Seatbelt on, cigarettes out.

[HentMas]

but smoking in a car should be illegal. the driver could start coughing and then there could be a crash.

then driving with a cold should be illegal because snizzing could make you have an accident

or driving while drowzy should be illegal because you could fall asleep (its not in my country, wonder if it is in other countries)

hell, driving should be illegal because people could be stupid and run over someone

I don´t think your "could start coughing and then there could be a crash" is very accurate, I have never coughed over anything and become so seriously incapacitated by that cough as to being unable to drive correctly your point is overly dramatizing one scenario my friend.

 

[blind_dead_mcjones]

question to all those who say yes to banning smoking in public areas due to the toxicity of second hand smoke

consider that the exhaust fumes from cars and burnt petrol is at least 10 times as toxic/poisonous/damaging to you than 2nd hand smoke, those that live in the city are effectively surrounded by such fumes and breathing them in on near constant basis, and there are far more car users around then there are smokers

to which i ask, why are there never any calls to ban the use of all internal combustion engines (cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, lawn mowers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers, portable generators, etc) in public areas despite the apparent increased health danger compared to standing too close to a smoker? and yet there are always calls to ban smoking for whatever reason? just a thought.

Steps need to be taken to make smoking illegal in all public areas. I don't need to breath that shit in.

Nobody has the right to slowly poison me because they are addicted to some drug. Do it at home.

i refer you to my comment above

 

[ShindoL Shill]

but smoking in a car should be illegal. the driver could start coughing and then there could be a crash.

then driving with a cold should be illegal because snizzing could make you have an accident

or driving while drowzy should be illegal because you could fall asleep (its not in my country, wonder if it is in other countries)

hell, driving should be illegal because people could be stupid and run over someone

I don´t think your "could start coughing and then there could be a crash" is very accurate, I have never coughed over anything and become so seriously incapacitated by that cough as to being unable to drive correctly your point is overly dramatizing one scenario my friend.

well if you have a cold you'll probably take medicine. a lot of medicines 'do not operate heavy machinery' because they make you drowsy, which lowers your reaction time. just like being sleepy. smoke gets right into your lungs and the cough you can get from that is pretty bad. you could be distracted from the road and not stop in time for a red light. and the smoke could get into your eyes and do the same.

 

[falcon1985]

Hell, in my car's there's a very simply rule. No smoking or you can get out here. My car, my rules. You don't like it, take the damn bus.

 

[Colour Scientist]

If they did ban smoking here it'd be another push for me to leave the country. Not necessarily because of the cigarettes themselves but I don't want to live in a country where the Minister of Health would rather start World War III than smoke a peace pipe.

He's a ridiculous man who has had a vendetta against smoking for a very long time and even then, regardless of the smoking, what implication does it have? No smoking in your own private car, fine. Then no smoking in your own home, then no swearing around your own children etc etc... Why on earth would someone try to enforce these kinds of bans when our country is still in pieces financially.

Do you know how much tax the Irish Government makes off of cigarettes? An enormous amount, in fact, a majority of the cost of a 8.65 pack of cigarettes is just government tax and the Minister for Health wants to try and take that away from our financially starved government and make them spend more on enforcing silly rules? Please.

 

[Random Argument Man]

I would not do an outright all-ban to smoking tomorow if you catch my drift. Quitting smoking is hard...Way harder than anyone make it sound. Non-smokers will never know and they'll think it's easy.

Temptation, nerves and enjoyment are hard factors. I've tried to quit twice. The first 2 weeks are the hardest because it feels like everything gets on your nerves very easily. At some points, you feel very stressed for no reasons. It's also a good idea to have people who support you rather than the contrary.

After the two weeks, it's having other people smoking or making your life miserable. Stress is high during those moments and the idea of having a smoke seems like the best thing ever. There's also enjoyment. I do enjoy smoking. I don't smoke in people's faces to be an asshole and I mostly do it when I'm alone after a hard shift from work.

Stopping people from smoking outright would probably have repercussions non-smokers would never think about. If you want to do it, you go with small steps.

 

[Cyanin]

However, you would have to admit that someone would feel distracted while driving if all they can think about is lighting up when they get out of the car...

Snip.

Apologies about that then, just theorising. I'd noticed the "testiness" you mentioned, figured it could in a sense be distracting. I'll take your word for it though. =)

 

[Dr. Danger]

Considerate smokers will put out their cigarettes in a car if asked to.

Also, I'm a heavy smoker so I will never support this ban.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

Prohibiting things does not help anyone.
Smoking out a car with your children in it is probably enough of a deterrent to stop them from smoking, and if it isn't, maybe it'll make them respectful enough to not do the same thing.

And as for an outright ban on smoking, fuck that. We should all have the right to put whatever we want into our bodies, even if it harms us. Because guess what, if I want to full my lungs with tar, that's my goddamn choice.

