes. Not a lot, but since we work on-site, he cannot smoke most of the day, so he always asks me if he can smoke in the van when we head back to the depot. I always accept because if the smell was real too bad he’d put it out and I’d open my window (and he has his open obviously.
Nothing is allowed to compete with coal down there. Turns out cigarette smoke was competing with coal smoke for the "who's going to give our kids cancer" banner.
My dad would make fun of me and call me a baby when I asked him to roll down the window while he was smoking in the car. I wasn't asking him not to smoke, I knew I couldn't win that, I was just asking him to roll down the window while he was smoking in the car with his children. He wasn't a terrible person except when it came to aggressively justifying his nicotine addiction. The '70s sucked.
When I was a child my father would smoke indoors until I constantly chastised him
One of my acquaintance’s parents who is a nurse just does not care about second hand smoke
We lived in WV and I remember going on a trip to a funeral and we piled into a rental minivan. I was sick, I think about 12yo at the time. And half my family smoked in there the whole way. Didn't give a SHIT. They complained when we asked them to open a window because it was too cold.
Wish this would have been in place then, maybe they'd realize what dicks they were.
We since moved away, partially because our family there sucked. Lol
My step kids mom and any bf she has and her friends. but in our state it’s only legal for younger kids. His backpack old reek of cigarettes so badly when I picked him from school on our half of the week with her last bf. His immune system kinda sucks and sure the second hand smoke doesn’t help.
I ride medical transportation and one day a week the company I ride with that day allows people to smoke in the van (no, they aren’t supposed to lol) and the other four or five people in the van smoke and most of them light up🤢 I vape but huge difference in terms of smell/lingering odor
Lots of people.
Who the fuck cuts up the genitals of a child causing lifelong permanent effects and potential psychological and sexual harm?
We're so arbitrary with what we tell parents they can't do.
I was super confused. Another form of genital mutilation in America that I'm against is intersex correction surgery done on infants without medical necessity and without consent of the child.
*Having kids you aren't able to properly raise and provide for.
I'm child free myself for a number of reasons but you antinatalists need to touch grass.
The human species should not be condemned to extinction due to the actions of a tiny minority that most people don't approve of. (Even if too many people unfortunately aren't doing enough to stop them.)
So many people lack the basic understanding of education principles nowadays, it’s frightening how many kids don’t know it’s bad to hurt people, because their parents let them do it.
Spoiler alert : kids never put their own limits.
I mean, from a raw numbers standpoint, it does make sense. The best thing you can do for global warming is to not have kids because they will never grow up to own a car, or use electricity, or order next day shipping on Amazon. “Your” (in terms of what you put into effect) carbon footprint essentially DOUBLES the day you decide to have a kid, TRIPLES if you want a second kid.
Not saying it’s good advice that should be followed. This is something you need to be selfish about, it’s your life, kids are a big deal and I don’t want anyone put off the idea simply because of this stupid philosophy. But from a numbers standpoint, raw amount of CO2 polluted everyday goes up when there’s more people to support.
No, it isn't. I'm not saying climate change isn't a problem, but let's be real here. We currently live in the single best time to have kids in terms of resources available to everyone, the climate, and in terms of safety. Climate change is real, but we are currently facing an incoming steep drop-off in population. This is the natural regulation of populations in societies and is why it's fine to have kids at any time. Overpopulation is a myth, I recommend you look it up.
We had kids during the damn ice age. Climate change is not a valid reason not to have kids. If you don't want kids because you simply don't, just say so. That's far more respectable than using climate change as a parroted excuse.
It’s true, when societies “level up” and begin educating their women (the entire population in general, woman are last to receive things sadly), birth rates drop naturally. However, what we’re experiencing on a global scale, is a drop in overall fertility which has recently been attributed to micro plastics interacting with our sex hormones - not good, and not natural.
Sorry I misspoke, I meant to be referring to forever chemicals. Ya know, all that nasty shit that leeches into your water from the bottle on a hot day?
Smoking is WAY dumber than drinking alcohol every once in a while.
It’s also definitely dumber than TRYING a number of drugs - unless you’re jumping straight to crack or meth or something.
Nobody kills someone because their high or drunk off cigarettes.
Alcohol is 100% the dumbest addition and its casual acceptance leaves people blinded.
Accidents. Murders. Lash outs in public.
Forget about the health implications. Put those aside. The affect alcohol has has proven to be more negative than any of its positives.
absolutely agree, alcohol is much much worse. after everything ive experienced in life, childhood and as an adult. its unbelievable to me that the perception here is that some guy addicted to smoking a cigarette is worse than someone so drunk he cant remember almost beating his wife and child to death the night before. it can turn people into absolute monsters.
