Poll: Should smoking be made illegal?

[Eri]

No. If smoking is banned then drinking has to be banned as well.

Drinking doesn't harm your health unless you overdo it. Smoking harms you regardless of amount smoked.

You do know that every drop of alcohol destroys a number of brain cells right? Alcohol is worse than weed man.

No. No it doesn't. And no it isn't.

 

[Sun Flash]

*snip*
Ah, sorry. It's the same word in Swedish, I mistranslated.

Actually, European liberal and American (at least US) liberal are kind of different. European Liberals are Libertarian; freedom of choice ect. Whereas US Liberalism is more left wing socialism that leans towards authoritarianism (I think).

So you didn't so mistranslate, as the word has different connotations on either side of the Atlantic

sorry for sticking my nose in, just thought I'd give my two cents.

OT: Not illegal. I think the dangers of smoking are publicly known enough, I mean, who doesn't know smoking leads to an increased risk of cancer and other respiratory problems? Just leave it as it is. "We've" done all we can to warn people, it's up to them if they want to continue harming themselves and everyone else around them.

As a side note, I feel I should mention that I use this as an argument in the legalisation of marijuana. It doesn't make sense (to me) that smoking, which is infinitely more harmful than weed, is legal when the latter isn't.

 

[Shpongled]

No, because prohibition doesn't work. Making smoking illegal would be the same as making drinking illegal in the 20s, or making marijuana illegal. All you end up with is more crime, and more people clogging up the criminal justice system with petty offenses.

It works both ways. If it was so petty, why would they commit a crime just to do it?

That logic doesn't really work. The weed isn't petty, it's very much enjoyable. It's the criminal offense that's petty.

They happily commit a petty crime because they know the punishment of getting caught is negligible, and the chances of actually getting caught are so minimal that the reward of smoking a nice J at the end of the day is more than worth the small risk.

 

[Chechosaurus]

Certainly not! I thought that it should when I was much younger but now I really don't. Although I am a smoker, I do want to quit and I am intending to do so after my up coming exams. Even so, it is a breach on civil liberties to ban something like smoking. If you did, you'd have to criminalise alcohol and other such substances and you only need to look a prohibition in America during the 1920s to see why that's a bad idea.

I'll admit that it is a drain on the health services but that is why it is taxed so highly. People have a right to do with their body what they will. I do not belong to the government and I am nobody else's property and so I am entitled to do what I like to myself. To even suggest criminalising tobacco is, quite frankly, retarded.

I believe that it should be banned in public places (like it is here in the UK) but that's only because I don't want to subject other people to second hand smoke just because I want to have a cigarette. If someone says that smoking should be illegal because it's bad for you, they are basically saying that McDonalds should be illegal. It's all the same really. Just because it's bad for you, doesn't mean it should be illegal. I never force anyone to breathe my second hand smoke... Unless it's in the car and I'm driving but I always open the window and even then... I am driving them somewhere and thus doing them a favour. Least they can do is let me smoke in my own car. Tell your friend that he is a retarded fascist from me.

 

[Unesh52]

And every time you make a smoker stand out in the rain because they want a cigarette but you don't want them in the same room you're being very inconsiderate to them too (it works both ways, you are not inherantly morally superior because you choose not to smoke, and this is coming from a non-smoker).

If you're sitting in a restaurant and someone whips out a mandolin and just starts wailing on it, singing some old song all out of tune, I think you would be very cross. If you're the assertive type you may even get up and tell the other patron to stop it or leave. Hell, the restaurant owner may insist on it himself. Is it inconsiderate to tell the guy off? Of course not; that sort of action is intrusive and irritating, and therefore he is the one who should stop. Same concept. If "moral superiority" entails not acting in such a way that pisses everyone else in the room off, then yes, the non-smoker enjoys a position of moral superiority in that situation.

 

[Eri]

No, because prohibition doesn't work. Making smoking illegal would be the same as making drinking illegal in the 20s, or making marijuana illegal. All you end up with is more crime, and more people clogging up the criminal justice system with petty offenses.

It works both ways. If it was so petty, why would they commit a crime just to do it?

That logic doesn't really work. The weed isn't petty, it's very much enjoyable. It's the criminal offense that's petty.

They happily commit a petty crime because they know the punishment of getting caught is negligible, and the chances of actually getting caught are so minimal that the reward of smoking a nice J at the end of the day is more than worth the small risk.

if you get caught, you go to jail. How is that negligible? Also just because it's enjoyable doesn't make it less petty.

 

[MrHero17]

Let it remain legal, people need to have the freedom to make stupid choices. I also think we should get rid of the sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes and just give them the same tax rate we give everything else.

 

[Double A]

Public places only. Second hand smoke presents a danger to the health of people in the general vicinity, and that it stinks worse than a hog pen only makes it worse.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'm actually going a bit farther with this: Smoking should remain legal and other such drugs should also be legalized and regulated. This would deal a massive blow to he various drug cartels. When I say legalized though, I say that in the same sense that alcohol is legal. You can drink it but not while operating heavy machinery or while working. Obviously, a percentage of people will not heed the laws and kill themselves during drug induced road trips. I just defeated my own thought.

...

Anyway: in a truly free society the citizenry should be able to do with themselves whatever they want so long as it doesn't harm others. I think that's how the Turians do things...

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I'm sure I'm not the only one that had this [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition] in their head when they saw this thread....

Yeah, click that link and read the article, and will find the repercussions that happened.

 

[LikeTeeth]

I've always been annoyed by the stigma on smoking. My situation is that not only am I addicted to smoking, I actually really, really enjoy it. I'm kinda like that guy from XXX that says if he could smoke in his sleep he would. I'm not as creepy though, nor do I smoke as much. You know what? I'm not like that guy.

I figure if the only person I'm hurting now is myself (it's illegal to smoke in bars in Australia and I really don't think second hand smoke in the street could be harmful considering how much it takes to actually cause damage) then what's the big deal?

If people have a problem with me smoking because it's bad for me, does that mean I have the right to go into a fast food place and tell all the fat people they're killing themselves with deliciousness?

 

[saruman31]

The impact of drinking is 10 times bigger than smoking. Im not talking about the ones who drink with some friends occasionally but for those who get overly aggressive and as consequence people get hurt or die.
These things will never be made illegal because of the profit they generate.

 

[Mr Montmorency]

Hey, if a moron with a lethal predisposition for addiction wants to take a puff, then it's fine by me!

Let's not fight natural selection, eh?

 

[LikeTeeth]

It would just be a mess if it was banned entirely.

But I am all for banning it in public places, I feel really sick when I smell cigarette smoke. And people aren't very considerate in where they smoke, so.

Oh yeah?

And every time you make a smoker stand out in the rain because they want a cigarette but you don't want them in the same room you're being very inconsiderate to them too (it works both ways, you are not inherantly morally superior because you choose not to smoke, and this is coming from a non-smoker).

Maybe the next time you see someone light up on a rainy day maybe you should be considerate enough to wait outside while they finish.

Oh and this. This is the shit.

I can't stand it when I'm sent outside like a naughty dog who stole a steak off the dinner table just because I smoke. Of course because I smoke no one can handle the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE DISGUSTING YUCKY smell of a cigarette.

Pssht

 

[Daniel Laeben-Rosen]

No, deffinetly not. It's a choice.
If anyone's stupid enough to start smoking, it's their choice. Speaking as one of those idiots I fully recognize it having been my own stupid idea and no-one elses.
To quote Denis Leary:
"You could put them in a big black box with a skull on them, call them TUMORS and people would STILL be lining up around the block to smoke'em! Smokers are gonna smoke."

 

[Shpongled]

No, because prohibition doesn't work. Making smoking illegal would be the same as making drinking illegal in the 20s, or making marijuana illegal. All you end up with is more crime, and more people clogging up the criminal justice system with petty offenses.

It works both ways. If it was so petty, why would they commit a crime just to do it?

