# If cigarettes or tobacco became an illegal drug tomorrow, what would you do (poll for everyone). **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 24, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074 "2011-05-24T21:57:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/21 "2011-05-25T02:17:07Z")
It would be hellish for my loved ones who still smoke, so I wouldn’t be exactly “meh” about it, but that option fit the best. I’d be very upset that the government had suddenly declared illegal a product which has been legal in this country from its inception. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/22 "2011-05-25T02:18:48Z")
My reaction wouldn’t be “meh”. I’d oppose the idea but not to the point of become a tobacco runner. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Cheech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Mister\_Cheech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Cheech)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/23 "2011-05-25T02:19:22Z")
The day that smoking is outlawed is the day that I go Cho on everyone’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/24 "2011-05-25T02:20:48Z")
Interesting how the poll apparently doesn’t consider buying illegal drugs to be part of drug trafficking. The majority of the people involved in the illegal drug trade are the consumers. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/25 "2011-05-25T03:35:41Z")
My father died of lung cancer and my sister is dying of it. Yes, they chose, but I hate to see other people choose this and die. If cigarettes become illegal, some will still smoke of course, but many won’t. ---
**Author:** ![phantom\_lamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@phantom\_lamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phantom_lamb)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/26 "2011-05-25T10:58:37Z")
I don’t smoke and I’d welcome it only because a few of the consequences would be favorable for me. Ideally, I would like everyone to do whatever they want with their bodies. But if smoking became illegal it would mean my boyfriend and family members would do it less or put more effort into quitting which means less second-hand smoke for me to inhale and probably more years for me to spend time with them. It would also mean I don’t have to dodge smokers in the streets and at bus stops or inhale smoke in cafes and restaurants. And yes, I realize these are all selfish reasons. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/27 "2011-05-25T12:51:50Z")
I wish I could get some advance notice so I could hoard smokes and sell them at a huge markup to all the smokers. I need the money. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/28 "2011-05-25T12:55:51Z")
Don’t smoke, know people who do, and meh. I wouldn’t join the Nicotine Strike Force Alpha One Defence League, but I wouldn’t aid jonesing people in their hunt for tobacco. I’d be pissed off that my government decided that it didn’t need all that tasty taxation money, though. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/29 "2011-05-25T13:25:46Z")
I would be dancin’ in the street happy! I watched my grandpa die if lung cancer. I watched my dad die of COPD. I have inhaled so much second hand smoke over my lifetime, my lungs are permanatly compromised, even tho I have never smoked in my life. I despise cigarettes and everything about them. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/30 "2011-05-25T13:33:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Interesting how the poll apparently doesn’t consider buying illegal drugs to be part of drug trafficking. > > The majority of the people involved in the illegal drug trade are the consumers. The criminal law seems to draw a clear divide between people who buy and use the stuff and people who grow, process, transport, or sell the stuff. I figured that it was obvious. Anyway, the option for smoking illegally but not getting involved in trafficking includes buying cigarettes from drug dealers, but no further involvement (e.g. don’t become a sub-dealer for profit, etc.) If you would buy from the dealer and supply family members, that’s a borderline case but if you would do it just to your close family who life with you (spouse, parents, children, siblings, etc) I’d allow you to say that you wouldn’t get involved in trafficking, regardless of what the law might actually say constitutes “dealing”. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/31 "2011-05-25T13:34:42Z")
I put down “meh” but you should have had an option for “I don’t smoke, and would oppose this new law.” **Qadgop** notes just one of the reasons we don’t need or want another futile unwinnable drug war. The ones we have are bad enough. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/32 "2011-05-25T13:37:27Z")
Poll result makes me wonder, again, why tobacco is legal. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/33 "2011-05-25T13:51:29Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Poll result makes me wonder, again, why tobacco is legal. Because we don’t need another black market for violent gangs to take over? Because the state shouldn’t dictate lifestyle choices for people? I do support laws restricting where people can smoke, to protect others from second hand smoke. But I think people should be free to use tobacco on private property or in designated outdoor areas. I think pot should be legal and regulated too. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/34 "2011-05-25T13:57:49Z")
I do not use tobacco, but I would start. ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/35 "2011-05-25T13:58:24Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > I would be dancin’ in the street happy! > > I watched my grandpa die if lung cancer. > > I watched my dad die of COPD. > > I have inhaled so much second hand smoke over my lifetime, my lungs are permanatly compromised, even tho I have never smoked in my life. > > I despise cigarettes and everything about them. Again, I’m not a smoker and have never been. And you have every right to the opinion above. As long as you understand that at some point, some group of people might decide that something _you_ do in the privacy of your home offends them so greatly that they wish to outlaw it. Supposing that this happened, how would you react? How would you hope that others would react? ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/36 "2011-05-25T13:59:37Z")
I don’t smoke, but I’d be doing a dance of joy that my husband’s cigarettes would no longer be contaminating my lungs, my house, my clothes, and my budget. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/37 "2011-05-25T14:16:01Z")
I hope there would be civil disobedience on an unprecedented scale. Within reason, I accept curbs on where I can smoke, but fuck accepting a ban on it. I’m basically a social smoker, but I’m celebrating this thread by lighting up. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/38 "2011-05-25T14:23:15Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > _“I don’t smoke. Meh.”_ Yes, personally it would be nice to not have to smell the damned stuff. But we know from history how this story turns out already. I wouldn’t get involved in tobacco smuggling since I do disapprove of the stuff (and disapprove of getting shot at even more), but there _would_ be such a black market and there _would_ be a surge in violent & organized crime. I agree with this. I would thoroughly enjoy not being forced to hold my breath in the parking lot of every shopping center in town, particularly grocery stores where the employees are standing around the entrance chain smoking. But I can see how this would just add to the crime stats. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/39 "2011-05-25T14:33:56Z")
> [@Ludy](#): > > I would be happy that I wouldn’t have to curse at people who throw butts out of car windows or just toss them on the sidewalk. > > One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing cigarette butts littering the ground. As for the smoke itself. I don’t really go enough places that allow smoking for it to bother me. Pretty much here. It’s amazing how many smokers don’t think butts on the ground is littering. Other than that I would be all “meh” and maybe grumble a bit about a nanny state. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074/40 "2011-05-25T14:38:13Z")
Start smoking weed again. And/or move to a state with medical mj. If they’re both illegal, and I’m going to hell either way, I’m going to do the one that’s more fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-cigarettes-or-tobacco-became-an-illegal-drug-tomorrow-what-would-you-do-poll-for-everyone/583074.md?page=3)