smoke, no fire

I am against smoking; I'm generally dubious of any substance that is taken in to the body through smoke.  I'm all for sinus-clearing steams and vapors but I don't take to something that is rolled and lit.  The only kind of smoke I like is the scent that lingers after a campfire has been put out.  One time I didn't wash a shirt for an week after wearing it because it still carried that woody-smoldering scent and I had no desire to lose it quite yet.

I write this rant because yesterday I went outside to enjoy a bit of unexpectedly good weather and breathe some fresh air (having been inside and inhaling the staleness of reused building air) and took in a deep breath of secondhand smoke, which came wafting over from the crowds of smokers who also were taking advantage of the nice weather.  Now, I completely understand unhealthy addictions, and in this day and age people who smoke know that it's unhealthy, it's bad for you, etc.  But after giving it more thought, what really kills me is that smoking disproportionately affects the poor, just as obesity and playing the lottery are habits/lifestyles (some word like that, I have a hard time getting concise words at the moment) that are mostly or more commonly found in people with lower incomes or close to the poverty line.  Taxes on cigarettes are great in that they bring in more revenue at the state but also make them slightly more expensive and give slightly more incentive to stop smoking-- even a pack a week habit is expense, moreso that coffee (okay, depending on your cigarette and coffee).  But then we have a bunch of people who have tight budgets and spend chunks of it on a legal, carcinogenic, habit-forming drug.

I remember feeling confused when a picture was released showing cigarette smoking Patrick Swayze a few months before his death.  He died of pancreatic cancer, and I'm guessing that the reasoning behind this was that the man was going to die soon anyway, seeing as that type of cancer is hard to treat and beat, so why not let the guy have some puffs?  I guess it still bothers me, but I get the logic; I mean, he already had cancer, it wasn't like smoking could significantly debilitate him any more.