Smoking Rules

When I was a kid virtually every adult I knew smoked. I'm not sure if this was the circle of adults in my life but I just remember that every room you entered was smoke filled. The ridiculous partitions separating smoking and non-smoking in restaurants and airplanes of course had no meaning as a think curtain doesn't keep smoke away. All the peer pressure got kids hooked while Hollywood kept smoking in vogue which seemed like the perfect storm if you were Big Tobacco.

I am not sure what the numbers are but the amount of smokers in the US have plummeted in the last 20 years and I guess it can be credited to the combination of health-risks, inconvenience of smoking and the public shunning associated with it. But that alone can't describe the real cause of the decrease. See in Korea everybody smokes especially males. The waiter reeks of smoke, the cabby stops for smoke-breaks, the people you meet for work all hang out afterwards outside the building smoking and the outside of the hotel looks like there is an Erasure release party.

So I wonder hat has happened in the US what didn't happened in Korea. The health risks are the same and there is no way Korean's aren't aware of this. The inconvenience of smoking is similar as you can't smoke in restaurants, office building or hotels so even in a country obsessed with appearance the shunning hasn't made a dent.
The big difference is the price of cigarettes, in the US a pack costs $10 and seems to rise by the day as government finds new ways to raise revenue but in Seoul a pack costs about $2. When you ask around this is the major reason people still smoke, it's a habit which doesn't cost more than the DailyNews and a cup of deli coffee. People know the health-risks but Americans know the health-risks to booze and that makes no difference to alcohol sales.
So for the first time I realized what the difference is and it has nothing to do with anything but the dent in the wallet.
Maybe we should start taxing sugary drinks after-all..
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry