Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows: it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health. It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette. The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.


The war on smoking and smokers continues unabated! – © Mark Alexander

England May Not Be ‘Smoke-free’ until 2039, Cancer Charity Warns

THE GUARDIAN: Government plan to reduce smoking rates in danger of falling a decade behind schedule

England will not be “smoke-free” until 2039, missing a key public health target by almost a decade, an analysis has found.

While smoking rates are in decline they are not falling fast enough to realise the government’s ambition of England being smoke-free” by 2030, according to Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

And stark socioeconomic inequalities in smoking – with poorer people much more likely to light up than the well-off – will continue for decades to come, its research shows. » | Denis Campbell, Health policy editor | Monday, November 4, 2024

England will never be, and should never be, smoke-free! Why? Because if it could ever be done, it would be replaced by something far, far worse. These politicians and do-gooders don’t understand ONE BASIC THING about human psychology. It is this: People WILL get their kicks from somehere! If these ill-informed people think that all people are just going to go to work each day, go home, and then go to bed without having any of the pleasures of life, then they are greatly mistaken.

As for cancer, it is a terrible disease. I have known several people who have died from it. They were NOT smokers! Whilst it is true that smoking can cause cancer, especially lung cancer, according to trustworthy sources on the Internet, it is only between 5 and 10% of HEAVY SMOKERS who contract it. Eliminating smoking will not eliminate cancer!

Further, taxing cigarettes to the hilt, thus making them too expensive for people to be able to afford to smoke government-controlled cigarettes only pushes people to buy them on the black market. I am told that the black market for cigarettes in the United Kingdom is thriving! It certainly is in Australia.

Just in case anyone thinks that my opinions are biased because I am myself a smoker, please think again! I quit smoking on April 10th 2022. That is almost two years and seven months ago. I haven’t smoked a cigarette since that day. But I am on the side of smokers because over the years, I have derived untold pleasure from smoking cigarettes. I always smoked out of choice, NOT out of addiction! I have bever been addicted to anything. Not even cigarettes.

I wish these joyless people would just give up their social engineering. They try and say that smoking is now predominantly a working-class habit. TOSH! How many people in the working class can afford to smoke these days? With current prices in the UK, it is only the super-privileged who can afford to smoke. For the less well-off, they must be rolling their own, or something.

By the way, when governments make cigarettes extremely expensive, they are doing something deleterious to the health of smokers. And for one simple reason: Governments have no control over the quality of the cigarettes being illegally imported from Asia and the Far East. In years to come, governments will be finding that the health of smokers will be worse than if they had been smoking legal, quality-controlled cigarettes. This, if anything, will place a burden on the health service in years to come.

Moreover, it is stupid to encourage vaping as a replacement of smoking. In the not-too-distant future, they will find that vaping is more injurious to health than smoking cigarettes. Governments need to meddle less in people’s lifestyle choices, they need to stop sweating the little things. Instead, they need to concentrate on the important things. That is what proper governments should do. – © Mark Alexander

Disposable vapes ban could push some users back to smoking, ministers told: Defra report warns there could be ‘health disbenefits’ with 29% of vapers reverting or relapsing to cigarettes »

'Pack of Cigs and a Bic Lighter': Why Are Celebs Glamorising Smoking Again? »

'Pack of Cigs and a Bic Lighter': Why Are Celebs Glamorising Smoking Again?

Christian Cowan's show at New York fashion week in February featured models smoking on the runway | GETTY IMAGES
BBC: rat summer might be over as we grapple with how dark it is at 4pm, but the concept of being a brat – “pack of cigs and a Bic lighter”, according to the singer Charli XCX – lives on.

There's Rosalia gifting Charli XCX a bouquet of cigarettes on her birthday, Addison Rae smoking not one but two at the same time in her music video Aquamarine, and the actor Paul Mescal saying he refused to give up smoking when getting into shape for Gladiator II.

…

Despite this, singers, actors and influencers seem to be bringing smoking back into vogue - quite literally, with cigarettes making a return as on the New York Fashion Week runways earlier this year as accessories.