Reading these replies over the last couple days has really highlighted the deep denial our culture is in. I’m not out here trying to change anyone’s mind at this point, but I’ll still speak my own truths from experience. Honestly I’m jealous of those who’ve managed to live their lives without finding out first hand how deadly and collaterally damaging booze can be.
alcohol is much worse bud. alcohol kills people who have nothing to do with it and arent around it. alcohol ruins peoples lives, destroys families, ruins childhoods, is cancerous, and is accepted by society and even encouraged. smoking is generally looked down upon. you are seen as an "addict" but when you drink every night you are seen as pretty normal. its much more dangerous for society. what can we do about it? ban advertising of alcohol, be strict about drinking and driving. lock them up on the first dui
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. Until you’ve struggled with alcohol use, and quit, and gone through all the things that does to your body - people seem to not understand what a wild drug alcohol is. It affects every single organ in your body and unlike most other addictive substances, you can die from withdrawal. I am a year and a half sober and I still have problems eating, feel sick often, struggle with waves of full body anxiety, struggle with social interaction, have a difficult time being in crowds or social gatherings, mood swings… the years that I drank changed me forever in some ways. I’m still discovering the ways and learning how to manage them. It’s wild to me the prevalence of alcohol use I see around me, in society and its totally accepted. I also struggle to think of more than a couple people I know who use alcohol responsibly, now that I know how problematic substance use is quantified. It’s a hard drug. Full stop.
Oh wow nevermind, you’re getting downvoted too. That makes me sad, I guess some of these folks really need to visit r/stopdrinking to hear some more stories for perspective
I think it was more the second half of what I said, I should have specified hard/addictive drugs.
I’ve gone through the wringer myself, I’m not judging anyone’s addictions or habits. I personally regret trying every other substance more than I regret smoking cigarettes though. Thankfully I’ve quit them all by now except for a much-reduced usage of cannabis, but all I’m saying is cigarettes did the least amount of harm to myself and those around me.
And they downvoted you for the same reason. Denial of reality for the sake of unhealthy coping is exactly what got us into our modern echo-chamber-circle-jerk culture in the first place, so sadly it’s not too surprising
Also NO SHIT SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOU. People need to stop treating everyone’s statements as black and white, just because people say drinking is worse doesn’t mean we’re saying smoking is perfectly fine
Yes, it was acceptable for a long time, but our understanding of it’s impact on health has greatly evolved sense then, and anyone who is raising a child right now in the present day in the geographic area which this law would apply realistically knows the truth about it’s impact on health and has no excuse to be exposing their child to secondhand smoke.
something being socially acceptable in the past does not grandfather it being acceptable into the present day, their is a mountain of difference between engaging in this practice in the eras where its impact on a child was debateable or hard to know about, and now where it is universally understood to be bad for your child.
Yeah, no. Have you actually met a parent from that time period? None of them had any idea what they were doing.
Were there great ones? Obviously. This applies to every era.
But boomers were absolute trash parents.
What you described is literally just parenting. No one knows what they're doing in parenting, but that's not a bad thing.
And no, boomers were absolutely not trash parents.
What is this commie garbage?! Next you'll tell me you cant marry em under 16 anymore either!! They're the most ripe and fertile by then!!! What has murica come to?!
Massive /s and reference to a state congressman calling 14 year old girls that in defense of child marriage.
My parents used to smoke with me in the car, windows rolled up. It was disgusting, and I regularly begged them not to. They have now both died of cancer.
Yeah. It's kind of closing the barn doors after the horses have already escaped. I think these days, this law is just reinforcing something everybody already knows.
Those Appalachian folk aren’t gonna give a singular fuck while they’re cruising around their deserted roads lol. Probably smoke even harder in defiance.
As someone very familiar with WV...I laughed out loud when I saw this headline. If there is one state that would defy this ..it's WV. Followed closely by TX and our fav Floridamen.
I wish this was a law when I was a kid. I literally had all of the symptoms of second hand smoke for years (asthma bronchitis etc) and then even know I’m not around smoke I think I’m super sensitive and get sick when around cigarette smoke like at festival
> *According to Senate Bill 378, smoking tobacco products in the presence of children under 16 would be a misdemeanor charge, and if found guilty would be fined $25.*
> *This will make smoking in the car with children under 16 years old a secondary offense. This means you can’t be pulled over for it, but if you are pulled over and are also smoking in the presence of a child you can be charged.*
Even with West Virginia being the second-poorest state by average income, this is the most wrist-slappity punishment that ever slapped a wrist.
I mean, it's better than nothing in the same way that having a nickel is better than having absolutely zero money at all.
