# Can I shoot something by you guys? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 10, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486 "2011-07-10T04:47:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![humanafterall](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/humanafterall/32/19654_2.png) [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/1 "2011-07-10T04:47:22Z")
Let’s assume that Congress throws out all legislation concerning the regulation of the tobacco industry. What’s the worst-case scenario? What’s the worst that could happen if we let Big Tobacco walk all over us? Inversely, what’s the best-case scenario? I put this in the pit because I didn’t want the snooty GD Mods getting mad and calling me a troll. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/2 "2011-07-10T04:51:52Z")
> [@humanafterall](#): > > I put this in the pit because I didn’t want the snooty GD Mods getting mad and calling me a troll. Douche. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/3 "2011-07-10T04:58:04Z")
_All_ legislation? Well, that means removing age limits, removing all FDA regulation, removing all taxation, removing smoking bans, and removing all education efforts. That’s just for starts. Worst case? Hmmm. Tobacco companies start handing out free samples of cadmium and pesticide laced cigarettes in SpongeBob Squarepants boxes with diagrams about how smoking makes you smarter, healthier, and better smelling to preschoolers. So they can get a lock on new markets, you know. Cigarette advertising everywhere with laughably false statements. Cigarettes for sale anywhere and everywhere, and the entire world awash with cigarette butts. Within a couple of years, an enormous spike in the number of smokers. Within ten years, a proportionately large spike of lung cancer, mouth cancer, throat cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, heart attack, other forms of cancer, ear infections in children, emphysema, and COPD. A staggering increase in preventable deaths - not just for smokers but for those exposed to secondhand smoke. A jump in the number of deaths caused by fires started by lit cigarettes. Also, probably some more environmental fires from people tossing butts or improperly extinguished cigarettes. Best case scenario? Society stops hating the fat people quite so much because the smokers are a bigger target. ---
**Author:** ![humanafterall](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/humanafterall/32/19654_2.png) [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/4 "2011-07-10T04:58:12Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Douche. You cannot begin to fathom the size of the fuck I do not give. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/5 "2011-07-10T05:01:09Z")
_As I…walk through this world Nothin’ can stop The Douche of Earl…_ ---
**Author:** ![humanafterall](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/humanafterall/32/19654_2.png) [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/6 "2011-07-10T05:05:13Z")
You’re not going to get a rise out of me. I am in control, here, **elucidator**. Besides, I cannot rightly be called a douche, since I equate being a douche with trying to dress and act like the people on Jersey Shore, or being white and “gangsta” I live in Ohio, and where I’m from, redneck wiggers are common here. [Here’s what I have seen most douches look like](http://www.larkinhypnotherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SCUMBAG-STEVE1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/7 "2011-07-10T05:12:17Z")
> [@humanafterall](#): > > You’re not going to get a rise out of me. I am in control here… Fail. ---
**Author:** ![humanafterall](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/humanafterall/32/19654_2.png) [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/8 "2011-07-10T05:14:09Z")
Look, I stopped giving a fuck what people said or thought about me when I turned 16. So basically [Matrix] I give you the finger, and you give me my fucking phone call. [/Matrix] ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/9 "2011-07-10T05:19:04Z")
> [@humanafterall](#): > > You cannot begin to fathom the size of the fuck I do not give. Well, it’s still small enough to allow you to write this. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/10 "2011-07-10T05:21:26Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > _All_ legislation? > > Well, that means removing age limits, removing all FDA regulation, removing all taxation, removing smoking bans, and removing all education efforts. That’s just for starts. > > Worst case? Hmmm. Tobacco companies start handing out free samples of cadmium and pesticide laced cigarettes in SpongeBob Squarepants boxes with diagrams about how smoking makes you smarter, healthier, and better smelling to preschoolers. So they can get a lock on new markets, you know. Cigarette advertising everywhere with laughably false statements. Cigarettes for sale anywhere and everywhere, and the entire world awash with cigarette butts. > > Within a couple of years, an enormous spike in the number of smokers. Within ten years, a proportionately large spike of lung cancer, mouth cancer, throat cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, heart attack, other forms of cancer, ear infections in children, emphysema, and COPD. A staggering increase in preventable deaths - not just for smokers but for those exposed to secondhand smoke. A jump in the number of deaths caused by fires started by lit cigarettes. Also, probably some more environmental fires from people tossing butts or improperly extinguished cigarettes. > > Best case scenario? Society stops hating the fat people quite so much because the smokers are a bigger target. Well, I guess that depends on whether we’re just removing the special treatment (by which I mean the legislation that singles out the tobacco industry) or actively writing in exceptions to other laws for tobacco companies. For instance, truth in advertising laws would presumably still apply, tossing a butt on the ground is still littering, and other broad laws that encompass much more than the tobacco industry. And frankly, I don’t think that the government’s education programs have had that much to do with the trend toward non-smoking, so I doubt if there would be a serious trend backward to a predominantly smoking society. It’s something that a majority of society recognizes as a vice. That said, I think that you’re right that the resumption of smoking indoors would be the most visible and immediate response. While most smokers are conscious of the risks to others when they smoke indoors, some jerks are not. ---
**Author:** ![humanafterall](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/humanafterall/32/19654_2.png) [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/11 "2011-07-10T05:28:20Z")
> [@jamiemcgarry](#): > > Well, it’s still small enough to allow you to write this. It’s quite large, actually, but you can’t have it. It’s my fuck, and I’m not giving it. ---
**Author:** ![humanafterall](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/humanafterall/32/19654_2.png) [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/12 "2011-07-10T05:32:24Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Well, I guess that depends on whether we’re just removing the special treatment (by which I mean the legislation that singles out the tobacco industry) or actively writing in exceptions to other laws for tobacco companies. For instance, truth in advertising laws would presumably still apply, tossing a butt on the ground is still littering, and other broad laws that encompass much more than the tobacco industry. And frankly, I don’t think that the government’s education programs have had that much to do with the trend toward non-smoking, so I doubt if there would be a serious trend backward to a predominantly smoking society. It’s something that a majority of society recognizes as a vice. > That said, I think that you’re right that the resumption of smoking indoors would be the most visible and immediate response. While most smokers are conscious of the risks to others when they smoke indoors, some jerks are not. I mean, if all laws that govern what we can and can’t do with tobacco were to be removed, that would mean that tobacco companies could go out and put up ads with faked science that says smoking adds elebenty-billion years to your life, and that you can see the narwhal bacon at midnight, and junk like that. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/13 "2011-07-10T05:41:47Z")
Well, at one point the tobacco companies were breeding plants and treating their products to increase the nicotine content in order to make it more addictive. Presumably without regulation they’d continue down that path, and we’d have cigarettes that are even more addictive then is currently the case. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/14 "2011-07-10T06:06:06Z")
They would probably also have some kind of cyborg army. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/15 "2011-07-10T06:23:06Z")
> [@humanafterall](#): > > …I am in control, here, **elucidator**. Besides, I cannot rightly be called a douche, since I equate being a douche … Let me help you out here, slick. You got some minor potential, maybe you can be saved from the Outer Darkness… You go round calling attention to your fantasy that you are being persecuted by the Luminous Ones, you pretty much stake out a section of Douchebag Estates. Its a dead give-away, the deluded one almost always is convinced beyond all reason that they are being persecuted because thier brilliant insights and cogent observations are a threat to the status quo. Ain’t so. Our mods are too lazy for shit like that. I hasten to point out that douchebags have been reformed and redeemed herein. Not as often as we’d like, true, but its happened. And as soon as they stop following the Way of the Douche, its like they never were, poof! gone. And they find themselves in the happy situation of convivial company and boon, if somewhat sarcastic, companionship. Of course, this is largely because most of this crowd has the short term memory of broccoli, but there’s an upside to that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/16 "2011-07-10T06:34:20Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Of course, this is largely because most of this crowd has the short term memory of broccoli, but there’s an upside to that, too. No, we…! … doesn’t… ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/17 "2011-07-10T07:21:05Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Well, at one point the tobacco companies were breeding plants and treating their products to increase the nicotine content in order to make it more addictive. Presumably without regulation they’d continue down that path, and we’d have cigarettes that are even more addictive then is currently the case. Hm, does addiction work that way? Is the addiction quality [?] of nicotine based on its strength, or is it about the same no matter the concentration [at least as long as the concentration isn’t toxic of course] I would consider the renewed tobacco presence would probably be … renewed advertising on tv, in magazines and on the radio renewed prizes/merchandising gimmics - trading cards, ‘green stamps’, actually packs of cigs as giveaways at stores and public functions cigarette machines being placed in bars, restaurants, street corners smoking in public places again renewal of the flavored cigs that were supposedly highly attractive to kids Would that include dropping the extra taxes on them? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/18 "2011-07-10T07:32:19Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/19 "2011-07-10T07:33:50Z")
“Can I shoot something by you guys?” _–Timid Circle-jerk Newbie_ ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486/20 "2011-07-10T12:05:31Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > “Can I shoot something by you guys?” > > _–Timid Circle-jerk Newbie_ Is it your grandma? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-shoot-something-by-you-guys/588486.md?page=2)