So, why are cigarettes being glamorised again?

Lucy, a 20-year-old university student, says she took up smoking recently because "it's just what everyone does".

Almost all her friends also smoke and she says it's more than just a habit, it's an aesthetic.

"I definitely think everyone trying to be brat has influenced people to start smoking because Charli herself says you have to have a pack of cigs if you really want to embody the vibe." » | Yasmin Rufo, BBC News | Sunday, November 3, 2024

EAT your HEARTS OUT Keir Starmer and Chris Whitty! Smoking is making a comeback! None too soon, either! As unhealthy as smoking might be, it is infinitely healthier than the alternatives of drugs. And far healthier than those unhealthy and uncool vapes, too. And then there's all the rest of the poisons that people injest today — just for kicks. People will always look for kicks, especially the young.

Starmer, you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of outlawing smoking. Especially for the young. Smoking is pleasurable, cool, sexy, and alluring. After all, who wants to watch a love story from Hollywood with the main characters sharing a vape? It doesn't quite cut it, does it?

In spite of any laws that might be passed in Parliement, smoking will not be killed off. Smoking cigarettes will live on long after our do-gooding politicians will be kicking up daisies! Long live pleasure! Long live freedom! Long live the right to choose! — © Mark Alexander

Related stuff here.

Price of Packet of Cigarettes to Rise to £16.78 from 6pm TONIGHT as Rachel Reeves Hikes Tobacco Tax in Budget

THE SUN: THE price of a pack of cigarettes will have risen by 90p after a hike was confirmed in the government's Autumn Statement.

On Wednesday in the House of Common, Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed a range of plans relating to tax rises, benefits and pension payments.

The Chancellor said that tobacco duty would increase by the standard Retail Price Index (RPI) - a measure of inflation - plus 2%.

The government used the RPI rate of 3.65%, which is the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast for the inflation rate in quarter two of 2025.

It means the cost of a 20 pack will rise by 5.65% - or 90p - at 6pm this evening.

The average price of a 20-pack of cigarettes in September was £15.88, according to the ONS - and it will rise to £16.78 tonight. » | Olivier Marshall, Senior Consumer Reporter | Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Chesterfield Cigarettes in World War II | Tobaccoland at War | Industrial Film

Jan 21, 2017 | Chesterfield Cigarettes presents “Tobaccoland USA at War,” a black-and-white circa 1943 “new kind of pictorial adventure” examining tobacco production in such states as Tennessee, Virginia, and the Carolinas — areas that have made “Chesterfield synonymous with American smoking pleasure.” We visit the offices of Liggett & Myers Tobacco, Inc. (Chesterfield’s parent company) in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina starting at mark 01:04 and view production lines and tobacco fields, meeting some of the “fine families” who grow the product. We watch as families work together in the fields (mark 02:25) and later processed. There’s a look inside a farm’s curing barn starting at mark 03:21where the product is later sold at auction — a process shown starting at mark 04:40. The film continues as the plant undergoes a “new” and “scientific” process, shown starting at mark 06:37, which restores to the tobacco leaves the precise amount of moisture needed for a perfect flavor. Eventually, the final product — Chesterfield cigarettes — roll off an assembly line at mark 08:44.

Released during World War II, the promotional film makes note that Chesterfield cigarettes are enjoyed by “fighting men” around the world and is “one of the few comforts” of home as we see a filmed scene of soldiers in a bunker pausing for a smoke (mark 09:25). Starting at mark 09:55 the film visits “the fighting fronts” and a group of US Marines in combat at land and at sea, followed by scenes aboard a US Coast Guard vessel (mark 11:23) and US Navy ship (mark 12:27), as well as the Merchant Marines. Through various battle scenes, the narrator reminds the viewer that American servicemen gain its strength not only from its weaponry but also from support from the home front. As scenes from the Army Air Force fill the screen starting at mark 14:56, the narrator says that “with each pounding the enemy is weakened” And while fathers and sons are away from home, families at home continue to tend to the farms — and the tobacco crops — to continue to meet the demand for Chesterfied’s. …