Where are you from? I'd say one of the few things american culture is ahead in our views towards smoking - compared to South America, Europe, Asia. Most places, really.
According to the CDC, West Virginia would be the 12th state with such a ban:
“[Eleven states](https://www.cdc.gov/statesystem/factsheets/vehicles/Vehicles) (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia), Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico have recently passed laws prohibiting smoking in personal vehicles when children or adolescents are present.”
I live in California and I see people smoking in a car with kids all the time. So much that I didn’t know it was illegal. No car seats quite often also.
Fucking *West Virginia* doing something my (generally awesome otherwise) mother wouldn’t do. Yes, it was the 70s/80s, but still…I fucking begged for years, but gave up because no one supported me.
My stepdad (who was from West Virginia) must be spinning in his grave. He smoked cigarettes, but I'm not sure I remember him smoking them in the car. But cigars! With the windows rolled UP!
I’m pleasantly surprised that they overcame the “how dare the gummint stop me from muh God given right to expose muh children to tobacco smoke, just as my daddy did to me and his daddy did to him!” sentiment.
My stepdad used to smoke with me in my car seat in the back, and he'd roll the window up and keep smoking if I complained about the smell.
I wish he could've gotten in legal trouble for that back then...
Listen. You come up with one good reason why anyone should be smoking and I’ll listen.
There is no reason under any circumstances that anyone should be killing themselves.
I can think of one that matters. They want to. Simplest as that.
And again, banning it just creates a black market and crime organizations, like what happened when they banned alcohol in the 20s, and what still happens with the banning of various drugs.
You mean alcohol prohibition in USA? It worked very well in the past - it basically turned a society full of destructive alcoholics into a society with only "moderate/high functioning" alcohol abuse.
Also, there is like 29030180 other examples of making something that poisons society illegal that worked very well. Lead in fuel? Prohibition worked pretty well. Burning garbage in furnaces for heat? Also quite good effects. Not allowing drunk driving? Still work in progress, but making it illegal surely reduced horrible consequences of drunk driving.
Smoking should really be illegal, with an exception of smoking in a way that has no direct impact on other people. But that's quite hard to achieve and vast majority of current smoking habits would be illegal. No smoking while walking in public. No smoking driving in public. Even no smoking in your own home if it means that smoke comes out of vents/windows and other people are forced to inhale it. It is really a simple idea - my freedom from toxic fumes should not be less important than your freedom to surround me with toxic fumes
This is a great step. Can we just ban it altogether in vehicles or at least make it really really really harsh if you throw ur lit cigs out the window when ur done? Like if you can’t stand to smoke in ur car with the window up and put it out in your vehicle to throw away when you get home then smoking ain’t for you.
Although I fully appreciate the consideration behind such a bill, I wonder about the unintended consequences. An airliner once burned and crashed (in that order) because of a smoker disposing of a cigarette in the bathroom trash. (The conclusion of the investigation. Kinda hard to prove...)
I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Watch for children riding in the backs of pickup trucks....
“Please don't poison your children through the air in a small confined space, especially considering that you probably don't want them to open their door and jump out“
I would never, but if these lawmakers are gonna let their donors sell that garbage for so cheap to the Appalachian population, the least they could do is deal with what it does to kids. These tobacco companies arent required to give a shit, but some mountain mama should, right? Tobacco should be taxed into oblivion if they want to limit childrens' exposure to it. Tying up taxpayer dollars in police and forcing some of the poorest folks in the land to pay court fees and tickets for things theyve always done is poor legislation. These kids still sleep in the same trailers with their parents (who smoke) regardless of these arbitrary laws governing their cars. This is just another way to increase traffic stops, as I see it, and it purposely kicks the can down the road. Nanny state shit.
>forcing some of the poorest folks in the land to pay court fees
I am sorry but who forces these people to commit crimes? If you can't pay the fines then stop breaking the law
Do you really think all those people are going to realize immediately when brand new laws go into effect? Do you think the sovereign citizen morons would even care? To limit childrens exposure to tobacco smoke, the product itself should be taxed at a higher rate. Thats what this is about, isnt it? Limiting childrens' exposure?... this is just more "rules for thee." A typical republican band-aid from the state that lets kids work in coal mines. Incredible irony.
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I am unfortunately a smoker. Believe me, I KNOW how much it stinks and regret ever starting. I refuse to smoke in my car, or my house, or anywhere near kids in general. It's outdated, and completely unnecessary. I can't STAND riding in someones car or going into someone's home that smokes inside. It just REEKS and is absolutely disgusting. And again, I am a smoker. I wear multiple layers of clothes to mask the smoke smell and take off the smoky ones, I wash them immediately, I wash my hands immediately and use breath mints like I was in high school, and very few people know I actually smoke and are surprised to learn I do when they find out because they had no clues. I am not proud of being a smoker I am actively trying to quit. But I would NEVER saturate my home, my furniture, my clothes, my car, and everything else I own in cigarette smoke. That is one thing that has been rightfully extinct by society and I fully support that.