That logic doesn't really work. The weed isn't petty, it's very much enjoyable. It's the criminal offense that's petty.

They happily commit a petty crime because they know the punishment of getting caught is negligible, and the chances of actually getting caught are so minimal that the reward of smoking a nice J at the end of the day is more than worth the small risk.

if you get caught, you go to jail. How is that negligible? Also just because it's enjoyable doesn't make it less petty.

The first time you get caught with marijuana you'll get a slap on the wrist and your gear confiscated.

The second time you get caught with marijuana you'll get a slap on the wrist and your gear confiscated.

The third time you get caught with marijuana you'll get......... a slap on the wrist and your gear confiscated.

Seriously, there are very few actual criminal arrests made for simple possession.

And i struggle to see how marijuana itself is in any way "petty". What does that even mean? How can a plant be petty? Smoking it is enjoyable.... still not seeing where petty comes in, help me out?

Possession is a "Petty" offence in that the offence itself is merely a misdemeanor, something very minor and generally unimportant. Speeding is a petty offence, J-walking is a petty offence, not paying parking tickets etc. No implication is made about whatever the offence itself relates too.

 

[number2301]

Me being a liberal, I argued that people, knowing the dangers of smoking, should choose for themselves if they want to do it or not.

I hate to break it to you, but that isn't a liberal viewpoint. Liberals are responsible for all of the laws that negatively impact smokers. Your viewpoint is libertarian at best, and conservative at worst.

Ah, sorry. It's the same word in Swedish, I mistranslated.

Sorry I haven't read the full thread but wanted to jump in for the benefit of the Swede.

You used liberal in exactly the right sense, liberal means believing in freedom. I'm not sure what the issue is but it seems to be similar in the UK as in the US, people read liberal as Labour/Liberal Democrat. Not as it actually means.

 

[CleverCover]

I wish it could be so, because I'm tired of inhaling that nonsense every time I try to to buy food. If they want to kill themselves slowly sure, ok, fine. I don't want your secondhand poison.

Instead, just tax the hell out of it. At least I get something positive hopefully from their bad habit.

 

[saruman31]

Such a big kiddie community here judging by the comments of Mr Montmorency and Daniel Laeben-Rosen.
Not smoking doesn`t make you smarter.
disclaimer: i don`t smoke

p.s. why should they be taxed higher on the things they enjoy doing? Do YOU want to get taxed extra for playing video games? Its not the most healthy habit.

 

[Actual]

I'm sorry to dissapoint, I've never forced someone else to stand in the rain because they smoke. That's just rude.

Where did that even come from? Sorry, but when I'm waiting for my train, it would be very nice of the smokers not to light a cigarette in my face when there's plenty of space they can stand on and have a cigarette without forcing me to breathe in the smoke, without having to stand in the rain even.

And did I ever say I was morally superior? My dad smokes, lots of people in my class smoke - I won't ever force them to not do it, but it would be very nice of them not to do it in my face.

And for that matter, what's worse: having to breathe in toxic smoke or standing out in the rain for two minutes? I for that matter wouldn't mind standing in the rain, I think it's refreshing.

It's a misunderstanding, in England and the US too (I think) it is illegal to smoke in public buildings, this includes train platforms. This was effectively a group of "morally superior" campaigners who decided smokers were second class citizens.

As your profile says you're from Sweden you may have been totally unaware of this.

My opinion on the topic, as a non-smoker, is that it should not be illegal.

We're in a decent place where we are now, the law prevents smokers from inflicting it on other and the massive taxes help relive the burden smokers put on healthcare. Not sure how they justify this in the US where healthcare isn't free and the government just pockets the taxes.

We do need to stop the persecution of smokers, they are not second class citizens. We also need to loosen the smoking laws; a plumber should be able to smoke in his own van, a shopkeeper should be able to smoke in his own shop. Pubs should be forced to have effective smoking areas, sealed and air-conditioned separately from the non-smoking areas, so I can chill with my friends while they smoke and I drink.