One thing North America has done right is to reduce smoking.
I hate visiting Europe for this one reason.
Eduard Benko. Romania, 2009
According to the World Health Organization, 21.9 percent of Americans smoked tobacco in 2018. In comparison, the average smoking rate for Europe was 28.7 percent.
When you look at the approximate number of cigarettes smoked per person per year, the picture is even more striking. Out of the 20 countries that smoke the most cigarettes, 15 of them are entirely or partially in Europe. The United States is 68th on the list. …
From U.S. surgeon general warnings to campaigns by groups like the American Cancer Society, the messaging has been clear since the 1960s: smoking cigarettes is bad for you. And it’s worked. About 96 percent of Americans believe smoking cigarettes is at least somewhat harmful to your health. …
I spent a few weeks this year near the Berri-UQAM Metro station on Rue Sainte-Catherine, heart of downtown Montreal. There are a LOT of homeless people. It reminds me of a major American city in that way.
One survey (Douglas Mental Health University / 800+ volunteers) counted 3,016 homeless in the city. 10% aboriginal. 10% immigrants. Veterans 6%.
Other guesstimates have been 10 times as high.
I was there during warmer months. During winter these folks need to find someplace heated.
A harsh and boring life, seems to me. They all seem to have cigarettes. Somehow.
Not sure what can be done to reduce the numbers. A guaranteed minimum income experiment — or new kinds of free housing — could be tried.
Leonard Nimoy died of complications from COPD on February 27, 2015, at the age of 83. He’d quit smoking 30 years earlier, but still suffered from the self-inflicted wound of cigarette addiction.
Near the end he wished his story might help reduce the number of COPD cases each year. It’s the third leading cause of death in the United States.
Chile is 2600 miles long and never more than 110 miles wide. From the main north/south highway it’s easy access to fantastic wilderness.
how could Rick not LOVE Chile?
Chile should be a tourist destination as good as New Zealand.
But it’s not. 😦
I’ve spent about 2 months total in Chile traveling most of the 2600 miles. Costs are similar to Canada … but quality of goods and services are poor by comparison.
If you find something of quality – Casa Azul hostel, for example – chances are it’s run by a foreigner. Probably German.
People on the trail are good. But I’m not much impressed with the interactions I have with Chileans in the towns and cities.
A currency exchange guy tried to give me only half my money one time. (I’ve seen scummy practice like this in Italy recently, too.)
The World Health Organisation (2013) says over 40% of Chileans smoke, compared with 27% of Argentines and 17% of people in Brazil, where curbs on smoking began in the late 1990s. Chile’s health minister, Jaime Mañalich, says that treating tobacco victims takes a quarter of the $10 billion public health-care budget.
Chile’s smokers are getting younger. According to the Tobacco Atlas, a study of the industry, nearly 40% of girls aged 13-15 in Santiago, Chile’s capital, smoke cigarettes. That is up from just 20% in 2003, and is the highest rate in the world. …
The population looks unhealthy. Walking the streets reminds me of walking in Mexico. A very high percentage of people are conspicuously overweight. This is new to these nations.
I hate smoking. Yet worldwide smoking rates are not declining. Richer, more educated nations are in decline. But in poor nations (like Nigeria) rates are on the rise.
Khat consumption induces mild euphoria and excitement, similar to that conferred by strong coffee. Individuals become very talkative under the influence of the plant. … Khat can induce manic behaviors and hyperactivity
Khat is so popular in Yemen that its cultivation consumes much of the country’s agricultural resources. It is estimated that 40% of the country’s water supply goes towards irrigating it …
An estimated 10 million people globally use khat on a daily basis …
… Oh yes. You might have noticed that there is not one woman or girl anywhere to be seen. Yet there must be at least one woman secreted away somewhere.
Rick McCharles 