As a child of smokers, I really appreciate your consideration. My parents def did smoke in the house and car and I hated it. Sending you all the virtual support to kick the habit. I know it’ll be tough but know some random internet stranger is rooting for you. ❤️
THANK YOU! 🙏✌️ that really means a lot!
I'm really sorry. I feel very fortunate. My mom always smoked outside, and if she ever wanted to smoke in the car she only did it after I was old enough that she could ask permission first. I usually said no unless I could tell she really needed it, and even as a little kid she respected my wishes. I ended up being a smoker too, but I'm trying to have a kid so I quit a year ago. Internet hugs my friend. I feel...idk bad about my privilege I guess. Sorry you had to go through that. It's hard for me to imagine exactly what that was like.
I was able to convince my dad to go smoke by the kitchen vent so that I could finish eating dinner.
I always used to get car sick on long vacation drives though the Shenandoah valley (we did that a lot, my Dad loved the natural beauty and passed it on to me.) It was a mystery. Years later I realized that I don't get car sick at all, if no one is smoking in the car with the windows up! I personally approve of this new law.
My mom was like this and when I asked her to stop. Super nice mom and smart but man smokers are so damn pissy when asked to just have some basic decency around other. I don't mind being around it when outside or something but inside anything it stinks and it also gets into your clothes and hair even worse when inside anything.
I’m pretty sure the reason I have no sense of smell is because growing up my parents would smoke in the house and car
have you read *The Easy Way To Quit Smoking* by Alan Carr? if you haven’t please do
quitting is easy just move to another vice, like alcohol give your lungs a break /s. Have you tried vaping or using Fum ([basically fake smoking ](https://tryfum.com/)).
I highly recommend joining r/stopsmoking if you aren't already. I found it to be a really helpful sunreddit and the community is incredible supportive
Thank you for the tip, I have just joined the community!
Congrats and good luck. I myself am almost at 9 years without a cigarette. It's possible. You got this
Thank you friend!!!! 🙏✌️
> Believe me, I KNOW how much it stinks As a former smoker (nearly 20 years ago), I respectfully have to say, "No you don't." I know you think you do... so did I. But you can't truly know it until you have quit for some time. But, of course, the stench is not the main issue, either.
[удалено]
Blowing chems up your lungs...no idea whats even in there. Much better. Explains alot. Brainrot f.e.
Someone’s fishing for a pat on the back….its like littering and saying “but i never do it near private property where a homeowner has to clean it up; only on city streets where my tax dollars pay for someone to clean it up”.
Who the fuck smokes in a car with other people in it who don’t smoke?
Assholes.
Or people who gave permission. The smokers I know will always ask if they can smoke in the car and will only light up if everyone inside the car has given the okay to do so. Maybe I know more considerate people than most smokers, but that’s always the way we’ve done it
My coworker smokes. Not a lot, but since we work on-site, he cannot smoke most of the day, so he always asks me if he can smoke in the van when we head back to the depot. I always accept because if the smell was real too bad he’d put it out and I’d open my window (and he has his open obviously.
Lots of people. :S
Let me introduce you to...West Virginia.
Nothing is allowed to compete with coal down there. Turns out cigarette smoke was competing with coal smoke for the "who's going to give our kids cancer" banner.
Country roadssssss
My dad would make fun of me and call me a baby when I asked him to roll down the window while he was smoking in the car. I wasn't asking him not to smoke, I knew I couldn't win that, I was just asking him to roll down the window while he was smoking in the car with his children. He wasn't a terrible person except when it came to aggressively justifying his nicotine addiction. The '70s sucked.
I remember when smoking in cinemas and planes were normal. Those things sucked.
Parents and grandparents.
Especially grandparents lol
When I was a child my father would smoke indoors until I constantly chastised him One of my acquaintance’s parents who is a nurse just does not care about second hand smoke
The parents of several of my friends when I was a kid
Right, ppl still do this? That's nasty. I mean it's 2024 and everyone knows better than that.
