On the subway train case, I can understand a basis for the jury's decision since the subway operator could have avoided the accident and chose not to. This one, though, is complete BS in my opinion. This "nicotine addition" stuff? Give me a break -- if you keep smoking, it's because you choose to do so. I was a very heavy smoker back in college and law school and quit over 19 years ago. It wasn't easy and I didn't like it, but I did it. So I'm not buying this "he couldn't quit" business. I hope Altria wins this one on appeal.

Jury: Addiction caused smoker’s death - Addictions- msnbc.com

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Reading is Fundamental.

Pretty stupid.

Choose a dangerous behavior and choose the consequences of said behavior.

It's really a simple concept!

I agree. How stupid. My Mom smoked from age 16 to 70 and she quit.

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Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!

If Vegetarians eat Vegetables. Do Humanitarians eat Humans?

'Vegetarian' is an old Native American word for bad hunter.

Sorry but I agree with all above. Here is my mom at 77 years old. She is battling bladder cancer. She also has heart problems. Has been told to quick too many times for me to count. I give up as a person who never ever smoked a cigarette I honestly do not get it.Sadly for my mom she never will. More sad then that, when my son Thomas was born, he has several heart defects. Told her no smoking around the baby at all. She quit cold turkey for 11 years mind you. Of course she went back and when my brother Sonny died, well she went back and now smokes 3 packs a day. I get so upset because she is slowly killing herself with those disgusting cigarettes...Catherine

1966. My mom was 48, in the hospital for a hysterectomy. There was difficulty during the surgery and they had to put her on oxygen and in intensive care. She began to improve and they moved her to a regular room, but kept the oxygen. She went into cardiac arrest, they came running and got her heart started again and were rushing her back to intensive care, still hooked to oxygen and as they wheeled her out the room she was hollering at me to bring her cigarettes and berating the attendants because they would not go back for her cigarettes. If that's not addiction, then I don't know what is.

Everyone is different. Just because you were able to quit, does not mean that the next person can. My mother never could. I lost both of my parents to cigarettes. My mother eventually lived her last 10 years on oxygen and died of emphysema in her 70's. My father died at age 61. He bled to death in my brothers arms from throat cancer. Needless to say, I am not a fan, but I also know that for some, there is no stopping.

addiction is a disease--be it alcohol, drugs, food, shopping or cigarettes.
Now, sometimes the disease can be put into remission. Other times it can't.
Some people have genetic markers which pre-dispose them to be more susceptible to certain disases, with addiction being one of those diseases. That's been proven time and time again in medical journals and scientific studies.

Now, do I think smokers should sue the tobacco companies? NO. That's kind of like suing Smith and Wesson because they made the gun that some nut job killed your loved one with.
But, for all of you who poo-poo nicotine addiction, I think you are sadly mistaken.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

The plaintiff quit repeatedly and kept taking it up again.

I have no sympathy for him.

I'm sorry for your losses. My father died of alcoholism -- literally, that's what his death certificate says. Maybe I should have sued Jim Beam.

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Reading is Fundamental.

My mom quit once or twice as well, but every time she went into some restaurant or bar where there was smoke, that was it. Of course back in the day, you could not even find a non-smoking restaurant very easily. And certainly not a bar. She quit once for almost a year, but how long can you stay sequestered in your house. And of course, both of them started smoking long before the warnings on the labels and while it was still considered cool. And like your father, if the cigarettes had not killed my dad, then it would have been his liver.

The cigarette companies knowingly sold a product that was harmful. They knew it was harmful and addictive and they hid that fact as long as they could and then denied it for some time afterwards. So if they are getting sued, so be it. That man is free to sue, and free to lose his suit or win.

The packs have warned of the dangers for over 45 years now.

I don't buy that the man didn't know perfectly well that cigarettes were harmful from the day he started smoking.

Of course the widow can sue -- I probably know that better than anyone. That doesn't mean I can't take exception to the verdict.

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Reading is Fundamental.

It is pathetic, isn't it?

My thoughts exactly! My father-in-law died of lung cancer at 54. Did he know that smoking was bad for him at that time. . he sure did. BUT he didn't start until he was enlisted in the army in the 1940's and 2 cartons were part of their rations. I say let the tobacco companies pay for their sins. I could start a diet pill company tomorrow that people would absolutely lose weight. BUT if it turns out I'm really just peddaling meth and hiding the truth about it. . .I would absolutely be responsible. I really think the government needs to get out of the tobacco and alcohol business. Either that or go whole hog. . .let Uncle Sam get in the pot and all other illegal drug business. . .tax the hell out of it and blame the users. . .same dif.

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

i quit 11 years ago, had smoked since 6th grade. finished the pack and never bought another.

Couple I'm friends with smoked a really long time and a couple of us tried to explain what they smelled like since they couldnt tell <we're close enough to be able to just come out with things> three years ago they decided to quit and now they can smell what they smelled like and couldnt believe it. The wife told me she's gotten to where she can actually taste food again and that it's really not as bland tasting as what she was thinking.

Maybe they should work on making prisons smoke free, those that do their time and get released wouldnt be wasting money on them and maybe help them in the long run

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