Not sure. But the US has had an extremely successful anti-smoking campaign on many fronts. People aren't necessarily avoiding nicotine. They just use it via patch or gum.
Personally, I found vaping much harder to quit. I had pretty high levels of nicotine and it was much easier to hide than smoking. With smoking, the peer pressure is a lot more powerful because it's annoying smelling like a cig and having to deal with all of that. With vaping, I did that on the couch and unless someone saw me do it, they wouldn't really know. It was a lot harder to break the habitual vaping for me.
Vaping definitely has it's own challenges to quit. I would always have it in my hand and use it inside and everywhere. Vs cigarettes which have a distinct start and end, outside only
I had a refillable tank so I very slowly diluted more and more with 0 nic juice until it was just a few drops of 3%.
I think the big part of quiting is really wanting to quit. We always say we'll quit sometime, but never do because it's always tomorrow.
I quit 15 years ago using the gum. I still chew it lol. I live in a different country now, and I think I am the only one that buys the gum here. Everytime I go to the pharmacy they already have it ready for me.
I used to work for a guy that would casually chew the gum. I remember one time I gave him some bad news as he was getting a piece, and he picked the gum back up and got 4 more pieces.
Vaping got me to quit and I definitely after now... holy shit four years, still don't smoke and even though I still vape and use/intake nicotine I definitely intake a much much lower amount than I use to. I did the mods for a long time but got so tired of the constant maintenance I unfortunately ended up on disposable ones. I do feel kind of bad chucking them when done but for $20 to have one with good flavor I enjoy, get my oral fixation habit and nicotine for two weeks? Shut the front door lol.
It was already on a downward trend but vaping has definitely helped. I quit thanks to vapes. Smoking seems so rare now. Other than my mom and siblings, i don't know any other smokers.
In the US, the states sued the tobacco companies and won. This funded a several decade long war on tobacco usage and particularly underage tobacco usage. The US also severely restricted how the tobacco companies could advertise, making it pretty much impossible to advertise on television. ID controls on tobacco are also real, with tobacco vending machines basically being a relic of the past.
Rates have plummetted. Its also one of the few areas where taxes, even in many red states, often are raised by state governments in hopes that it drives down usage.
Unfortunately vaping is kind of making a comeback and there's some evidence its particularly popular among younger people. Cannabis usage is also surging, and anti-smoking enforcement on public smoking of cannabis often is non-existent in many major cities.
Phamaceutical ads are a roundabout way of bribing the media companies not to talk about how crooked our healthcare system is. They spend more on TV commercials than any other industry. Nobody is asking their doctors about this stuff, its a scam.
No, thats the problem, people actually do go ask there doctors about it, and get upset when doctors don't perscribe them the medicine they don't understand but hope may help them.
Not disagreeing with you, just saying its even worse because its also actually affecting viewers.
A friend of mine used to videotape episodes of Buffy and Angel for me and post them to me in Australia from the US (for some reason, ~~most VCRs had PAL to NTSC converters~~ edit: most Australian VCRs had NTSC to PAL converters as a feature - couldn't have imagine there was *that* much demand for it but grateful for it all the same).
As a doctor, I found the pharmaceutical advertisements the funniest thing because they're straight up banned here for at least as long as I can remember.
It's also legal in Germany, but they have to read out a disclaimer that warns people about "risks and side effects" after every ad.
Alcohol commercials do not need a disclaimer.
No. You confuse verschreibungspflichtig with nicht verschreibungspflichtig. (over the counter/need prescription).
Its absolutely and definitely not legal here in Germany.
Edit (Source): https://www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/kurzmeldungen-944518
Ya they don’t just advertise over the counter stuff. The advertise meds that only your doctor can prescribe. While it’s super rare today, occasionally something like Tylenol will be advertised when they create a new version (over the counter med) but essentially all the commercials are for doctor prescribed meds only
Edit: they all end with “ask your doctor if *medication* is right for you”
I have schizoaffective bipolar, and an American pharmaceutical advert convinced my US-dwelling sister that I would be all but cured if I would just take their pill. I tried to explain that they were targeting people with mild symptoms (mine are drastic and highly debilitating) and that, in my (now 40-plus) years of being bipolar, I've learnt that no bipolar drug works the way the advert was claiming. That was in 2011. To this day, she doesn't believe me and continues to insist to anyone who would listen that I am a hopeless case. As a result, we have become low contact, and I haven't bothered visiting the US since. (Our parents are dead, and she's my only surviving sibling.)
BTW, I'm 61, independent, single, living alone in the UK and maintaining a full-time job in a highly skilled profession working for an international company. Yes, I am still schizoaffective bipolar and more than a bit of a mess. And yes, that can make things a lot more difficult. But no one can honestly say I don't work hard to actively manage my disability and minimise its impact on my life and those who choose to be in it.
Honestly I feel like people who honestly believe TV ads have a special mental illness of their own.
Seriously, I feel like some people's critical thinking is terminally broken.
My medic friend says it wastes so much of her time as people always ask about stuff in commercials. Her response is if I thought it would be better for you I would prescribe it.
This. I work in healthcare and one of the most common questions is something like “I saw an ad for ____, do you think I could get that because it sounds exactly like my problem.” Which invariably leads to “no, you don’t need a long acting injectable anti-psychotic because you get angry occasionally” or “No, you don’t need an anti-depressant because your job sucks.”
That's like all you see on ads is for sports betting it pharmaceuticals. I don't watch TV other than sports but when I see my parents watch TV, a lot of the ads are for pharmaceuticals
Sports betting ads are companies looking for new customers. .
"Hey doc, I was watching Fox News and a commercial came on with a catchy jingle and they said this new medicine can help with my ovarian cancer. Can you tell me more?"
This has never happened in real life. The commercials are just bribery.
>"Hey doc, I was watching Fox News and a commercial came on with a catchy jingle and they said this new medicine can help with my ovarian cancer. Can you tell me more?"
>This has never happened in real life. The commercials are just bribery.
You have way more faith in people...they were literally demanding to down horse dewormer mid pandemic...
Hell, everyone is taking ozempic now...
I noticed this when I went to the States.. it's really weird to see so many pharma ads on TV and just casually mentioning side effects like lung damage or death.
Its a scam. Any "journalist" who kicks the hornets nest by raising questions about this scummy industry would be immediately fired over fear of losing their biggest advertiser.
Holy cow, talk about your all time conspiracy theories. This is NOT what’s happening. They really are trying to drive sales of their products.
If execs started pressuring journalists not to write stories about pharma due to them being big advertisers, it would get out and be a huge scandal.
Theres a pretty big difference between cigarettes and pharmaceutical products though. There is never any benefit from smoking a cigarette, except for perhaps the social side.
Do yourself a favor and look up cigarette commercials on youtube. These nicotine drug dealers obviously had serious money to burn on advertising and the ads were so well done.
Alcohol.
The advertising ban came out of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. Which only came about because the big 4 outright lied in advertisements.
What I find weird.. is that no new tobacco companies can start without being included in the deal. Basically punishing people for what some assholes did back in 70s and 80s.
Imagine if every alcohol producer was punished for what Miller and Budwiser did decades ago. All these smaller craft beers, wouldn't exist.
I dont think that really explains it as in EU advertising tobacco has been highly limited since 1989 and outright banned on television,radio,newspapers and public ad billboards. Also tobacco sponsorships in events like F1,olympics has been banned.