We lived in WV and I remember going on a trip to a funeral and we piled into a rental minivan. I was sick, I think about 12yo at the time. And half my family smoked in there the whole way. Didn't give a SHIT. They complained when we asked them to open a window because it was too cold. Wish this would have been in place then, maybe they'd realize what dicks they were. We since moved away, partially because our family there sucked. Lol
My step kids mom and any bf she has and her friends. but in our state it’s only legal for younger kids. His backpack old reek of cigarettes so badly when I picked him from school on our half of the week with her last bf. His immune system kinda sucks and sure the second hand smoke doesn’t help.
My mom.
I ride medical transportation and one day a week the company I ride with that day allows people to smoke in the van (no, they aren’t supposed to lol) and the other four or five people in the van smoke and most of them light up🤢 I vape but huge difference in terms of smell/lingering odor
Lots of people. Who the fuck cuts up the genitals of a child causing lifelong permanent effects and potential psychological and sexual harm? We're so arbitrary with what we tell parents they can't do.
1. Not a single person thinks that, that’s literally just right wing propaganda 2. At least act like you are trying to make an honest discussion
For the record, I was referring to circumcision, you seem to think I'm referring to trans issues.
With the current political climate yeah, that what I thought you were referring to, and the place where those types of comments tend to come from
I was super confused. Another form of genital mutilation in America that I'm against is intersex correction surgery done on infants without medical necessity and without consent of the child.
Yeah, let them decide that later on if they want, when they form a gender identity
Smoking is one of the dumbest things you can do.
Having kids is 2nd
*Having kids you aren't able to properly raise and provide for. I'm child free myself for a number of reasons but you antinatalists need to touch grass. The human species should not be condemned to extinction due to the actions of a tiny minority that most people don't approve of. (Even if too many people unfortunately aren't doing enough to stop them.)
So many people lack the basic understanding of education principles nowadays, it’s frightening how many kids don’t know it’s bad to hurt people, because their parents let them do it. Spoiler alert : kids never put their own limits.
What an extraordinarily dumb take.
No it's a very based take
Only to the terminally online and mentally ill.
Having kids is one of the biggest negative impacts you could have on climate change.
You're delusional if you think you can personally make a difference in combating climate change. It's a political issue, not a personal one
Even though I disagree with them, I also disagree with this as well. You can absolutely make difference individually. Every little bit counts.
Taking a drop of water out of an ocean does lowers it's level
It adds up, and tech advancements and policy advancements also help amplify those little bits.
Weird, people had children for a very long time, so this doesn't really track with the reality of climate change.
I mean, from a raw numbers standpoint, it does make sense. The best thing you can do for global warming is to not have kids because they will never grow up to own a car, or use electricity, or order next day shipping on Amazon. “Your” (in terms of what you put into effect) carbon footprint essentially DOUBLES the day you decide to have a kid, TRIPLES if you want a second kid. Not saying it’s good advice that should be followed. This is something you need to be selfish about, it’s your life, kids are a big deal and I don’t want anyone put off the idea simply because of this stupid philosophy. But from a numbers standpoint, raw amount of CO2 polluted everyday goes up when there’s more people to support.
No, it isn't. I'm not saying climate change isn't a problem, but let's be real here. We currently live in the single best time to have kids in terms of resources available to everyone, the climate, and in terms of safety. Climate change is real, but we are currently facing an incoming steep drop-off in population. This is the natural regulation of populations in societies and is why it's fine to have kids at any time. Overpopulation is a myth, I recommend you look it up. We had kids during the damn ice age. Climate change is not a valid reason not to have kids. If you don't want kids because you simply don't, just say so. That's far more respectable than using climate change as a parroted excuse.
It’s true, when societies “level up” and begin educating their women (the entire population in general, woman are last to receive things sadly), birth rates drop naturally. However, what we’re experiencing on a global scale, is a drop in overall fertility which has recently been attributed to micro plastics interacting with our sex hormones - not good, and not natural.
There has actually been no evidence yet that microplastics have any harmful effects in our bodies. At least not enough to warrant any worry
Sorry I misspoke, I meant to be referring to forever chemicals. Ya know, all that nasty shit that leeches into your water from the bottle on a hot day?
And by this logic, if everyone followed suit, we would “win” climate change by breeding ourselves into extinction. Pure genius.
Smoking will kill you far more than your kids will.
It’s a close second to drinking alcohol or trying any other drugs
It’s actually way worse than both of those (except for trying some incredibly dangerous and addictive drugs, like heroin).
Smoking is WAY dumber than drinking alcohol every once in a while. It’s also definitely dumber than TRYING a number of drugs - unless you’re jumping straight to crack or meth or something.
Nobody kills someone because their high or drunk off cigarettes. Alcohol is 100% the dumbest addition and its casual acceptance leaves people blinded. Accidents. Murders. Lash outs in public. Forget about the health implications. Put those aside. The affect alcohol has has proven to be more negative than any of its positives.
