'It's not about French fries, it's about freedom'

[giblets]

Bollocks.

Bigot /sarcasm

[The Mad Monk]

But for many parents and nutritionists, that reasoning doesn't square with reality. In 2013, 16 percent of high school students in Texas were obese, up from 14 percent in 2005. Only Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama reported higher rates. Nationwide, child obesity rates have jumped from 7 percent in 1980 to 18 percent in 2012.

...so Texas is one of the four most obese states, but still manages to fall below the national average? What the hell is going on in the other three???

[Sava]

Bollocks.

So thoughts on the Falklands aren't the only moronic views you hold.

[kentonio]

So thoughts on the Falklands aren't the only moronic views you hold.

I can think of lots of mitigating reasons why someone suffering from obesity may well not be to blame, and there's certainly mental issues involved with people who can find themselves reaching particularly high weights. At the same time however saying its not about choices is bollocks, and gives people a free pass that they largely don't deserve.

If you're feeding your kids high sugar, high fat meals and then they develop problems and end up obese, then that's on you as a parent. **** the idea that its a 'disease' that people just can't help, it's not a disease at its core its a simple equation of calories intaken vs calories burned.

If a parent raises their kids on McD's and Coke, why should they be able to avoid any responsibility for that?

[giblets]

Eating 4000 calories a day is involuntary, like smoking.

[Sava]

If those foods are so bad as to justify blame, they should be banned.

Accepting the idiotic premise, if choice governs all and this is a problem, we are all responsible as a society for not doing something.

[Sava]

Eating 4000 calories a day is involuntary, like smoking.

You are a nitwit. We know this already.

[giblets]

No, just levy a fat tax. Tax obesity the way we tax smoking and should be taxing marijuana.

[Sava]

should be taxing marijuana.

Not that I disagree... but why?

Why should marijuana be taxed above and beyond... Advil? Or Starbucks coffee? Or a can of Coke?

(Assuming you think it should)

[C0ckney]

i think weed should be taxed to provide for healthcare costs associated with it, a reasonable licensing system, education about it, research into its effects and a small addition to the general revenue. of course all this would pale in comparison to the money saved from police/criminal justice budgets.

[giblets]

Not that I disagree... but why?

Why should marijuana be taxed above and beyond... Advil? Or Starbucks coffee? Or a can of Coke?

(Assuming you think it should)

The Daily Mail told me it's harmful

[Aeson]

Eating serrated aluminium can lids is harmful. But no one wants to eat serrated aluminium can lids so much that they would be willing to pay a 300% tax on them. However, cigarette smokers can't stop, and marijuana smokers don't want to stop ... so both groups are easy to extort money out of.

[giblets]

Smokers can stop:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1414293#t=article

Methods

We randomly assigned CVS Caremark employees and their relatives and friends to one of four incentive programs or to usual care for smoking cessation. Two of the incentive programs targeted individuals, and two targeted groups of six participants. One of the individual-oriented programs and one of the group-oriented programs entailed rewards of approximately $800 for smoking cessation; the others entailed refundable deposits of $150 plus $650 in reward payments for successful participants. Usual care included informational resources and free smoking-cessation aids.

Results

Overall, 2538 participants were enrolled. Of those assigned to reward-based programs, 90.0% accepted the assignment, as compared with 13.7% of those assigned to deposit-based programs (P<0.001). In intention-to-treat analyses, rates of sustained abstinence from smoking through 6 months were higher with each of the four incentive programs (range, 9.4 to 16.0%) than with usual care (6.0%) (P<0.05 for all comparisons); the superiority of reward-based programs was sustained through 12 months. Group-oriented and individual-oriented programs were associated with similar 6-month abstinence rates (13.7% and 12.1%, respectively; P=0.29). Reward-based programs were associated with higher abstinence rates than deposit-based programs (15.7% vs. 10.2%, P<0.001). However, in instrumental-variable analyses that accounted for differential acceptance, the rate of abstinence at 6 months was 13.2 percentage points (95% confidence interval, 3.1 to 22.8) higher in the deposit-based programs than in the reward-based programs among the estimated 13.7% of the participants who would accept participation in either type of program.

[Sava]

i think weed should be taxed to provide for healthcare costs associated with it, a reasonable licensing system, education about it, research into its effects and a small addition to the general revenue. of course all this would pale in comparison to the money saved from police/criminal justice budgets.

What healthcare costs? Have a figure?

What is more costly, if you had to guess, sugar or weed?

If it is sugar:

Should neighborhood lemonade stands be taxed and regulated the same or more than marijuana?

[Elok]

1. I work longer hours than I've worked at any job in the private sector.

It was my impression that you weren't trying terribly hard to keep those other jobs.