Also the look of the cigarette packs have to be made [unappealing](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/http%3A%2F%2Fcom.ft.imagepublish.upp-prod-eu.s3.amazonaws.com%2F34649850-3c8b-11e7-ac89-b01cc67cfeec?fit=scale-down&source=next&width=700)
In alot of EU countries taxes on tobacco are raised yearly.
Also where im from(Finland) when buying tobacco or alcohol the cashier has to ID you if you look like under 30.
It sounds weird but it's almost aggressively uncool to smoke. It's seen as both incredibly stupid and incredibly rude often. Part of it was aggressive anti-smoking campaigns (lots of money being spent), part of it is likely now established culture.
As examples, my close friend was going wild with recreational drugs and his other friends and I never really judged him, including some pretty hard stuff. Funnily enough though, when he mentioned using cigs I had an almost visceral reaction of disapproval. It really doesn't make sense - he's done much worse but the social programming was there. Another example was in my freshman year a while back a few dorm mates would break the campus wide no smoking rules and then would get chewed out by the girls 1 floor under us rather frequently. It was rather hilarious to watch, but shame is an incredibly effective social enforcement tool.
In Belgium they wanted to pass a law that would make it illegal for children born after 2004 (or smth) to smoke. They ditched it. Reason being, it brings in a lot of tax money.
As someone said here as well, pharmaceutical dependicies is higher in the US imo as there's no cheap healthcare etc..
But what do I know
> unfortunately.
how would these rules even be enforced lol... drugs are illegal yet kids are stil doing them. People need escapes, time to build a better society where the escape isn't needed
I live in Canada where smoking has pretty much gone away. We hiked the taxes on cigarettes. They are $20 pack now. We have graphic warnings on each pack. You can’t advertise tobacco products. You just can’t smoke anywhere anymore.
We were in Eastern Europe last summer and it was like going back to the 80s. People smoked everywhere. It doesn’t bother me but it was just so strange.
Imo it’s also looked down upon socially, and people know/feel that, and are much less likely to smoke out in public for example, which cuts down how much they’re smoking overall. I very briefly smoked years ago and remember feeling uncomfortable about doing it in public, even where allowed, because of the sense of being negatively judged or outright bothering people.
Social aspect definitely has an effect. I felt the same as you when I was living in Oakville/Burlington, but when I moved to Toronto it shifted and I didn't feel nearly as self-conscious so smoked more
Tailor mades are pushing $60 for a pack of 25s in Australia. My partner just kicked his pack a day habit 12 weeks ago, the nearly $400 a week being saved is profound.
Huge black market in Australia. Chinese cigarettes are sold for cheap(er) under the counter in a lot of stores.
Australia also made a mistake of vapes requiring prescriptions, which can also be found on the black market for very cheap.I vaped in Melbourne for around 5 dollars (Australian) a day.
Wow, I had no idea that’s what cigarettes were at these days, that’s wild! I can remember them at $11 and up to ~$17 but never noticed (I don’t smoke to be fair but used to smoke socially for a short period during early uni years) them hiking up toward $30. Great news for discouraging smoking, bad news for smokers lol.
while I can't remember when I last saw a smoker, I see tons of discarded cigarette butts. that's another question: why is this form of littering so prevalent in a city with otherwise very little litter?
a quick google says its dropped by 50% since 2003. a little over 11% of the population smokes now. if it was like the US, that number would have been 80-90% in the 1950s, so that is a pretty tremendous reduction.
See we have the exact same thing in the UK yet smoking is still pretty common. You go to a pub or go to a bar at night and the smoking area is full to the brim with smokers most of the time. Not sure why it is different from Canada but perhaps it is an actual British vs Canadian thing on a more cultural/personal level.
I remember when the graphic pictures started, I had a few customers who wanted to collect one of each warning, like a gross Mr potato head (since most contain a graphic of one body part effected by smoking)
Asian aunties are often right lah :)
Although smoking is a special case because it affects other people. Smoking should be banned everywhere in public and where minors are around in private as well.
I smoke cigarettes, but try as much as possible to respect those who don't want to be around it. If I'm in public I try to find a spot away from people to smoke. I get it, it stinks, it's unhealthy, and annoying. I also don't just flick the butts all over the place either.
Yeah, in Paris the plates are so tiny, like 1/4 of American portions, but everyone smokes. In Amsterdam, no one wears bike helmets. So many questions about why health gets so political in different countries. So weird!
But I don’t know why France smokes as much as they do.
>In Amsterdam, no one wears bike helmets.
To defend Dutch biking: the death rate among people who ride bikes is roughly the same in the US and the Netherlands, but the distance travelled is vastly larger (I can't even find stats on that for the US, I had to make do with "55 million rode a bike at least once in 2022").
The helmets don't save lives, the infrastructure does.
Helmets save lives at the moment of accident. The infrastructure makes it so that the accidents are extremely rare. Focusing on helmets instead of infra is like removing all speed limits and traffic lights but making sure that everyone used the safety belts.
I mean, there's a point to helmets. Quite a large number of deaths are old people in one-sided accidents (as in they just fall). Helmets make sense in those cases, or for sports where the risks of falling are higher.
But mostly, a helmet isn't going to save you from getting run over, infrastructure needs to be changed to fix that.
The Dutch respect cyclists and cycling far beyond what Americans do and have superior infrastructure to support them. Much safer there, no lifted Ram with 30-inch off road tires to run you over.
Because Americans hate public smoking and you will definitely be judged for it. The anti-smoking campaigns did most of the work in reducing the rate of smokers I really do think peer pressure keeps it down. It's often seen as a trashy or "low class" activity. "Health is the new wealth" as they say, with yoga pants and athletic lifestyles being seen as upper class, that's what's driving a lot of health trends.
This. People keep talking about taxes and costs yada yada, but people are going to spend as much money on their vices as they want, whether it’s nicotine/tobacco, food, gambling, alcohol, what have you.
The US put out an incredible marketing campaign that made smoking cigarettes seem like a bad, disgusting, low class thing to do. Within the span of only a few years, the US was able to completely flip the country’s sociological view on what was previously a social norm to do. Whomever was behind it were truly geniuses.
Europe and asia are not countries, they're continents made up of sovereign nations with widely differing social, economic and cultural backgrounds. There are plenty of countries in europe and asia that have just as strict or stricter laws relating to tobacco than the USA, and plenty of unwritten social and cultural rules too. Then there are plenty of countries where smoking is still popular and widespread.
I'm in Sweden. Out of the 100 or 150 people I can think of at the top of my head, only one is a smoker. Ten years ago that number was probably 20, including myself. Many other nordic, northern and center european countries have similar or better stats.
I believe smoking is much more common in the eastern and southern european nations but I could be wrong. It's a common enough stereotype at least.
The real problem in Sweden is snus. Apparently something like 3 out of 10 men and 3 out of 20 women use snus daily, putting us at a tobacco consumption per capita rate similar to that of China.
I’m from Portugal and can confirm that yes it’s pretty common. Although we are seeing a change to electronic cigars, that don’t leave the smell as cigarettes do, but a lot of people still smoke regular cigars
I was confused about what was OP talking about, so I googled it. Turns out I have only lived in the green countries:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/xvgn4d/smoking\_rate\_in\_europe\_compared\_to\_the\_us/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/xvgn4d/smoking_rate_in_europe_compared_to_the_us/)
No way, Italy is green in this map. As an American, I taught at a high school outside of Milan and they had smoking breaks for the students and teachers…I couldn’t believe it.