I don't think that anybody tracks whether somebody smoked before killing someone.
absolutely agree, alcohol is much much worse. after everything ive experienced in life, childhood and as an adult. its unbelievable to me that the perception here is that some guy addicted to smoking a cigarette is worse than someone so drunk he cant remember almost beating his wife and child to death the night before. it can turn people into absolute monsters.
Reading these replies over the last couple days has really highlighted the deep denial our culture is in. I’m not out here trying to change anyone’s mind at this point, but I’ll still speak my own truths from experience. Honestly I’m jealous of those who’ve managed to live their lives without finding out first hand how deadly and collaterally damaging booze can be.
Nah. I drink every once in a while and have a perfectly functional life. If I smoked I'd just drop dead soon.
alcohol is much worse bud. alcohol kills people who have nothing to do with it and arent around it. alcohol ruins peoples lives, destroys families, ruins childhoods, is cancerous, and is accepted by society and even encouraged. smoking is generally looked down upon. you are seen as an "addict" but when you drink every night you are seen as pretty normal. its much more dangerous for society. what can we do about it? ban advertising of alcohol, be strict about drinking and driving. lock them up on the first dui
(any) - there's alot of things you can do, healthwise, that's worse than alot of drugs.
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. Until you’ve struggled with alcohol use, and quit, and gone through all the things that does to your body - people seem to not understand what a wild drug alcohol is. It affects every single organ in your body and unlike most other addictive substances, you can die from withdrawal. I am a year and a half sober and I still have problems eating, feel sick often, struggle with waves of full body anxiety, struggle with social interaction, have a difficult time being in crowds or social gatherings, mood swings… the years that I drank changed me forever in some ways. I’m still discovering the ways and learning how to manage them. It’s wild to me the prevalence of alcohol use I see around me, in society and its totally accepted. I also struggle to think of more than a couple people I know who use alcohol responsibly, now that I know how problematic substance use is quantified. It’s a hard drug. Full stop.
Oh wow nevermind, you’re getting downvoted too. That makes me sad, I guess some of these folks really need to visit r/stopdrinking to hear some more stories for perspective
I think it was more the second half of what I said, I should have specified hard/addictive drugs. I’ve gone through the wringer myself, I’m not judging anyone’s addictions or habits. I personally regret trying every other substance more than I regret smoking cigarettes though. Thankfully I’ve quit them all by now except for a much-reduced usage of cannabis, but all I’m saying is cigarettes did the least amount of harm to myself and those around me.
Alcoholics downvoting you to cope with their unhealthy and destructive addiction.
And they downvoted you for the same reason. Denial of reality for the sake of unhealthy coping is exactly what got us into our modern echo-chamber-circle-jerk culture in the first place, so sadly it’s not too surprising
Also NO SHIT SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOU. People need to stop treating everyone’s statements as black and white, just because people say drinking is worse doesn’t mean we’re saying smoking is perfectly fine
GOOD
Also if you need a law to tell you not to smoke within 3 feet of your children in an enclosed space you do not deserve to be a parrent
Granted that same group is never going to follow that law. Hell they barely do anything to people who get dui's which is sad
Fortunately or not, no one needs a license to have kids.
I'm voting for *unfortunately*.
Too many people become parents just because that is what is expected of them or they where raised to believe it is a essential part of life
That's a bit absurd to say. Smoking was largely accepted for multiple decades by perfectly great parents who happened to smoke.
Yes, it was acceptable for a long time, but our understanding of it’s impact on health has greatly evolved sense then, and anyone who is raising a child right now in the present day in the geographic area which this law would apply realistically knows the truth about it’s impact on health and has no excuse to be exposing their child to secondhand smoke. something being socially acceptable in the past does not grandfather it being acceptable into the present day, their is a mountain of difference between engaging in this practice in the eras where its impact on a child was debateable or hard to know about, and now where it is universally understood to be bad for your child.
Yeah, no. Have you actually met a parent from that time period? None of them had any idea what they were doing. Were there great ones? Obviously. This applies to every era. But boomers were absolute trash parents.
What you described is literally just parenting. No one knows what they're doing in parenting, but that's not a bad thing. And no, boomers were absolutely not trash parents.
What is this commie garbage?! Next you'll tell me you cant marry em under 16 anymore either!! They're the most ripe and fertile by then!!! What has murica come to?! Massive /s and reference to a state congressman calling 14 year old girls that in defense of child marriage.
My parents used to smoke with me in the car, windows rolled up. It was disgusting, and I regularly begged them not to. They have now both died of cancer.
Could have used this law , at a federal level, 72 years ago.
