I’m going to start by admitting that I myself have been smoking for over 20 years now but I also want to make it clear that I am by no means pro-smoking, I would love to quit and I’m trying currently to do so. They are horrible for you and they shouldn’t exist but they do, so of course like everything the government has to stick their nose into it.
On the September 4th New Hampshire become the latest state to raise the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21, on the surface this seems like a great thing right? less young people smoking can only be a good thing…but stop and think about this for a second, you can drive a vehicle that could easily take lives when you’re only 16 years old…you can join the military and die for your country when you’re only 18…does this really make sense to you? That at 18 you’re mature enough to decide if you should risk your life for your country but you’re not mature enough to decide if you should smoke or not?
There are plenty of things going wrong in this country right now and part of the reason is that most people seem to have forgot or just never knew in the first place that the government is supposed to work for us not rule over every little aspect of our lives.If you’re a legal adult I feel you should be left to make your own decisions, as long as you’re not hurting anyone else then you should be able to do whatever you want.
Yes smoking is bad for you but so is fast food and any 12 year old can go in any fast food joint and buy whatever they want…how is it that we are allowed to make decisions like whether or not we risk our life bungee jumping or skydiving at the age of 18 but we can’t make the choice of whether we take up smoking or not? If they’re going to raise the age for smoking then they should have to raise the age to join the military as well…smoking is probably a more informed decision for most than joining the military is…most 18 year-olds have no clue what they’re getting themselves into joining the military but everyone knows smoking is addictive and bad for you by that age and no I’m not against the military in any way but I have seen through very close friends what the experiences of war can do to ruin a person.
I had a friend that had his shit together, he was that one friend in our group that everyone assumed would just be a success in life…so he’s convinced by a recruiter to join with all these false promises of helping him get a car and a house and blah blah blah…well when he was finally done with his time, he didn’t get help with anything…my intelligent and charismatic friend ended up with a drug problem and dying from an overdose and I at least partly blame his experiences overseas in the military for that…this isn’t to say the military is all bad or anything, I’m just pointing out that the decision to join is a much bigger one than if you should smoke or not.
So please if I’m missing something here and this makes sense to you please explain in the comments because it just seems so fucking stupid to me…
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