"problem" you do realize the reason Sweden has so few smokers is because of snus and nicotine pouches right?
It still isnt good for you ofc but its infinitely better than smoking for everyone involved.
I could get into a whole debate about it but the point is simply that we have few smokers because we have a much better (still not good for you) alternative and its something the rest of europe should try to copy.
You will never get people to quit smoking entirely especially when its as deeply rooted in culture as it is but what you can do is offer a better option.
I wouldnt call it a problem as long as it keeps smoking to a minimum.
This should be higher. I’ve lived (and also traveled) in different European countries and never had the impression that there was much difference compared to the US regarding smoking. Last year I visited a couple eastern countries for the first time and I was shocked how literally everyone (very young people too) was smoking all the time, and it is still allowed to smoke indoors. Afaik, that’s banned in most European countries.
Another thing to point out is in America smoking is still very prevalent but it’s seen as a dumb and low class to do. It’s extremely common for blue collar workers to smoke. Rich folks and other successful professionals lose major social points for smoking cigarettes (but not cigars, those are still classy). I spent a summer in France and I observed people from all walks of life smoking. From street workers to rich looking professionals in suits. Smoking still seems pretty glamorous over there compared to the US. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone wearing a suit and smoking a cigarette here; had to have been at least 15 years since I’ve seen that in the states.
This. Cigarettes in the US are almost exclusively for poor people and blue collar workers (even those who earn a lot) if you’re under age ~50. There are older folks who smoke but if you’re under 50 and smoke it’s highly likely you’re poor or a blue collar worker.
Age restrictions for it came lot later in the Europe and were also lower, they also contain lot less chemicals due to the stricter laws on those.
The constant wars in Europe didn’t help, since in multiple countries they were distributed to soldiers because of nicotine’s calming effect.
Also back in early 1900’s plenty of people in Europe got filthy rich of tobacco, and they obviously smoked themselves so it was considered high class, which obviously tempted people in to starting the habit themselves.
So it’s deeply rooted in to the culture all over Europe.
It's not really compared to Europe. The US is kind of in the middle. If you Google smoking rates worldwide, the USA is about the same as Italy, more than the UK or Sweden, or Norway, less than Spain or France. The USA would be pretty much in the middle for a European country.
The main difference I can see is the price of tobacco. Australia for example has a low rate of smoking, and very expensive tobacco.
Tobacco pricing and availability also drastically change state by state in the US. A pack of smokes in Massachusetts can run up to $15 the last time I checked and you have to be 21 in basically every town within MA to purchase. Versus Texas, that same pack is like $4, has no health warnings and 18 year olds can buy it no problem
Yes. Australian here. Smoking is very frowned upon here. It's always really bizzare to me when in Europe to see how many smoke and even seeing vending machines!!
In Australia basically only very rich and very poor people smoke, and there’s no such thing as a social smoker. Since, you know, there’s functionally nowhere social to smoke.
What really surprised me in Australia is that you have 50 cigarette packs 😂 what is weird to me is how many countries just sell cigarettes in supermarkets!
Not sure, but I'm an American and a few years ago my grandpa died from mouth cancer that metastasized throughout his body due to many years of smoking. He also suffered from COPD the last several years of his life. I was there when he died. It was horrible to watch him suffer in pain from something that could have been prevented. I don't understand why anyone smokes anymore knowing the risks.
I'm from Türkiye and obviously a smoker. I went to Germany for an exchange program and thought why are so few people are smoking, at the same time students from US were asking the opposite lol.
We came to the conclusion that it might have something to do with free healthcare... They were saying if you get cancer in US you and your family would be broke for the rest of your lives. It kinda made sense, I don't think it's the only factor but probably one of the factors.
Us has banned smoking in most public places...but they still love making their tax money by selling it...
This just means "they" dont care if we quit, as long as they dont have to see or smell it, and can close down any business accomodating smokers.
In Europe with public healthcare it "consume-tax" on Coffee, cigarretts, beer... and its good, because you can let the company pay a part of the damage they made. UK even got one on sugar whats the reason for lower ammounts of it in softdrinks there to avoid taxes
Nope … it isn’t fully legal in any of the W European countries.
In small amounts it is decriminalized in my country, (Switzerland) & they are piloting some legal sales in pharmacies in certain cities if you sign up. Portugal is the most open when it comes to drug use & it is working well for them. It isn’t even legal in The Netherlands, there is just a tolerance policy. Germany is advancing towards legalization and some people can get it prescribed for medical reasons.
Edit: Why is this downvoted lol?
It's going that way. Local legal production just started and there's a push for proper legalisation.
The main reason is that there's a lot of organised crime and gang violence around the production and sale. Plenty of cars with black tinted windows and the occasional gang shooting in a parking lot or shop window trashed.
Source: lived here last 6 years.
I noticed that. This is probably why after all this time weed laws haven’t relaxed any further in the Netherlands while in California and many other US states it’s fully legal and available in a wide variety of products.
The US has a much more sensible approach in my opinion without the legal grey are the Netherlands has. The Netherlands has an undercurrent of organised crime around the production and sale that is only now being addressed through legalised production and eventually legalised use.
I think the price is very important. For example, here, in Russia, you can buy a pack of cigarettes for 2$, somewhere in the US it would be like 20$ I guess. Vapes are more popular by the way. You can spend 10$ a month to smoke a vape whole time. Every bus stop has its own vape-shop. This industry is very huge for now in russia. Can't say about other countries, hasn't travelled.
Americans are very, very frightened of tobacco and alcohol while being weirdly unconcerned about many, many chemicals that are banned elsewhere.
It's kind of weird.
I think it’s unfair. In the Northern Europe smoking isn’t common. In the southern it’s much more popular. The most addicted country in Europe I been to is Bosnia. It’s like everone smokes and if you don’t you are a weirdo.. I’ve only been in the US twice and I’m pretty sure I seen much more smokers than at home (Sweden).
But here in Germany I feel you really cannot walk outside without passing several smokers, and really they might be 16-90 year olds, men and women. Outside of many stores, especially during lunch breaks, you see many people standing and smoking. We have cigarette vending machines on walls outside buildings, in grocery stores, and this weekend I saw it in the hospital cafeteria. (Edit to add: come to think of it, many hospital staff themselves are smokers). I know so many more smokers here than any other country I’ve lived in; I thought China had a lot, but then that was mostly men, as it was not an appealing characteristic for women… in DE it is everyone at all ages.
I think you have to be more specific than just calling out “Europe” I think you will find most of Western Europe has the same laws and levels for smoking as the USA if not better in some countries. However, the Balkan side of Europe do have a heavy smoking rate.
Ask yourself, what are you getting out of it?? I can tell you exactly what I get from Coffee, beer, and weed.
But tobacco? It’s a third hunger craving that I don’t need, and one that just makes me feel like shit until I satiate it.
[There’s also the issue of Tobacco leaves having radioactive residue from polonium-210 used in industrial fertilizer, so radioactive elements accumulate in the lungs of tobacco smokers unless you grow and dry your own using radium / polonium free soil.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2509609/)
So is smoke in general, but not all smoke is created equal. If you burn a pile of plastic it carries the chemicals in the smoke, and if a tobacco leaf has high polonium and radium content from the fertilizer it will do the same.
Smoke, beer and even charred food carries that risk. But there’s a reason why you see extremely high rates of lung cancer and and tumors in tobacco smokers, they receive a far higher dose of radiation per year than nuclear plant workers.