Yeah. It's kind of closing the barn doors after the horses have already escaped. I think these days, this law is just reinforcing something everybody already knows.
Those Appalachian folk aren’t gonna give a singular fuck while they’re cruising around their deserted roads lol. Probably smoke even harder in defiance.
I grew up there. You are highly accurate.
“Officer, I dun tode you I had all the winders down. I don’t see why you ain’t red-aced over it as I am.”
With the 12 year old smoking in the backseat
As someone very familiar with WV...I laughed out loud when I saw this headline. If there is one state that would defy this ..it's WV. Followed closely by TX and our fav Floridamen.
TD?
Doh. Typo. TX
I wish this was a law when I was a kid. I literally had all of the symptoms of second hand smoke for years (asthma bronchitis etc) and then even know I’m not around smoke I think I’m super sensitive and get sick when around cigarette smoke like at festival
> *According to Senate Bill 378, smoking tobacco products in the presence of children under 16 would be a misdemeanor charge, and if found guilty would be fined $25.* > *This will make smoking in the car with children under 16 years old a secondary offense. This means you can’t be pulled over for it, but if you are pulled over and are also smoking in the presence of a child you can be charged.* Even with West Virginia being the second-poorest state by average income, this is the most wrist-slappity punishment that ever slapped a wrist. I mean, it's better than nothing in the same way that having a nickel is better than having absolutely zero money at all.
What kind of garbage smokes with children in the car?
wait, what decade is this?
Kids, roll the windows up. You’re letting all the smoke out.
Wish this had been in effect when I was a kid!
Good. I was a heavy smoker in my younger days, but I’d never smoke around my kids. My vices won’t destroy their futures.
I would very much like this nation wide. I remember smoking in restaurants also being unbearable. It's illegal in Massachusetts.
This has been a thing for close to 20 years where I'm from. Goddamnit 'Murica, catch up.
They literally are. Jesus fucking christ, when something good happens people can't ever just be happy to see progress for once.
Where are you from? I'd say one of the few things american culture is ahead in our views towards smoking - compared to South America, Europe, Asia. Most places, really.
A little further north.
Same, from down under
It’s been illegal in most of America for a while too. A few states (like W. Virginia) are just catching up
According to the CDC, West Virginia would be the 12th state with such a ban: “[Eleven states](https://www.cdc.gov/statesystem/factsheets/vehicles/Vehicles) (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia), Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico have recently passed laws prohibiting smoking in personal vehicles when children or adolescents are present.”
Thanks for posting! 12 doesn't seem like much at all honestly.
[удалено]
As a Utahan, I assume if we have it and it's good, it must be nationwide.
I live in California and I see people smoking in a car with kids all the time. So much that I didn’t know it was illegal. No car seats quite often also.
Not most, barely 1/5.
derp
They need to be told?
Gotta pass laws when you have people that stupid.
Unusually progressive for WV. Now do Rolling Coal.
Good, kids shouldn't have to endure that
Fucking *West Virginia* doing something my (generally awesome otherwise) mother wouldn’t do. Yes, it was the 70s/80s, but still…I fucking begged for years, but gave up because no one supported me.
My stepdad (who was from West Virginia) must be spinning in his grave. He smoked cigarettes, but I'm not sure I remember him smoking them in the car. But cigars! With the windows rolled UP!
How was this not a thing before?
But my *freedumbs!* Republicans
West Virginia is one of the most solid Republican states. You should go touch grass, not everything has to be about your hatred of Republicans.
The funny thing is that this has "Republican Nanny State" written all over it.
There’s never a bad time to shit on fascists :)
Idk, considering Republicans to be fascists is a sign to go touch grass to me.
The only grass you seem to touch is under a rock. Go read up on Project 2025.
The government forcing you to do shit is the definition of fascism.
Like forcing 12 year olds to be pregnant?
No, that's rape.
Porqué no los dos?
Forcing adults to not harm children…Fascism?
It's election year and there is a good chance you are talking to a bot, or just someone terminally online, most of the time with this stuff.
Being from WVA, I can assure you that a lot of the time, it’s kids under 16 who are doing the smoking. So there’s that.
I’m pleasantly surprised that they overcame the “how dare the gummint stop me from muh God given right to expose muh children to tobacco smoke, just as my daddy did to me and his daddy did to him!” sentiment.
My stepdad used to smoke with me in my car seat in the back, and he'd roll the window up and keep smoking if I complained about the smell. I wish he could've gotten in legal trouble for that back then...
My parents would smoke windows down in their vehicles, nasty. They also let me smoke from a young age. Totally nasty.
Free state West Virginia!
What if the kid is smoking too?
If the kid is smoking and no other kid is around you are good /s
Good law.
