If Washington State Initiative 890 gets on the ballot and passes, dance bars would convert into health clubs; (or at least take a step that direction). People like to dance and that is good exercise, but most venues are smoky. "For every one step forward you slide back two" on fitness. Yes, 890 is another law, but imagine bars turning into health clubs. I enjoy dancing in Vancouver, BC, where bars are smoke free. Smoking and sex. Letter I wrote to a local legislator. Good to see the tobacco companies pay for damage caused by smoking. Many legislators want to spend the tobacco settlement money on anti smoking ads; especially targeting teenagers. This might be a good idea, but I fear a lot of that effort will be wasted. Are teenagers really likely to listen to the message? It seems like most of them are in a rebellion stage and they will do the opposite of what community leaders and government tells them to do. I am afraid the vast amount of money spent, so far, in anti smoking ads has not changed teenage behavior much. It seems to work better for adults. Teenagers, and really young adults, don't seem that concerned with long term health issues. They are more concerned with immediate things like their sex appeal. If we really want to reach young people with the message, maybe we need to address their sexual issues. Cigarette ads could have, as one of the warnings, something like "smoking leads to impotency." I heard a urologist, on a talk show, say that most of what the drug Viagra does, to increase sexual arousal, is help circulation to the penis. He said, "just being a non smoker does most of the trick." People seem to be excited about the drug Viagra. Maybe we can kindle excitement about being a nonsmoker, if the concept is thought about in the same light as Viagra. I am afraid government may be too prudish to travel down this effective path. One group of people, that really needs to be reached with an anti smoking message, is gay men. It seems like about 50% of the gay men I meet are smokers; a far higher percentage than the population as a whole. If we really want to reach the people who need to hear the message, lots of anti smoking ads should be in the "gay media" (newspapers such as Seattle Gay News). The porno industry, and porno web sites reach a lot of people who are "at risk" for smoking and poor health. Maybe government should spend some tobacco settlement money in the porno media reaching people with a sexy message about being a non smoker. Non smokers get a better "hard on" for instance. Good circulation can be a magic remedy. I am afraid conservatives would object to government spending a lot of money supporting gay media so the message may never get to the people who really need to hear it. |