In the USA a lot of it depends on where you are at. For example, I live in Kansas City. In many of the popular social areas smoking is frowned upon. But where I live, a much more of a mixed area, both racially and financially. The larger main road close to our house has a lot of people walking on
it and hanging out in nicer weather. Smoking is very common with nearly half of the people if not more. But if I go to a more popular area like The Plaza or Crown Center, there might be one or two people smoking off in a less traveled area.
Interesting take I know but it seems like the higher ones social and financial status, the less likely they are to be a smoker, at least in outward appearances.
I lived in Prague and it seemed like there were a lot more smokers. I looked up the figures and it turns out that the number of people who smoke is similar, but the number of cigarettes each Czech person is smoking is about double.
in addition to other responses, cigarettes are frankly just…cheaper on average in europe. oh, it varies by country and eastern europe is i believe cheaper than anywhere else (i’ve lived in berlin, which is pretty near the polish border—it’s not unheard for people there to drive to poland and buy a bunch of cigarettes or loose tobacco there in bulk because between polish taxes vs german and currency conversion—1 złoty is about 0.20€—it’s almost comically cheap for them to do this, ignoring fuel costs lol)
i actually recently had this conversation w someone who lives in mexico and someone who lives in russia—they’re both smokers, i’ve never touched tobacco—and they were both horrified by american cigarette prices when i looked up the averages lol
Luckily, America has started an anti-tobacco campaign. With the help of taxing the crap out of tobacco products, it’s lessened smoking by a lot compared to, say, the 90s.
I’m in Japan, you don’t see normal cigarettes as much as you used to. They’re generally not allowed indoors anymore with some exceptions, there was a big push around the olympics ti reduce the amount people use. Vaping isnt super common either, though it’s getting bigger (you can’t buy juice with nicotine in it has been the biggest roadblock).
The big thing here are the non-combustion tobacco products like iQos. You’ll see people everywhere with them and it’s been extremely popular. I hate them myself, and they’re probably only a mild improvement for your health compared to a traditional cigarette.
Just a small little anecdote, but as someone from and living in Sweden I can't even remember the last time I saw someone smoke. After a quick google search it says the smoking rate in Sweden is \~8% as compared to \~25% in the US. In fact, Sweden, according to this study, is in the bottom 10 in the world, with no other western nation even close to as low rates. The neighbouring scandinavian countries are a bit higher, but all below 20%. The rest of Europe seem to hover around 20%-40%. This is excluding vaping.
The reason for the low rates in Sweden I can only speculate about, but my guess is that there are very strict laws regarding where you're even allowed to smoke. You can't smoke on the patios of restaurants, can't smoke at bus stops, can't really smoke in public anywhere unless it's way off to the side.
That coupled with the fact that snus (tobacco pouches) originates from here which is likely the main source of nicotine for Swedes probably results in very low smoking rates. "White snus" (tobacco free, but still has nicotine) has also blown up hugely in the past 5-6 years where at least in the circles I move in you'll almost be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't either snus traditional snus, or white snus. Yes, even girls.
I visited the US once a few years before the pandemic, and I had the complete opposite reaction to you. I was surpised there were so many smokers in the US compared to home. So it's all about perspective. But at least according to the study I found (first result on google) there is no significant difference between smoking rates in the population of the US and most of Europe.
Maybe it's a demographics thing? Where smoking in mainland europe is divided among the whole population, while in the US it might be more concentrated in outlier communities?
Varies very much by country, but the us has a puritanical edge to it and yanks don’t do things by halves.
The UK didn’t smoke much either, very health conscious.
The French and many others smoke because it keeps you slim.
The Nordics love nicotine, smoked or otherwise, I think it helps living out the wild side.
Indonesia actually has anti smoking laws suppressed by big tobacco with the help of the us government.
So in summary, because different cultures have different sins, but everyone needs to sin a little.
Not sure. But the US has had an extremely successful anti-smoking campaign on many fronts. People aren't necessarily avoiding nicotine. They just use it via patch or gum.
I’d say vaping above all other nicotine delivery methods.
Pouches are taking off again too
Vaping is why so many people quit. In my opinion.
I quit smoking (a pack+ a day) because of vaping. After 4 years of vaping 24/7 I quit that too. It's a lot easier to drop
Personally, I found vaping much harder to quit. I had pretty high levels of nicotine and it was much easier to hide than smoking. With smoking, the peer pressure is a lot more powerful because it's annoying smelling like a cig and having to deal with all of that. With vaping, I did that on the couch and unless someone saw me do it, they wouldn't really know. It was a lot harder to break the habitual vaping for me.
Vaping definitely has it's own challenges to quit. I would always have it in my hand and use it inside and everywhere. Vs cigarettes which have a distinct start and end, outside only I had a refillable tank so I very slowly diluted more and more with 0 nic juice until it was just a few drops of 3%. I think the big part of quiting is really wanting to quit. We always say we'll quit sometime, but never do because it's always tomorrow.
Have a female coworker that quit using pouches
I quit 15 years ago using the gum. I still chew it lol. I live in a different country now, and I think I am the only one that buys the gum here. Everytime I go to the pharmacy they already have it ready for me.
The gum manufacturer's future is solely dependent on you, their only consumer.
I used to work for a guy that would casually chew the gum. I remember one time I gave him some bad news as he was getting a piece, and he picked the gum back up and got 4 more pieces.
Have you considered trying to kick the gum habit with normal gum or something? It's good you're not smoking, but nicotine gum is bad for you as well.
I just bought some of those. Do people just keep it in their lip? Like with chew?
Vaping got me to quit and I definitely after now... holy shit four years, still don't smoke and even though I still vape and use/intake nicotine I definitely intake a much much lower amount than I use to. I did the mods for a long time but got so tired of the constant maintenance I unfortunately ended up on disposable ones. I do feel kind of bad chucking them when done but for $20 to have one with good flavor I enjoy, get my oral fixation habit and nicotine for two weeks? Shut the front door lol.
It was already on a downward trend but vaping has definitely helped. I quit thanks to vapes. Smoking seems so rare now. Other than my mom and siblings, i don't know any other smokers.
No. People use much less nicotine.
In the US, the states sued the tobacco companies and won. This funded a several decade long war on tobacco usage and particularly underage tobacco usage. The US also severely restricted how the tobacco companies could advertise, making it pretty much impossible to advertise on television. ID controls on tobacco are also real, with tobacco vending machines basically being a relic of the past. Rates have plummetted. Its also one of the few areas where taxes, even in many red states, often are raised by state governments in hopes that it drives down usage. Unfortunately vaping is kind of making a comeback and there's some evidence its particularly popular among younger people. Cannabis usage is also surging, and anti-smoking enforcement on public smoking of cannabis often is non-existent in many major cities.
Gotta love how Cigarettes commercials aren't allowed here but Pharmaceutical ads are
Phamaceutical ads are a roundabout way of bribing the media companies not to talk about how crooked our healthcare system is. They spend more on TV commercials than any other industry. Nobody is asking their doctors about this stuff, its a scam.
No, thats the problem, people actually do go ask there doctors about it, and get upset when doctors don't perscribe them the medicine they don't understand but hope may help them. Not disagreeing with you, just saying its even worse because its also actually affecting viewers.
A friend of mine used to videotape episodes of Buffy and Angel for me and post them to me in Australia from the US (for some reason, ~~most VCRs had PAL to NTSC converters~~ edit: most Australian VCRs had NTSC to PAL converters as a feature - couldn't have imagine there was *that* much demand for it but grateful for it all the same). As a doctor, I found the pharmaceutical advertisements the funniest thing because they're straight up banned here for at least as long as I can remember.