Not so much an ad, more a propaganda film really! 😊 Don’t be a wussy! Smoke a Chesterfield! Light up! Inhale deeply! Wait a few seconds! Exhale! Oh, the pleasure! 😊 – © Mark Alexander

Biden Bans Menthol Cigarettes

Aug 12, 2024 | Brian from Windy City Cigars sits down, and talks about the upcoming Menthol Ban coming in 2024. The Biden Administration is pushing for the ban of menthol cigarettes and tobacco and flavored cigars if the ban goes through it may cause millions of job losses due to the menthol ban.

You can support smokers’ rights in the UK here.

WIKIPEDIA: List of smoking bans in the United States »

BEWARE! The do-gooding control freaks are trying to take over everywhere. Remember: Smokers have rights, too! – © Mark Alexander

How Tobacco Helped Soldiers in World War 2

Jun 1, 2023 | Brian from Windy City Cigars sits down and discusses how important cigarettes were in World War 2 and the brand names they smoked.

This is a very interesting and informative video on soldiers smoking in war zones. Führer Starmer should watch it to educate himself before he tries to pass that ridiculous, stupid generational smoking ban through Parliament. It is totally unreasonable to expect our young men to go to war to fight for us without allowing them a few pleasures on the battlefield. A smoke is the least we can offer a soldier in such a dangerous situation. And please don’t be so stupid as to talk of the health dangers of smoking! Possibly dying in fifty years’ time from the health dangers of smoking is totally and utterly irrelevant when a man is in a battlefield and can be killed at any moment. – © Mark Alexander

How Marlboro Became the #1 Cigarette Brand

Jun 30, 2022 | Marlboro cigarettes are the most smoked by far, but it wasn’t always like that; At one point, Marlboro owned less than 1% of the cigarette market. However, one famous marketing campaign that Marlboro ran skyrocketed their sales and made them the #1 cigarette brand in the world. This is the story of The Marlboro Man.

Make Smoking Cool Again! It Really Is Anyway

The pleasure of smoking is undeniable. Take that pleasure away from people and it will be replaced by other pleasures which will almost certainly, in the long-run, prove to be even more injurious to health. Smoking is one of life’s true pleasures. For Christ’s sake, stop this war on smoking! Say 'NO' to this Neo-puritanical nonsense! – © Mark Alexander
With thanks to Pinterest for this delightful image.

Smoking Pleasure / Rauchvergnügen / Plaisir de fumer

Der Hochgenuß des Qualmens / Le plaisir de fumer une cigarette / The pleasure of smoking a cigarette
Many thanks to Pinterest for this delightful photo.

ForestOnline : Mark Littlewood In Conversation With Simon Clark

May 28, 2019 | On 16th May 2019, to mark the 40th anniversary of the smokers' group FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco), Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, spoke to Forest director Simon Clark

Passive smoking is a load of nonsense! — © Mark Alexander

Make Smoking Cool Again! Especially with a Large Glass of Wine. | #shorts

The New Puritans are scraping fun from our lives! Katie Hopkins thinks these prudes should naff off (Katie’s vocabulary is rather more colourful!)
WARNING! Very strong language is used by Katie in this short!

Is Smoking Stylish Again? Experts Sound Alarm as Cigarettes Become a Trend on NYFW Runways

NEW YORK POST: This is a real drag.

Despite years of campaigning against big tobacco, it seems that cigarettes are reclaiming their chic status à la Kate Moss, appearing as accessories on New York Fashion Week runways in the wake of the “mob wife” aesthetic and an early aughts “indie sleaze” revival.

This week, multiple models meandered down the Christian Cowan catwalk with a cigarette teetering between their fingers in a collection depicting the elevated glamour of the rich housewife. Then, just days later, a model wearing a deep-cut power suit dangled a dart from her hand on LaQuan Smith’s runway, oozing corporate sex appeal with garments that doubled as both boardroom and club wear, an ode to “office sirens,”he said.

The Post reached out to reps for Cowan and Smith for comment as to why they included cigs on the runway but Retrofête’s creative director Ohad Seroya said cigarettes played a “big part” in his designs crafted for the “alpha woman.”

He debuted a collection at The Plaza Hotel last weekend, showcasing red hot power suits, slinky evening gowns and luxurious fur coats reminiscent of a chain-smoking, “Mad Men” persona — with one model in particular in a navy power suit adorned with wisps of smoke.

Seroya told The Post that the powerful woman theme was, in part, inspired by his “strong” mother, who was a smoker. And while the designer said he’s a former smoker, he made it clear that he did not support the habit, but rather, appreciated the human “connection” of a smoke break.

“When you come to somebody and [are] asking for a lighter and creating a conversation with you outside,” said Seroya. “And this is why I miss smoking.” » | Brooke Kato and Brooke Steinberg | Friday, February 16, 2024

Eat your heart out, Rishi! The habit you love to hate is making a comeback in stylish circles. Well, well! Who would have thought?

Neither you nor any other politician will ever manage to stop people smoking. The pleasure is far too great and the allure of a handsome gentleman/beautiful lady smoking a cigarette far too sexy to stamp out.

The prohibition of alcohol was tried in the States in years gone by; between 1920 and 1933, to be precise. But the Prohibition didn’t work out too well, did it? So the silly law had to be repealed. A prohibition on smoking will not work out very well either. Silly laws like that are tried by greenhorns in politics who understand little about human behaviour.

If you are wise, Mr Sunak, you’ll abandon the idea of an incremental smoking ban. It’s a dumb idea which is bound to fail. If you really want to help children in the UK in 2024, make sure their parents get enough money to put quality food on the table to be able to provide their children with the nutrition they need for healthy development (without having to go to food banks). Make sure they have access to well-qualified NHS dentists when their teeth need attention — most parents cannot afford private dentistry. Make sure they have quick access to good, well-qualified doctors when they are sick. And, very importantly, make sure that children have access to good schools. Education is key to social mobility. Most parents do not earn enough to send their children to top, private, élite schools, affordable only to the über-privileged few; instead, they have to rely on state provision for their children. Until relatively recently, they could.

These are the things which will help children grow up to be fine, upright and healthy citizens, not some authoritarian, idealistic, un-Conservative, undemocratic, unpoliceable smoking ban which will deny future generations the pleasure of smoking (if they so wish to take up the habit), and take their democratic rights away from them. Nevertheless, it will still enable them to indulge in all manner of dreadful substances which are far, far worse for their long-term health. – © Mark Alexander

Smoking Hot!

A photo to gladden Sunak’s heart!
With thanks to Dino Stefano on Pinterest for this photo.

Sunak’s Incremental Smoking Ban

It appals me that our king has joined our unelected prime minister in calling for an incremental smoking ban. However, it doesn’t surprise me, since as Prince of Wales, he had a history of involving himself in political affairs, even though we all know that our monarch is supposed to stay well out of politics.

Both our king and our prime minister are unelected. Therefore, they have no right whatsoever in a so-called democracy to make decisions on the people’s behalf.

The mere idea of banning smoking for adults — a habit which brings great pleasure to many adults even to this day — is undemocratic, autocratic, in fact, and, quite frankly, stupid. There are far more unhealthy habits than smoking cigarettes. Excessive sugar consumption springs quickly to mind, alcohol consumption, the smoking of marijuana and cannabis, and the use of ketamine, and increasingly, of cocaine. How many young people have a cocaine habit, I wonder? London is, in fact, said to be the cocaine capital of the world.

So, cigarette-smoking is the least of our concerns.

I would be the last person on earth to advocate smoking. However, I must admit, until nearly two years ago, I had a twenty-a-day habit, which brought me enormous pleasure. It also kept me slim and free of type-2 diabetes. Since quitting, I have gained weight quickly; and this worries me. Why? Because I know that my metabolism has slowed right down since I gave up. I am not gaining weight because I am eating more; rather, I am gaining weight because of my now slow metabolism.

