Cillendor , you had me up to the whip his ass part . The problem , as I see it , is that people who have an antiauthoritarian attitude seem to have thrown the baby out with the bath water . Common sense would tell me , Do not ingest anything that is addictive . The perceived rewards of something like smoking tobacco nicotine is a narcotic as well as a deadly poison are offset dramatically by the fact that smoking causes cancer , emphysema , COPD , heart disease , arterial disease , etc . , etc . But I smoked cigarettes for thirteen years before the downside decreased vital capacity , unable to run well , constant cough , etc . became enough of a problem that it outweighed the addiction to nicotine . Before that , I couldn ' t really have quit smoking , because I didn ' t want to quit . It took several tries , but I finally quit . Now if I smell tobacco smoke , it smells offensive to me . But with heroin , or any other hard drug , the downsides are considerable , but the effects of the drug are such that the victim doesn ' t care . Even repeated trips to death ' s door aren ' t enough to deter some heroin users , and eventually they get a dose that ' s too big , and that ' s that . The best way to deal with stuff that is addictive is to NEVER TRY IT TO START WITH . But teenagers never want to hear that . That ' s why tobacco companies aim their advertising at twelveyearold kids .