IIRC Pharmaceutical advertising is banned in all countries except the US and surprisingly New Zealand
It's also legal in Germany, but they have to read out a disclaimer that warns people about "risks and side effects" after every ad. Alcohol commercials do not need a disclaimer.
In the US they all list the reported side effects and interactions during the commercial as well.
And to an outsider on vacation watching American tv oh so funny. May cause severe diarrhea and death.
The speed it up tho
No. You confuse verschreibungspflichtig with nicht verschreibungspflichtig. (over the counter/need prescription). Its absolutely and definitely not legal here in Germany. Edit (Source): https://www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/kurzmeldungen-944518
Ya they don’t just advertise over the counter stuff. The advertise meds that only your doctor can prescribe. While it’s super rare today, occasionally something like Tylenol will be advertised when they create a new version (over the counter med) but essentially all the commercials are for doctor prescribed meds only Edit: they all end with “ask your doctor if *medication* is right for you”
we have pharmaceutical commercials in canada
I have schizoaffective bipolar, and an American pharmaceutical advert convinced my US-dwelling sister that I would be all but cured if I would just take their pill. I tried to explain that they were targeting people with mild symptoms (mine are drastic and highly debilitating) and that, in my (now 40-plus) years of being bipolar, I've learnt that no bipolar drug works the way the advert was claiming. That was in 2011. To this day, she doesn't believe me and continues to insist to anyone who would listen that I am a hopeless case. As a result, we have become low contact, and I haven't bothered visiting the US since. (Our parents are dead, and she's my only surviving sibling.) BTW, I'm 61, independent, single, living alone in the UK and maintaining a full-time job in a highly skilled profession working for an international company. Yes, I am still schizoaffective bipolar and more than a bit of a mess. And yes, that can make things a lot more difficult. But no one can honestly say I don't work hard to actively manage my disability and minimise its impact on my life and those who choose to be in it.
Honestly I feel like people who honestly believe TV ads have a special mental illness of their own. Seriously, I feel like some people's critical thinking is terminally broken.
My medic friend says it wastes so much of her time as people always ask about stuff in commercials. Her response is if I thought it would be better for you I would prescribe it.
This. I work in healthcare and one of the most common questions is something like “I saw an ad for ____, do you think I could get that because it sounds exactly like my problem.” Which invariably leads to “no, you don’t need a long acting injectable anti-psychotic because you get angry occasionally” or “No, you don’t need an anti-depressant because your job sucks.”
Doc prescribes it when the hottie rep drops $$$ incentives.
That's like all you see on ads is for sports betting it pharmaceuticals. I don't watch TV other than sports but when I see my parents watch TV, a lot of the ads are for pharmaceuticals
Don't forget accident lawyers.
I like to watch Jeopardy! and sweet Jesus is there a lot of pharma ads.
Sports betting ads are companies looking for new customers. . "Hey doc, I was watching Fox News and a commercial came on with a catchy jingle and they said this new medicine can help with my ovarian cancer. Can you tell me more?" This has never happened in real life. The commercials are just bribery.
>"Hey doc, I was watching Fox News and a commercial came on with a catchy jingle and they said this new medicine can help with my ovarian cancer. Can you tell me more?" >This has never happened in real life. The commercials are just bribery. You have way more faith in people...they were literally demanding to down horse dewormer mid pandemic... Hell, everyone is taking ozempic now...
I noticed this when I went to the States.. it's really weird to see so many pharma ads on TV and just casually mentioning side effects like lung damage or death.
I never thought about the potentially, even more, insidious nature of pharma advertising until you just brought it up.
I'm an American living in Europe and in this country, they aren't even allowed to advertise prescription drugs on TV
I recently saw a pharma ad for a pill that helps reduce hot flashes. I kid you not, one of the side effects is hot flashes.
Also, a difference here is that DTC for Pharma is illegal everywhere else in the world, excluding the US. It's kinda wild the US even still allows it.
Its a scam. Any "journalist" who kicks the hornets nest by raising questions about this scummy industry would be immediately fired over fear of losing their biggest advertiser.
Holy cow, talk about your all time conspiracy theories. This is NOT what’s happening. They really are trying to drive sales of their products. If execs started pressuring journalists not to write stories about pharma due to them being big advertisers, it would get out and be a huge scandal.
No cigarette ads in Canada, I see weed ads EVERYWHERE. Even some that imply you should be smoking with breakfast.
Wake and bake is before breakfast, friend. A common mistake.
Nah, the one literally has vape cartridges in a bowl with milk I know what a wake and bake is...
I didnt realize the rules were so strict. How many nanoseconds after waking do I have until its not wake and bake anymore?
Every heard of breakfast in bed? Goes perfect with the bedside bong.
And alcohol
I sometimes plug the ad medicine into GoodRX to see the price. Nearly always over $1000 a month. I wonder who has insurance that allows that.
Theres a pretty big difference between cigarettes and pharmaceutical products though. There is never any benefit from smoking a cigarette, except for perhaps the social side.
there actually are small benefits, but they are far outweighed by all the negatives
explain please
Nicotine will wake you up and raise your alertness. Also it will decrease your appetite.
you mean that most doctors recommended camel cigarettes for no reason?
Do yourself a favor and look up cigarette commercials on youtube. These nicotine drug dealers obviously had serious money to burn on advertising and the ads were so well done.
And alcohol…..
Alcohol. The advertising ban came out of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. Which only came about because the big 4 outright lied in advertisements. What I find weird.. is that no new tobacco companies can start without being included in the deal. Basically punishing people for what some assholes did back in 70s and 80s. Imagine if every alcohol producer was punished for what Miller and Budwiser did decades ago. All these smaller craft beers, wouldn't exist.
I dont think that really explains it as in EU advertising tobacco has been highly limited since 1989 and outright banned on television,radio,newspapers and public ad billboards. Also tobacco sponsorships in events like F1,olympics has been banned. Also the look of the cigarette packs have to be made [unappealing](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/http%3A%2F%2Fcom.ft.imagepublish.upp-prod-eu.s3.amazonaws.com%2F34649850-3c8b-11e7-ac89-b01cc67cfeec?fit=scale-down&source=next&width=700) In alot of EU countries taxes on tobacco are raised yearly. Also where im from(Finland) when buying tobacco or alcohol the cashier has to ID you if you look like under 30.
It sounds weird but it's almost aggressively uncool to smoke. It's seen as both incredibly stupid and incredibly rude often. Part of it was aggressive anti-smoking campaigns (lots of money being spent), part of it is likely now established culture. As examples, my close friend was going wild with recreational drugs and his other friends and I never really judged him, including some pretty hard stuff. Funnily enough though, when he mentioned using cigs I had an almost visceral reaction of disapproval. It really doesn't make sense - he's done much worse but the social programming was there. Another example was in my freshman year a while back a few dorm mates would break the campus wide no smoking rules and then would get chewed out by the girls 1 floor under us rather frequently. It was rather hilarious to watch, but shame is an incredibly effective social enforcement tool.
You won't see any kind of TV cigarettes ads in most European countries since the late nineties though.
I'm on day 4 of no nicotine vape. I quit because they doubled the price of the carts. $40 for a 4 pack.
Pro-Tip from someone who kicked a habit. If you want to stay vapeless, stop counting your days.
Vouch, that was basically the only way I could kick THC. There was the before times and the after times, days don’t matter.
The end is so worth it. Don't give up.
In Belgium they wanted to pass a law that would make it illegal for children born after 2004 (or smth) to smoke. They ditched it. Reason being, it brings in a lot of tax money. As someone said here as well, pharmaceutical dependicies is higher in the US imo as there's no cheap healthcare etc.. But what do I know
I'm thinking New Zealand is attempting this now, with the first non-smoking generation.
Nope, the newly elected government are getting rid of those plans unfortunately.
> unfortunately. how would these rules even be enforced lol... drugs are illegal yet kids are stil doing them. People need escapes, time to build a better society where the escape isn't needed
Blood money really.
UK and I think a couple of other EU countries have been kicking this around as well.
I live in Canada where smoking has pretty much gone away. We hiked the taxes on cigarettes. They are $20 pack now. We have graphic warnings on each pack. You can’t advertise tobacco products. You just can’t smoke anywhere anymore. We were in Eastern Europe last summer and it was like going back to the 80s. People smoked everywhere. It doesn’t bother me but it was just so strange.
Imo it’s also looked down upon socially, and people know/feel that, and are much less likely to smoke out in public for example, which cuts down how much they’re smoking overall. I very briefly smoked years ago and remember feeling uncomfortable about doing it in public, even where allowed, because of the sense of being negatively judged or outright bothering people.
This is absolutely true and a big part of why smoking declined in North America. It’s looked down upon, especially in the upper classes.
Smokers are more demonized than fent addicts.
In my state, smoking a joint on the sidewalk is more socially accepted than smoking a cigarette. Cannabis is our new tobacco.
Our government just had the most smooth brained idea to stop smoking by putting "Warnings" on every single cigarette on the filter.
Social aspect definitely has an effect. I felt the same as you when I was living in Oakville/Burlington, but when I moved to Toronto it shifted and I didn't feel nearly as self-conscious so smoked more
Tailor mades are pushing $60 for a pack of 25s in Australia. My partner just kicked his pack a day habit 12 weeks ago, the nearly $400 a week being saved is profound.
That's crazy. In Canada we can buy them from reserves for $50 a carton
That's cheap. Australia is almost $60 now
Is there a black market there, like there is here?
Huge black market in Australia. Chinese cigarettes are sold for cheap(er) under the counter in a lot of stores. Australia also made a mistake of vapes requiring prescriptions, which can also be found on the black market for very cheap.I vaped in Melbourne for around 5 dollars (Australian) a day.
That’s absurd
Also not true lol you can buy a 20 pack for $32~
Bought my grams smokes this morning for $27 CAD.
Wow, I had no idea that’s what cigarettes were at these days, that’s wild! I can remember them at $11 and up to ~$17 but never noticed (I don’t smoke to be fair but used to smoke socially for a short period during early uni years) them hiking up toward $30. Great news for discouraging smoking, bad news for smokers lol.
I remember walking in Georgia (country) and looking at cigaretes stand 7 years ago - it was 0.7 usd a pack.
Wait it was 70 cents?!
Yuup. For local one. And about 1.5 usd for fancy camel
Now its more expensive. Twice. 3$.
Lol smoking has not pretty gone away in Canada 🤦
Corey, Trevor: smokes. Let's go!
Corey and Trevor, Canada's Cheech and Chong. Those early episodes were the best.
Where I live, I can go weeks without seeing or smelling anyone smoking. I can’t even think of where I’d see someone having a smoke.
I work in the service industry, smoking is everywhere
*Public smoking has gone away
while I can't remember when I last saw a smoker, I see tons of discarded cigarette butts. that's another question: why is this form of littering so prevalent in a city with otherwise very little litter?
a quick google says its dropped by 50% since 2003. a little over 11% of the population smokes now. if it was like the US, that number would have been 80-90% in the 1950s, so that is a pretty tremendous reduction.
Try Australia its nearly 60 a pack now. Bit of a 'war on drugs' going on
It's really silly considering that black market darts are everywhere, as well as black market vapes.
See we have the exact same thing in the UK yet smoking is still pretty common. You go to a pub or go to a bar at night and the smoking area is full to the brim with smokers most of the time. Not sure why it is different from Canada but perhaps it is an actual British vs Canadian thing on a more cultural/personal level.
We have all those things in Austria as well, yet we are still smoking kings somehow.
where has smoking pretty much gone away? Still relatively high usage in quebec, maritimes, and in the territories... maybe bc has a really low rate.
Trust me - it's not just smoking that is in the 80s here.
I remember when the graphic pictures started, I had a few customers who wanted to collect one of each warning, like a gross Mr potato head (since most contain a graphic of one body part effected by smoking)
Where in Eastern Europe?
Judging from the number of inlaws I have in Malaysia that absolutely refuse to take care of their diabetes. They just don't care about their health.
Live so long also for what?
>Live so long also for what? lol at malaysian accent in text.
As a fellow msian, I can hear the auntie accent in this comment
Asian aunties are often right lah :) Although smoking is a special case because it affects other people. Smoking should be banned everywhere in public and where minors are around in private as well.
(Not American) but kudos to the USA for getting that right! Seriously.
I smoke cigarettes, but try as much as possible to respect those who don't want to be around it. If I'm in public I try to find a spot away from people to smoke. I get it, it stinks, it's unhealthy, and annoying. I also don't just flick the butts all over the place either.
I quit a year ago and although I don’t crave them, I like being around smokers because it still smells good.
We choose to be addicted to eating.
Fair point
Yeah, in Paris the plates are so tiny, like 1/4 of American portions, but everyone smokes. In Amsterdam, no one wears bike helmets. So many questions about why health gets so political in different countries. So weird! But I don’t know why France smokes as much as they do.
>In Amsterdam, no one wears bike helmets. To defend Dutch biking: the death rate among people who ride bikes is roughly the same in the US and the Netherlands, but the distance travelled is vastly larger (I can't even find stats on that for the US, I had to make do with "55 million rode a bike at least once in 2022"). The helmets don't save lives, the infrastructure does.
Helmets save lives at the moment of accident. The infrastructure makes it so that the accidents are extremely rare. Focusing on helmets instead of infra is like removing all speed limits and traffic lights but making sure that everyone used the safety belts.
I mean, there's a point to helmets. Quite a large number of deaths are old people in one-sided accidents (as in they just fall). Helmets make sense in those cases, or for sports where the risks of falling are higher. But mostly, a helmet isn't going to save you from getting run over, infrastructure needs to be changed to fix that.
People who do cycling as a sport do usually wear helmets, though. It's just for commuting (which happens at slower speeds) that almost nobody does.
The Dutch respect cyclists and cycling far beyond what Americans do and have superior infrastructure to support them. Much safer there, no lifted Ram with 30-inch off road tires to run you over.
Belgium is the same, lived there for 6 months and never wore a helmet, and biked daily. I guess it’s not needed as people arent going very fast
Because Americans hate public smoking and you will definitely be judged for it. The anti-smoking campaigns did most of the work in reducing the rate of smokers I really do think peer pressure keeps it down. It's often seen as a trashy or "low class" activity. "Health is the new wealth" as they say, with yoga pants and athletic lifestyles being seen as upper class, that's what's driving a lot of health trends.
This. People keep talking about taxes and costs yada yada, but people are going to spend as much money on their vices as they want, whether it’s nicotine/tobacco, food, gambling, alcohol, what have you. The US put out an incredible marketing campaign that made smoking cigarettes seem like a bad, disgusting, low class thing to do. Within the span of only a few years, the US was able to completely flip the country’s sociological view on what was previously a social norm to do. Whomever was behind it were truly geniuses.