Unfortunately, secondhand smoke fills other people's lungs with tar (and that end of the cigarette doesn't even have a filter like the smoker's end does), and that certainly should not be your choice.

You got any sources on that?

A source for secondhand smoke being bad for you, or for smoking in public areas actually having a noticeable effect on others? The first seems pretty obvious to me (the smoke smokers breathe in is bad, obviously the smoke coming off the cigarette is bad), but here's a source anyway:
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/secondhand-smoke
The second, as I said in another post, I don't know about, though I'd guess it's effects on random people walking by are negligible. I'd need to know specifically before I really approved or dissaproved of any sort of smoking ban, although the fact that it can do nothing but hurt people seems a decent reason whether it really hurts nonsmokers or not.

 

[StBishop]

I hate smoking, I think that anyone who stated smoking with the knowledge of the damage it would do to them is fucking bonkers.

I'm not going to hop on a soap box and have a go at people in their 40's who grew up in a time when smoking was said to be good for you, but if you're 16 and smoke you are, in a word, stupid.

I smoked half a cigarette once, I won't lie. It wasn't fun, it had no positives and the only thing that they offer is sating a desire, which really isn't much of a trade off for your health if you can avoid them which stops the development of a desire.

Where do you get off, sitting around calling an entire group of people stupid, when you haven't even taken the time to try and understand their decision? Hell, you clearly don't even understand what the affects of nicotine are.

I'm not going to try and advocate smoking here, but who the hell are you to call me stupid because I'm 21 and smoke? Have you ever considered that I might've taken the time to think about it, and that I might actually have some reasons for doing it? Could it be the fact that after a lifetime dealing with allergies (which no medicine I had ever come across helped to fix) I finally found myself free of the need to have something with which to wipe snot off my face all the time? I usually only smoke one cigarette a day, and that little roll of tobacco is infinitely more affective than any allergy medication I've ever come across.

Maybe it's the mood boost I get on my way to work. You know where I have the misfortune to work? Walmart! You want to work at Walmart?!? I didn't fucking think so. The attitude that you take into that store when you go in can change the rest of your day. If I go in happy, feeling pumped and ready to tackle whatever the day throws at me, that can last long after the nicotine has worn off because I have good customer relations and they keep me upbeat. But if I go in there feeling like shit to start with, I'm going to have bad customer relations, and our customers (most of whom are miserable assholes to start with) are just going to make my day worse as a result. Getting that nic buzz on the way to work makes a big difference between me being happy at a job most people hate, or joining everyone else in the mire of human misery that is Walmart employment.

What about days off, where I go over to my friend's house. We have a couple beers, and sit around on his balcony, having a smoke, talking, enjoying life. You know how good it is to sit out there, talking with my friend while that potent combination of alcohol and nicotine soothes my soul? There's more to life than just surviving, if all you're doing is surviving it then you're already dead. I want to enjoy it, and sitting out on that balcony, one of my favorite places in the world, nicotine helps me enjoy my life.

So who the fuck are you to judge me and call me stupid? Do I know that I trade away minutes of my life every time I light up? How the hell could I not? I've been hearing it since I was a kid. And I choose to anyways, not because I'm stupid, but because I thought long and hard and decided that to me the trade was worth it. That doesn't mean that you have to smoke, but maybe next time before you open your mouth and go off on a group of people you don't even know, you should take a moment and ask yourself if you actually know what you're talking about?

Firstly, I hate to nit pick, but I said 16. Not 21. There's half a decade of difference there, for example, in primary school my sister (who's 15 currently) learned about the dangers of smoking at the same time she learned the food pyramid. I however didn't encounter smoking in school until grade 9 (when some of my class mates where already smoking).

I have worked shitty jobs too man, I've cleaned dishes, I've cut onions for a living, I've worked in customer service. I understand that having a positive attitude helps but from my experience with tobacco and from the accounts I've been given by smokers, there's no positive to starting smoking, only continuing.

And to be honest, I'd love a job at Walmart right now.

So, yeah I have tried to understand. I obviously disagree with you.

I have never in my life heard of a cigarette stopping allergies, and to be honest, I'm sceptical. I am not going to come right out and say you're lying, because I can't know that, but I'm also not going to blindly believe it either. If you can find me a medical professional who backs up your claim I'd be willing to believe it.

And with your smoking socially example, envisage the exact same scenario, except that instead of smoking being soothing, imagine it tastes fowl, makes you choke and ruins the flavour of beer. That's what it's like for me, and what it was like for all the smokers I know when they started smoking. So from all the accounts I've ever recieved and along with my brief encounter with smoking, it's a horrible experience that is endured to either look cool, or rebel against parents. Similar to drinking beer if you don't consider drunkenness to be a positive.

I wasn't judging you specifically, I was judging people who do it for the reasons I have encountered. As I've said, you're the first person I've met who has given me a reason they smoke other than, I already smoke and quitting is hard.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

I hate smoking, I think that anyone who stated smoking with the knowledge of the damage it would do to them is fucking bonkers.

I'm not going to hop on a soap box and have a go at people in their 40's who grew up in a time when smoking was said to be good for you, but if you're 16 and smoke you are, in a word, stupid.

I smoked half a cigarette once, I won't lie. It wasn't fun, it had no positives and the only thing that they offer is sating a desire, which really isn't much of a trade off for your health if you can avoid them which stops the development of a desire.

Where do you get off, sitting around calling an entire group of people stupid, when you haven't even taken the time to try and understand their decision? Hell, you clearly don't even understand what the affects of nicotine are.

I'm not going to try and advocate smoking here, but who the hell are you to call me stupid because I'm 21 and smoke? Have you ever considered that I might've taken the time to think about it, and that I might actually have some reasons for doing it? Could it be the fact that after a lifetime dealing with allergies (which no medicine I had ever come across helped to fix) I finally found myself free of the need to have something with which to wipe snot off my face all the time? I usually only smoke one cigarette a day, and that little roll of tobacco is infinitely more affective than any allergy medication I've ever come across.

Maybe it's the mood boost I get on my way to work. You know where I have the misfortune to work? Walmart! You want to work at Walmart?!? I didn't fucking think so. The attitude that you take into that store when you go in can change the rest of your day. If I go in happy, feeling pumped and ready to tackle whatever the day throws at me, that can last long after the nicotine has worn off because I have good customer relations and they keep me upbeat. But if I go in there feeling like shit to start with, I'm going to have bad customer relations, and our customers (most of whom are miserable assholes to start with) are just going to make my day worse as a result. Getting that nic buzz on the way to work makes a big difference between me being happy at a job most people hate, or joining everyone else in the mire of human misery that is Walmart employment.

What about days off, where I go over to my friend's house. We have a couple beers, and sit around on his balcony, having a smoke, talking, enjoying life. You know how good it is to sit out there, talking with my friend while that potent combination of alcohol and nicotine soothes my soul? There's more to life than just surviving, if all you're doing is surviving it then you're already dead. I want to enjoy it, and sitting out on that balcony, one of my favorite places in the world, nicotine helps me enjoy my life.

So who the fuck are you to judge me and call me stupid? Do I know that I trade away minutes of my life every time I light up? How the hell could I not? I've been hearing it since I was a kid. And I choose to anyways, not because I'm stupid, but because I thought long and hard and decided that to me the trade was worth it. That doesn't mean that you have to smoke, but maybe next time before you open your mouth and go off on a group of people you don't even know, you should take a moment and ask yourself if you actually know what you're talking about?

Firstly, I hate to nit pick, but I said 16. Not 21. There's half a decade of difference there, for example, in primary school my sister (who's 15 currently) learned about the dangers of smoking at the same time she learned the food pyramid. I however didn't encounter smoking in school until grade 9 (when some of my class mates where already smoking).

I have worked shitty jobs too man, I've cleaned dishes, I've cut onions for a living, I've worked in customer service. I understand that having a positive attitude helps but from my experience with tobacco and from the accounts I've been given by smokers, there's no positive to starting smoking, only continuing.

And to be honest, I'd love a job at Walmart right now.

So, yeah I have tried to understand. I obviously disagree with you.

I have never in my life heard of a cigarette stopping allergies, and to be honest, I'm sceptical. I am not going to come right out and say you're lying, because I can't know that, but I'm also not going to blindly believe it either. If you can find me a medical professional who backs up your claim I'd be willing to believe it.

And with your smoking socially example, envisage the exact same scenario, except that instead of smoking being soothing, imagine it tastes fowl, makes you choke and ruins the flavour of beer. That's what it's like for me, and what it was like for all the smokers I know when they started smoking. So from all the accounts I've ever recieved and along with my brief encounter with smoking, it's a horrible experience that is endured to either look cool, or rebel against parents. Similar to drinking beer if you don't consider drunkenness to be a positive.

I wasn't judging you specifically, I was judging people who do it for the reasons I have encountered. As I've said, you're the first person I've met who has given me a reason they smoke other than, I already smoke and quitting is hard.

Fair enough, I guess I took your comment as being, in general, a shot at anyone who took up smoking despite being young enough to have gone through the massive machine we've set up to inform the public of the negatives. I do still maintain that for me the positives aren't just from avoiding the pain of withdrawals. I do remember having some bad experiences when I started, but I guess I tend to think of it more as like learning to swim, just because it's hard at first doesn't mean that it's not worth learning. For me the experience has always been that I am pulled just enough outside of my normal frame of consciousness that I am able to more easily take a step back, get some perspective, and remember that things aren't so bad.

