Current Events > Do you believe that in general tobacco or alcohol harms people more?

(+) Yeah! (+)

which

Nacen posted...

alcohol due to drunk driving

and domestic violence, abuse

Alcohol, but fuck giving up whiskey sauce, so I'm claiming tobacco.

Tobacco due to second hand smoke

Alcohol and it isn't even close

I'd assume...
With occasional/moderate usage, tobacco.
Heavy usage, alcohol because it's probably more likely to negatively affect people around you. Second hand smoke is a real danger, but getting into the possible drunk driving, reckless or abusive behavior towards others, and interference with getting through day to day responsibilities.

I put tobacco. I used to smoke, and that crap is terrible. I still use smokeless tobacco (moist snuff, chewing tobacco) and it's just as terrible. I guess I'm not harming anyone with my spitting (always in a bottle, unless I'm in the woods or something. Never spit on the sidewalk or anything) but it's certainly not healthy for me.

Also an alcoholic, but been sober for a few weeks now. Alcohol affects relationships as well as health. It's crazy how the addiction overtakes you. Of course not everyone that drinks has a problem but drunk driving sadly takes many lives whether someone is an alcoholic or not. But I'd say tobacco kills more people while alcohol can be consumed in moderation and it won't affect anyone if you're consuming responsibly. I guess the same could be said with smoking, if you're by yourself and all that. But that'd be more of an exception.

From chemical damage alone, probably tobacco. From related incidents, definitely alcohol.

Guide posted...

From chemical damage alone, probably tobacco. From related incidents, definitely alcohol.

Yeah this.

Tobacco kills more users directly than alcohol but I imagine the indirect impact of alcohol is greater.

The difference though is that there is actual health benefits to drinking alcohol while there is absolutely zero health benefits to smoking. So even if alcohol can be abused more, it can still be useful in moderation, while such a thing doesn't exist for tobacco.

Didn't "Thank You for Smoking" clear this up?

Guide posted...

From chemical damage alone, probably tobacco. From related incidents, definitely alcohol.

This. And mary jane is right next to....neither of these. It doesn't harm anyone and it's awesome.

Alcohol. It's pretty much baked into western culture at this point unfortunately.

Gamerguymass posted...

The difference though is that there is actual health benefits to drinking alcohol while there is absolutely zero health benefits to smoking. So even if alcohol can be abused more, it can still be useful in moderation, while such a thing doesn't exist for tobacco.

You do realize the majority of those studies that find health benefits from alcohol are funded by companies that sell alcohol, right? Its biased from the get go.

Tobacco causes more damage when looking directly at the substance itself. More carcinogenic, stronger addiction patterns, that sort of thing.

If you expand the issue to external damage (domestic violence, assaults, DUI, so on) then alcohol wins by a massive margin.

55% of domestic abusers were drinking alcohol prior to the event according to World Health Organization estimates.

It's going on a lot more often than you think, even if you think it's happening often.

In absolute numbers, probably alcohol.
As a fraction of people using each, probably tobacco.

Cagey posted...

Didn't "Thank You for Smoking" clear this up?

Did you know Elon musk was an executive producer on that movie?

isnt that random?

Tobacco is a slow killer

Alcohol is a fast killer. And a slow killer. And a medium killer

Alcohol for sure. But we've seen what happens if they try to ban alcohol

NoxObscuras posted...

Alcohol for sure. But we've seen what happens if they try to ban alcohol

They should have prompted weed during prohibition

Tobacco harms the user more, but alcohol harms others.

Though when not used excessively, booze is pretty harmless.

Alcohol

Tobacco you are only hurting yourself mainly. Alcohol abuse can kill others with drunk driving and doing stupid shit. There is no actual cure for cirrhosis other than a liver transplant.

There have been several attempts to get ethanol through lungs, and they've failed.

frozenstar posted...

and domestic violence, abuse

Alcohol doesn't cause domestic abuse. It makes already existing domestic abuse worse but it's not like there's anyone out there who is a model parent until they're drunk and suddenly turn into Casey Anthony.

Alcohol is way worse and it's not even close.

Tobacco, BUT with the important caveat that tobacco primarily harms the user and (especially under modern norms where people smoke outside) fairly little harm to others, whereas alcohol in practice often ends up causing harm to people other than just those who consume it.