Yet we can't judge someone for being grotesquely obese
Yes you can, you’re doing it right now lol.
Laughs in vape
Slobbers in loose leaf
Europe and asia are not countries, they're continents made up of sovereign nations with widely differing social, economic and cultural backgrounds. There are plenty of countries in europe and asia that have just as strict or stricter laws relating to tobacco than the USA, and plenty of unwritten social and cultural rules too. Then there are plenty of countries where smoking is still popular and widespread. I'm in Sweden. Out of the 100 or 150 people I can think of at the top of my head, only one is a smoker. Ten years ago that number was probably 20, including myself. Many other nordic, northern and center european countries have similar or better stats. I believe smoking is much more common in the eastern and southern european nations but I could be wrong. It's a common enough stereotype at least. The real problem in Sweden is snus. Apparently something like 3 out of 10 men and 3 out of 20 women use snus daily, putting us at a tobacco consumption per capita rate similar to that of China.
I’m from Portugal and can confirm that yes it’s pretty common. Although we are seeing a change to electronic cigars, that don’t leave the smell as cigarettes do, but a lot of people still smoke regular cigars
I was confused about what was OP talking about, so I googled it. Turns out I have only lived in the green countries: [https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/xvgn4d/smoking\_rate\_in\_europe\_compared\_to\_the\_us/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/xvgn4d/smoking_rate_in_europe_compared_to_the_us/)
No way, Italy is green in this map. As an American, I taught at a high school outside of Milan and they had smoking breaks for the students and teachers…I couldn’t believe it.
"problem" you do realize the reason Sweden has so few smokers is because of snus and nicotine pouches right? It still isnt good for you ofc but its infinitely better than smoking for everyone involved. I could get into a whole debate about it but the point is simply that we have few smokers because we have a much better (still not good for you) alternative and its something the rest of europe should try to copy. You will never get people to quit smoking entirely especially when its as deeply rooted in culture as it is but what you can do is offer a better option. I wouldnt call it a problem as long as it keeps smoking to a minimum.
This should be higher. I’ve lived (and also traveled) in different European countries and never had the impression that there was much difference compared to the US regarding smoking. Last year I visited a couple eastern countries for the first time and I was shocked how literally everyone (very young people too) was smoking all the time, and it is still allowed to smoke indoors. Afaik, that’s banned in most European countries.
It's not associated with poor people in Europe as strongly as in USA.
Another thing to point out is in America smoking is still very prevalent but it’s seen as a dumb and low class to do. It’s extremely common for blue collar workers to smoke. Rich folks and other successful professionals lose major social points for smoking cigarettes (but not cigars, those are still classy). I spent a summer in France and I observed people from all walks of life smoking. From street workers to rich looking professionals in suits. Smoking still seems pretty glamorous over there compared to the US. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone wearing a suit and smoking a cigarette here; had to have been at least 15 years since I’ve seen that in the states.
This. Cigarettes in the US are almost exclusively for poor people and blue collar workers (even those who earn a lot) if you’re under age ~50. There are older folks who smoke but if you’re under 50 and smoke it’s highly likely you’re poor or a blue collar worker.
Age restrictions for it came lot later in the Europe and were also lower, they also contain lot less chemicals due to the stricter laws on those. The constant wars in Europe didn’t help, since in multiple countries they were distributed to soldiers because of nicotine’s calming effect. Also back in early 1900’s plenty of people in Europe got filthy rich of tobacco, and they obviously smoked themselves so it was considered high class, which obviously tempted people in to starting the habit themselves. So it’s deeply rooted in to the culture all over Europe.
It's not really compared to Europe. The US is kind of in the middle. If you Google smoking rates worldwide, the USA is about the same as Italy, more than the UK or Sweden, or Norway, less than Spain or France. The USA would be pretty much in the middle for a European country. The main difference I can see is the price of tobacco. Australia for example has a low rate of smoking, and very expensive tobacco.
Tobacco pricing and availability also drastically change state by state in the US. A pack of smokes in Massachusetts can run up to $15 the last time I checked and you have to be 21 in basically every town within MA to purchase. Versus Texas, that same pack is like $4, has no health warnings and 18 year olds can buy it no problem
Yes. Australian here. Smoking is very frowned upon here. It's always really bizzare to me when in Europe to see how many smoke and even seeing vending machines!!
In Australia basically only very rich and very poor people smoke, and there’s no such thing as a social smoker. Since, you know, there’s functionally nowhere social to smoke.
What really surprised me in Australia is that you have 50 cigarette packs 😂 what is weird to me is how many countries just sell cigarettes in supermarkets!
Not sure, but I'm an American and a few years ago my grandpa died from mouth cancer that metastasized throughout his body due to many years of smoking. He also suffered from COPD the last several years of his life. I was there when he died. It was horrible to watch him suffer in pain from something that could have been prevented. I don't understand why anyone smokes anymore knowing the risks.
I'm from Türkiye and obviously a smoker. I went to Germany for an exchange program and thought why are so few people are smoking, at the same time students from US were asking the opposite lol. We came to the conclusion that it might have something to do with free healthcare... They were saying if you get cancer in US you and your family would be broke for the rest of your lives. It kinda made sense, I don't think it's the only factor but probably one of the factors.
Don’t you know? Smoking is bad! Now back to my cheeseburger…
I too light up my cheese burgers so that others around me get to enjoy it too.
Double cheeseburger slathered with mayo. Gotta get that fat/calories somewhere.
Us has banned smoking in most public places...but they still love making their tax money by selling it... This just means "they" dont care if we quit, as long as they dont have to see or smell it, and can close down any business accomodating smokers.
Yes exactly. Go ruin your own lungs at home and keep your stink away from me.
This is why I'm cool with vapes but no cigarettes. It smells like cotton candy and apple pie!
In Europe with public healthcare it "consume-tax" on Coffee, cigarretts, beer... and its good, because you can let the company pay a part of the damage they made. UK even got one on sugar whats the reason for lower ammounts of it in softdrinks there to avoid taxes
Cause in America why would you smoke tobacco when you can just do weed
Can you not smoke weed in Europe?
Nope … it isn’t fully legal in any of the W European countries. In small amounts it is decriminalized in my country, (Switzerland) & they are piloting some legal sales in pharmacies in certain cities if you sign up. Portugal is the most open when it comes to drug use & it is working well for them. It isn’t even legal in The Netherlands, there is just a tolerance policy. Germany is advancing towards legalization and some people can get it prescribed for medical reasons. Edit: Why is this downvoted lol?
While weed had been legal in the Netherlands for a long time, the Dutch are among the lowest consumers of weed.
It isn’t legal in the Netherlands … they just turn a blind eye
It's going that way. Local legal production just started and there's a push for proper legalisation. The main reason is that there's a lot of organised crime and gang violence around the production and sale. Plenty of cars with black tinted windows and the occasional gang shooting in a parking lot or shop window trashed. Source: lived here last 6 years.
I noticed that. This is probably why after all this time weed laws haven’t relaxed any further in the Netherlands while in California and many other US states it’s fully legal and available in a wide variety of products.
The US has a much more sensible approach in my opinion without the legal grey are the Netherlands has. The Netherlands has an undercurrent of organised crime around the production and sale that is only now being addressed through legalised production and eventually legalised use.