As for allergies, I've only ever seen one study get reported on to suggest the affect of cigarettes on allergies. [link]http://www.physorg.com/news161520042.html[/link] Needless to say, there isn't a burgeoning field of research into the positive affects of tobacco, as the only entities with enough money and a desire to fund that sort of research, aren't in a position to fund it without taking on massive amounts of criticism. That said, I am hardly the first smoker to report a correlation between their own smoking, and a decrease in allergy symptoms. Anecdotal evidence, granted, is hardly proof, but there is at the very least quite a bit of anecdotal evidence to add to the study.

And lastly, I would point out that you said before you had once smoked half a cigarette, hardly enough to consider yourself knowledgeable of the psychological affects of cigarettes. Now I will grant that considering my history with exploration of altered states of consciousness, I may be more sensitive than most to the changes in perception tobacco are capable of. That said, if you think that the taste of a cigarette is the big show, then you've kind of missed the point. Nicotine is, after all, classified (at least in the doses it's present in a cigarette in) as a stimulant drug. My finding has always been that the combined affects of alcohol and nicotine bring me a pleasant if mild high, one that is very conducive to relaxing on a balcony.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'm all for one's civil liberties but smoking in a car is far different from smoking in a pub or a restaurant. I'd be in favor of the ban but only if they brought back smoking sections in restaurants and allowed smoking in bars again (I'm American by the way...not sure if Ireland has banned smoking in Pubs and Restaurants yet but it wouldn't surprise me)

 

[MrTub]

I have asthma which makes cigarettes smoke a bit annoying for me so I would be content if they decided to make it illegal and several of my smoker friends also wishes that it was illegal.

 

[MrTub]

question to all those who say yes to banning smoking in public areas due to the toxicity of second hand smoke

consider that the exhaust fumes from cars and burnt petrol is at least 10 times as toxic/poisonous/damaging to you than 2nd hand smoke, those that live in the city are effectively surrounded by such fumes and breathing them in on near constant basis, and there are far more car users around then there are smokers

to which i ask, why are there never any calls to ban the use of all internal combustion engines (cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, lawn mowers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers, portable generators, etc) in public areas despite the apparent increased health danger compared to standing too close to a smoker? and yet there are always calls to ban smoking for whatever reason? just a thought.

Steps need to be taken to make smoking illegal in all public areas. I don't need to breath that shit in.

Nobody has the right to slowly poison me because they are addicted to some drug. Do it at home.

i refer you to my comment above

What is the benefits of allowing people to use cars and such?

And what is the benefits of allowing cigarettes?


Quite obvious why some stuff is legal and some stuff should be illegal.

 

[Cyanin]

I'm all for one's civil liberties but smoking in a car is far different from smoking in a pub or a restaurant. I'd be in favor of the ban but only if they brought back smoking sections in restaurants and allowed smoking in bars again (I'm American by the way...not sure if Ireland has banned smoking in Pubs and Restaurants yet but it wouldn't surprise me)

Pretty much as soon as New York got it Ireland decided we had to be as good. I think it got put in about 6 or 7 years ago. The problem with smoking areas being that in a restaurant, with parents who smoked, (at the time), you'd be stuck outside with a group of smokers. So now you're cold and smoky. =P

 

[willsham45]

I am against anything that limits the freedoms of innocents making pretty pathetic things illegal.

I am also questioning there numbers, 16 people a day how can you be sure that smoking was the main factor that did it? Cancer and be got by anyone for any reason there is only a higher chance of getting it because of the nature of the substance but so can a lot of things, too much pain killers and much up your kidneys but you don't hear people blaming that on kidney problems, then if it is not cancer it is something like a fire cause by the fag well then the smoking did not kill them the fire did.

I am all for saying if I don't want you to smoke in my house OK you don't smoke.
I am all for saying if I don't want you to smoke in my business fine
But the government says you cannot smoke in my house and I don't mind well that is my choice jog off.

And is the no smoking in cars thing only for the driver or everyone that is just stupid. I don't smoke but still JUST SHUT UP ABOUT IT.

What I don't like about all this is I know that smoking is almost sorted I am fearing what it next. it will probably be alcohol or fatty food...if an alcohol ban starts in Ireland like smoking did that would be pretty hilarious.

And I will make one more point at the end here. You don't want to ban anything full stop. banning things encourages black markets and that encourages crime. look at drugs and prohibition!!!! I am not saying smoking is good but I am saying banning anything is bad.

 

[Richardplex]

to 1, yes, definitely. to 2, well, if people want to screw their own health, let them, just don't let them damage others.

 

[Speakercone]

I have a problem with people who want to legislate against everything they find mildly distasteful.