You can talk of lung cancer, and lung cancer is a terrible thing. But the fact remains that only about 5 – 10% of HEAVY smokers contract it. Indeed, I recently read of an Israeli rabbi many years over a hundred who died of old age despite being an extremely heavy smoker. Like 60 cigarettes a day!

Please do not misconstrue my message: I neither advocate smoking nor condone it. However, I do defend the right of an adult to make his own choice without people in the Establishment interfering in their decisions. (By the way, I am not a republican. Far from it. However, interference like this could push me in that direction.)

The NHS argument holds no water. Smokers contribute approximately £10.5b in taxes, whereas they cost the NHS only £3.5b.

It should also be remembered that a person’s health is more than being about remaining cancer-free. One also wants to be free of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease and type-2 diabetes. One also wishes to remain as slim as possible. Nobody wants to be obese. Smoking has a protective effect on all these maladies.

It is imperative that we look at the big picture; it is also imperative that we keep meddlesome people out of our decision-making process.

If you wish to ban anything, ban meddlesome people from interfering in the democratic process. Keep people’s right to choose. Ban interference from the Nanny State.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Oh God! Here we go again! When is the risk of type-2 diabetes reduced after quitting sugar? Or the risk of a car accident when you quit driving your car? Or the risk of liver disease after you quit drinking alcohol? Or the risk of an STD once you quit sexual contact with your partner, straight or gay? Unfortunately, life is for living; and we cannot get out of this life alive. All this preaching is oh so tiresome. For heaven's sake, live and let live! It behoves us all to live moderately; and to enjoy life, to get our kicks where and when we can. One of these fine days we will not wake up! We'll all be dead! – © Mark Alexander

Nigel Farage on Sunak’s New, Stupid, Insane Incremental Smoking Ban | #shorts

Here’s Nigel Farage’s take on it. Nigel Farage is a man with whom I rarely agree on anything, but he is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT on this ludicrous, incremental smoking ban. The ban is unworkable, unenforceable, unpoliceable, insane, and just plain stupid. That silly woman in New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, thought up this nonsense; thankfully, the new right-wing government in New Zealand has abandoned the idea. Alhamdulillah!. It should be remembered that Sunak is a puritanical freak. He doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t eat meat, and he fasts for 36 hours each and every week! How representative is this man of the British electorate? I would wager that he is not representative of the British electorate at all! – © Mark Alexander

How Smoking Can Be Good for You! | #shorts

Nicotine is great for us!

Those Were the Days! Jackie Kennedy Showing the World How to Enjoy a Smoke of a Real Cigarette with Elegance and Panache

When elegance for a lady meant smoking a cigarette in a cigarette holder, in a pre-Puritanical time when people understood how to enjoy themselves and had little appetite for preserving themselves for the old folks’ home! They lived life to the fullest and cocked a snook at the killjoys.
With many thanks to New York Magazine on Pinterest for this delightful photo of one of the most elegant ladies of the twentieth century.

France to Ban Smoking on All Beaches in Effort to Create ‘Tobacco-free Generation’

GUARDIAN EUROPE: Public parks, forests and areas near schools will also become smoke-free as part of nationwide move

Two small parts of the beaches in Cannes are cigarette-free, but its mayor questioned the government’s smoking ban. Photograph: Sébastien Nogier/EPA
France is to ban smoking on all beaches, as well as in public parks, forests and near schools, after Emmanuel Macron promised to create “the first tobacco-free generation” by 2032.

“From now on, no-smoking areas will be the norm,” said the health minister, Aurélien Rousseau.

There are already 7,200 tobacco-free areas in France – including in Nice, on the French Riviera, which was the first to establish a cigarette-free beach in 2012 with the approval of France’s League Against Cancer.

The government said that instead of smoke-free areas being decided by individual local authorities, central government would introduce a nationwide ban. “We are now shifting the responsibility and establishing a principle which will become the rule,” Rousseau said.