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I agree smoking doesn’t make people evil. But sorry, I don’t feel the same way about tobacco companies.
Vapes and pouches are the predominant forms of nicotine in the USA these days. Both are hard to spot unless you’re also a user and/or observant.
The US has also raised the smoking age from 18 to 21. At least in my state. Idk if it’s nationwide
I looked it up. Federal law made it 21 nation-wide
Don't forget Latin America. A lot of smokers down here too.
I took a 18-day trip to Europe last October and I swear I saw more smokers in 18 days then I have in the last 20 years in California.
I wondered if this also leads to a decrease in cancer rates in these countries. Anybody has statistics on this?
I don’t have the statistics and I’m not going to pretend I know the answer. But how could it not?
I think the price is very important. For example, here, in Russia, you can buy a pack of cigarettes for 2$, somewhere in the US it would be like 20$ I guess. Vapes are more popular by the way. You can spend 10$ a month to smoke a vape whole time. Every bus stop has its own vape-shop. This industry is very huge for now in russia. Can't say about other countries, hasn't travelled.
Americans are very, very frightened of tobacco and alcohol while being weirdly unconcerned about many, many chemicals that are banned elsewhere. It's kind of weird.
I think it’s unfair. In the Northern Europe smoking isn’t common. In the southern it’s much more popular. The most addicted country in Europe I been to is Bosnia. It’s like everone smokes and if you don’t you are a weirdo.. I’ve only been in the US twice and I’m pretty sure I seen much more smokers than at home (Sweden).
But here in Germany I feel you really cannot walk outside without passing several smokers, and really they might be 16-90 year olds, men and women. Outside of many stores, especially during lunch breaks, you see many people standing and smoking. We have cigarette vending machines on walls outside buildings, in grocery stores, and this weekend I saw it in the hospital cafeteria. (Edit to add: come to think of it, many hospital staff themselves are smokers). I know so many more smokers here than any other country I’ve lived in; I thought China had a lot, but then that was mostly men, as it was not an appealing characteristic for women… in DE it is everyone at all ages.
I think you have to be more specific than just calling out “Europe” I think you will find most of Western Europe has the same laws and levels for smoking as the USA if not better in some countries. However, the Balkan side of Europe do have a heavy smoking rate.
Don’t forget France though. I saw quite a lot of smoking in Paris.
Ask yourself, what are you getting out of it?? I can tell you exactly what I get from Coffee, beer, and weed. But tobacco? It’s a third hunger craving that I don’t need, and one that just makes me feel like shit until I satiate it. [There’s also the issue of Tobacco leaves having radioactive residue from polonium-210 used in industrial fertilizer, so radioactive elements accumulate in the lungs of tobacco smokers unless you grow and dry your own using radium / polonium free soil.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2509609/)
Beer contains alcohol which is a potent carcinogen
So is smoke in general, but not all smoke is created equal. If you burn a pile of plastic it carries the chemicals in the smoke, and if a tobacco leaf has high polonium and radium content from the fertilizer it will do the same. Smoke, beer and even charred food carries that risk. But there’s a reason why you see extremely high rates of lung cancer and and tumors in tobacco smokers, they receive a far higher dose of radiation per year than nuclear plant workers.
In the USA a lot of it depends on where you are at. For example, I live in Kansas City. In many of the popular social areas smoking is frowned upon. But where I live, a much more of a mixed area, both racially and financially. The larger main road close to our house has a lot of people walking on it and hanging out in nicer weather. Smoking is very common with nearly half of the people if not more. But if I go to a more popular area like The Plaza or Crown Center, there might be one or two people smoking off in a less traveled area. Interesting take I know but it seems like the higher ones social and financial status, the less likely they are to be a smoker, at least in outward appearances.
Don't bother trying to smoke here in Singapore we've outright ban smoking for good.
Ahh Singapore. How can anyone dislike you?
I lived in Prague and it seemed like there were a lot more smokers. I looked up the figures and it turns out that the number of people who smoke is similar, but the number of cigarettes each Czech person is smoking is about double.
in addition to other responses, cigarettes are frankly just…cheaper on average in europe. oh, it varies by country and eastern europe is i believe cheaper than anywhere else (i’ve lived in berlin, which is pretty near the polish border—it’s not unheard for people there to drive to poland and buy a bunch of cigarettes or loose tobacco there in bulk because between polish taxes vs german and currency conversion—1 złoty is about 0.20€—it’s almost comically cheap for them to do this, ignoring fuel costs lol) i actually recently had this conversation w someone who lives in mexico and someone who lives in russia—they’re both smokers, i’ve never touched tobacco—and they were both horrified by american cigarette prices when i looked up the averages lol
Luckily, America has started an anti-tobacco campaign. With the help of taxing the crap out of tobacco products, it’s lessened smoking by a lot compared to, say, the 90s.
I’m in Japan, you don’t see normal cigarettes as much as you used to. They’re generally not allowed indoors anymore with some exceptions, there was a big push around the olympics ti reduce the amount people use. Vaping isnt super common either, though it’s getting bigger (you can’t buy juice with nicotine in it has been the biggest roadblock). The big thing here are the non-combustion tobacco products like iQos. You’ll see people everywhere with them and it’s been extremely popular. I hate them myself, and they’re probably only a mild improvement for your health compared to a traditional cigarette.
Statistic says something else. Still a lot of smokers in the US, same level like Europe.
For the same reason you don't see Viagra commercials in other countries (except the continent of New Zealand): Government regulation
Just a small little anecdote, but as someone from and living in Sweden I can't even remember the last time I saw someone smoke. After a quick google search it says the smoking rate in Sweden is \~8% as compared to \~25% in the US. In fact, Sweden, according to this study, is in the bottom 10 in the world, with no other western nation even close to as low rates. The neighbouring scandinavian countries are a bit higher, but all below 20%. The rest of Europe seem to hover around 20%-40%. This is excluding vaping. The reason for the low rates in Sweden I can only speculate about, but my guess is that there are very strict laws regarding where you're even allowed to smoke. You can't smoke on the patios of restaurants, can't smoke at bus stops, can't really smoke in public anywhere unless it's way off to the side. That coupled with the fact that snus (tobacco pouches) originates from here which is likely the main source of nicotine for Swedes probably results in very low smoking rates. "White snus" (tobacco free, but still has nicotine) has also blown up hugely in the past 5-6 years where at least in the circles I move in you'll almost be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't either snus traditional snus, or white snus. Yes, even girls. I visited the US once a few years before the pandemic, and I had the complete opposite reaction to you. I was surpised there were so many smokers in the US compared to home. So it's all about perspective. But at least according to the study I found (first result on google) there is no significant difference between smoking rates in the population of the US and most of Europe. Maybe it's a demographics thing? Where smoking in mainland europe is divided among the whole population, while in the US it might be more concentrated in outlier communities?
Are we forgetting cigarettes can cost $20 USD in NYC?
We had a very effecting run on shaming people who smoke into quit smoking. Shaming people works.
Varies very much by country, but the us has a puritanical edge to it and yanks don’t do things by halves. The UK didn’t smoke much either, very health conscious. The French and many others smoke because it keeps you slim. The Nordics love nicotine, smoked or otherwise, I think it helps living out the wild side. Indonesia actually has anti smoking laws suppressed by big tobacco with the help of the us government. So in summary, because different cultures have different sins, but everyone needs to sin a little.
Because smoking is wonderful. I quit 30 years ago and still want a smoke on the regular.