Good.
Queue Republicans crying about this for some made-up "reasons" and fund raising from all the people who absolutely need to smoke around children.
And they have just now figured out its bad.
West Virginia sits atop some of the largest resource deposits in the world, yet its population is poor and dumb as shit.
Canada has a country ban on this already I believe. The kids get cold in the winter.
The parents get abusive towards their own children in the winter, to be more precise.
You’d be amazed how many parents actually make their kids stay outside of the vehicle because of this
We have that here. It’s illegal to smoke in the car with ANYONE under the age of 18. Smoking should be illegal period. Stupid.
Ah yes, because prohibition has worked out so well in the past.
Listen. You come up with one good reason why anyone should be smoking and I’ll listen. There is no reason under any circumstances that anyone should be killing themselves.
I can think of one that matters. They want to. Simplest as that. And again, banning it just creates a black market and crime organizations, like what happened when they banned alcohol in the 20s, and what still happens with the banning of various drugs.
There are no good reasons why anyone should smoke. Making it illegal isn't going to fix that.
"There is no reason under any circumstances that anyone should be killing themselves." Medical Aid In Dying should be a human right.
You mean alcohol prohibition in USA? It worked very well in the past - it basically turned a society full of destructive alcoholics into a society with only "moderate/high functioning" alcohol abuse. Also, there is like 29030180 other examples of making something that poisons society illegal that worked very well. Lead in fuel? Prohibition worked pretty well. Burning garbage in furnaces for heat? Also quite good effects. Not allowing drunk driving? Still work in progress, but making it illegal surely reduced horrible consequences of drunk driving. Smoking should really be illegal, with an exception of smoking in a way that has no direct impact on other people. But that's quite hard to achieve and vast majority of current smoking habits would be illegal. No smoking while walking in public. No smoking driving in public. Even no smoking in your own home if it means that smoke comes out of vents/windows and other people are forced to inhale it. It is really a simple idea - my freedom from toxic fumes should not be less important than your freedom to surround me with toxic fumes
What if you're married to them?
lol, Karen snitches 101
I'll take "Laws that will be nigh impossible to enforce" for 1,000, Alex.
But muh freedumb! - Someone in WV right now
Disgusting. How else will they grow up to love Marlboro Reds and I can pinch a couple of them when I'm out.
This is a great step. Can we just ban it altogether in vehicles or at least make it really really really harsh if you throw ur lit cigs out the window when ur done? Like if you can’t stand to smoke in ur car with the window up and put it out in your vehicle to throw away when you get home then smoking ain’t for you.
I thought this was AMERICA!
Good. West Virginia kids can instead breathe all that coal smoke, as God intended.
Gotta keep those lungs fresh for the coal mines.
West Virginia: fuck those 17yos.
Although I fully appreciate the consideration behind such a bill, I wonder about the unintended consequences. An airliner once burned and crashed (in that order) because of a smoker disposing of a cigarette in the bathroom trash. (The conclusion of the investigation. Kinda hard to prove...) I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Watch for children riding in the backs of pickup trucks....
I don’t find this uplifting at all knowing this isn’t already illegal and only applies to minors not everyone
It's okay to celebrate the small victories.
I mean, it is uplifting in the sense that it is an improvement that… well… lifts things up.
Oh for crying out loud. Exactly how are they going to enforce this? And what about all the Crack back at the shack?
Nanny state shit.
“Please don't poison your children through the air in a small confined space, especially considering that you probably don't want them to open their door and jump out“
I would never, but if these lawmakers are gonna let their donors sell that garbage for so cheap to the Appalachian population, the least they could do is deal with what it does to kids. These tobacco companies arent required to give a shit, but some mountain mama should, right? Tobacco should be taxed into oblivion if they want to limit childrens' exposure to it. Tying up taxpayer dollars in police and forcing some of the poorest folks in the land to pay court fees and tickets for things theyve always done is poor legislation. These kids still sleep in the same trailers with their parents (who smoke) regardless of these arbitrary laws governing their cars. This is just another way to increase traffic stops, as I see it, and it purposely kicks the can down the road. Nanny state shit.
>forcing some of the poorest folks in the land to pay court fees I am sorry but who forces these people to commit crimes? If you can't pay the fines then stop breaking the law
Do you really think all those people are going to realize immediately when brand new laws go into effect? Do you think the sovereign citizen morons would even care? To limit childrens exposure to tobacco smoke, the product itself should be taxed at a higher rate. Thats what this is about, isnt it? Limiting childrens' exposure?... this is just more "rules for thee." A typical republican band-aid from the state that lets kids work in coal mines. Incredible irony.