@...Flappycunt: Socially unpopular != Social Activity. Last I checked, 72 countries worldwide had enacted, or planned to enact, smoking bans of one sort or another, mostly prohibiting smoking in public indoor areas, though some places have even banned it in outdoor public areas as well. In British Columbia, you’re still allowed to smoke outside, as long as you’re not within 3 meters of a public entryway (regardless of whether or not the door’s open). Advertising for tobacco is not allowed in most of the countries with bans (name one other legal product that’s barred from being advertised), yet the ‘anti’ side of it gets all sorts of free money to paint smokers as nasty, smelly, dirty, stupid people.

There’s a concentrated effort across a large part of the world to paint smokers as pariahs, and essentially shame them into quitting, similar to what they tried to do to drinkers before & during Prohibition in the US. And it’s slowly working. 15 years ago, a smoker at a bar/party/work break where no one else was smoking would just light one up without a second thought. Now, you can spot the smokers because they’re the ones looking around trying to see if anyone else is smoking. And eventually one person will light one up, which triggers a sea of lighter flashes as all the other smokers finally have “permission” to smoke.

Lastly, nicotine is not “perfectly safe”. It is poisonous, and since it is dermally absorbent, spilling a sufficient quantity on yourself could prove fatal. But then, alcohol (ethanol, specifically), is a poison too. Sure, it’s not dermally absorbent, but your body metabolises it into acetaldehyde, which is still poisonous, and also a carcinogenic. Not only that, but due to it’s higher concentration in alcoholic beverages versus nicotine in cigarettes, it’s not that difficult for someone to administer themselves a toxic dose of alcohol, and yet in western countries, there are far fewer prohibitions on the sale, consumption, and advertising of alcohol than that for tobacco.

Score one for the nanny state I guess.