Taxes on cigarettes will be increased, with a pack of 20, now priced at about €11 (£9.50), rising to €12 by 2025 and €13 the following year. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Tuesday, November 28, 2023

It was bad enough that the Anglo-Saxon world was working overtime to kill off the concept of joie de vivre; now, Macron’s government is also hell-bent on taking la joie out of la vie too! Clearly, the end is nigh for freedom in the West. Maybe Macron should think of changing the motto Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité into just Égalité, Fraternité, because liberty in France is clearly being eroded.

I think that this is a very unwise move on Macron’s part at this time because this could help sweep Marine Le Pen to power at the next election. Populists are already gaining strength right across the Continent anyway. This will surely help populist parties become even stronger. – © Mark Alexander

France urged to accept the science on how to stop smoking: France’s Parliamentary Office for Scientific and Technological Assessment has concluded that a drastic change in approach is required to get cigarette smokers to stop smoking, A report prepared by members of both chambers of the French Parliament recommends a risk reduction approach that offers smokers the chance to switch to much less harmful electronic cigarettes, writes Political Editor Nick Powell. »

Tabagisme : « Il faut avancer sur la voie de la réduction des risques » : Alors que les politiques publiques semblent perdre en efficacité avec le temps, des spécialistes des addictions appellent, dans une tribune au « Monde », à tenter une nouvelle stratégie d’accompagnement des fumeurs. »

Being that France (and other Western countries) are on a banning spree... just as smoking can cause cancer, so can drinking alcohol. So, why not ban alcohol, too? Why stop at smoking? Ban all sources of pleasure! Don't waste any time: Ban the bloody lot! Why not?

Alcohol and its link to cancer »

Joint statement by WHO/Europe and IARC to the European Parliament – raising awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer »

Ireland signs law requiring cancer warnings on all alcoholic beverages: The Irish government says the measure — opposed by drinks industry chiefs worldwide but cleared by EU and WTO regulators — will come into force in May 2026. »

New Zealand Smoking Ban Scrapped by Government in Shock Reversal - BBC News

Nov 27, 2023 | New Zealand's new government says it plans to scrap the nation's world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts, a reversal strongly criticised by health experts.

The legislation, introduced under the previous Jacinda Ardern-led government, would have banned cigarette sales next year to anyone born after 2008.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in New Zealand, and the policy had aimed to stop young generations from picking up the habit.


Some common sense on smoking from a government at last! This generational smoking ban was both draconian and undemocratic. It was a hare-brained idea from the very start.

I write as an ex-smoker. I gave up smoking successfully in April 2022. But even so, I am implacably opposed to banning cigarette smoking for future generations. This ban is a socialist-style policy. Boy! Don’t socialists like to interfere in people's private lives! Socialists and people like Rishi Sunak! We in the UK need a policy reversal on this stupid ban as well.

There are far worse things for young people to do than enjoy a smoke. Taking drugs, for example. Only last week, I posted a DW documentary on the problems that Germany is facing with cocaine use. (Click here to watch the hair-raising documentary.) Truly, if the worst a person does in this life twixt cradle and grave is enjoy a cigarette and a drink of alcohol, then I would say that he/she is doing pretty well. I really am sick and tired of this obsession with smoking and smokers and I am also sick and tired of the Nanny State poking its nose in people's private lives. Have people forgotten that it is healthy to have some pleasure from life? Who the hell wants to live forever anyway, and end up in an old people's home, ga-ga, and being fed by some nurse? There is such a thing as enjoying the journey of life. More power to the new New Zealand government which has had the courage to swim against the tide and overturn Jacinda Adern's stupid law. – © Mark Alexander

The left-wing press is having convulsions over this ban reversal:

New Zealand scraps world-first smoking ‘generation ban’ to fund tax cuts: Health experts say axing plan to block sales of tobacco products to next generation will cost thousands of lives »

New Zealand smoking ban: Health experts criticise new government's shock reversal: New Zealand's new government says it plans to scrap the nation's world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts. »