So let's talk about smoking...

[DrunkWithPower]

Let me stick my nose in here real quick like. *lights cigarette* So the FDA has put a ban on flavored cigarettes because it's "The gateway to smoking for teens". Menthol cigarettes are not included but will be debated on. *stamps out cigarette, blows smoke in faces*

 

[Malkavian]

snip/

Because it smells like shit to other people who don't smoke, try thinking of them. I like cigars, but people who smoke when your trying to eat, it's just goddam annoying.

Yes, it smells like shit to many non-smokers, but really, if that's your only concern, then I want laws that dictate what clothes people can wear, whether they can fart in public, how often they must shower, etc.

"There is no scientific proof correlating second hand smoke with death" Buddy, think before you post. You should change that right now. Smoking is something you do in private, and not around people who don't want to breathe it in.

No, he shouldn't. Instead of you just shouting out he's wrong, you should produce some evidence of your claim.

You don't really have a choice in the matter. Something will kill you eventually. And safeguarding yourself from ONE potential source that could kill you, by infringing on the personal rights of other people and individual businesses won't prevent you from dying due to another gazillion sources out there.

I'm just gonna quote this, since it is my favourite part of your post. And then I want to say: that, sir, was one hell of a good post.

 

[Flying Dagger]

i like the smell of smoke, whilst i'm smoking. i don't mind if it hangs onto my clothes for a bit afterwards as well. (though this happens a lot less with roll ups)
but it's like bacon. i like the smell of it when i'm hungry, but if somewhere stank of it non-stop i wouldn't enjoy it at all.
so i think the ban on indoor smoking we have in the UK makes perfect sense. not because of health risks or whatever, but because it means pubs and such no longer stink.

 

[ojm62]

Personally, I feel that a non-smoker's right to not have their lungs filled with crap seriously outweighs a smokers right to fill their own lungs with crap. People can do what they wish with their own bodies, but nothing gives them the right to inflict it on others. If a place is open to the public, then the risk of non-smokers entering is enough to justify banning smoking in said area.
As you can probably guess, I'm a non-smoker. I've been very anti-smoking since I noticed the wierd psycological affects the smell of it has on me. I don't the difference between smoking next to someone and punching them.

I'm with you on this. Not to mention the drain on medical resources smokers eventualy cause. If a place is open to the public, EVERYBODY should be able to go there, unless they break reasonable rules set by the owners. And as such everyone should be able to be there without having to breath in smoke.

 

[archvile93]

I'm for it because I get sick of going to restaraunts, and end up nearly coffing up a lung because of the dipshits next to me who can't go without a smoke for more than 30 seconds.

 

[Quick Ben]

You know, I think a lot of people in this topic forgets who really benefits from such bans. It's the people working in the bars. Now, it would be fine for the owners of a bar to decide whether or not people could smoke there if they were the only people working there.

But you see, the people working in a bar are usually not (only) the owners.) It's quite obvious that if the owners could decide, most of them would allow smoking because if brings in more profit (more potential customers.) But the people who work in the place, day out and day in, they won't have any say. Now, some of you might say: "Just get another job," but they might not have that option. These are the people who benefit from a ban.

It's scientifically proven that there is a correlation between working in smoke filled establishments for an extended amount of time, and the occurrence of lung cancer. I think it's worth it to inconvenience smokers if it hinders a few innocent people getting lung cancer.

 

[joe182]

Is it really right for a government to decide whether we smoke or not?

tl;dr: Should governments decide whether we smoke in private establishments? Should it be anyone's business except for yourself, whether you are destroying your body?

No it isn't, but thats the problem with smoking, you're not just harming yourself, but who evers walking behind you, or who evers sitting at the table beside you in a pub.. So I ask you, is it up to you to decide if they have to sit there inhaling your smoke? After all, 2nd hand smoke is worse than normal smoke, isn't it?

 

[FFTGeist]

I am a little different than most people.
I would be fine if the government stopped us from smoking and reimplemented prohibition of alcohol.

This is about the point i walk away dodging flaming torches and beer bottles thrown at me.

 

[Disaster Button]

Smoking sucks and is bad for your health and has no good sides. Stress relief? I can play on my DS for that, and I don't spend $3-5 for a pack of smokes AND get a throat/lung cancer + yellow teeth + awful breath.

Oh, and your face and hair will thank you when you quit smoking.

For a lot of people (including myself as of late) smoking doesn't suck is quite enjoyable. Even with the negative downsides. But people relieve stress in different ways, so playing a DS might not be an option for others. It also makes you feel better about yourself and more relaxed and in some peoples cases, more confident.

OT: I chose the wrong time to start smoking with all these bans going round..

 

[Abedeus]

Smoking sucks and is bad for your health and has no good sides. Stress relief? I can play on my DS for that, and I don't spend $3-5 for a pack of smokes AND get a throat/lung cancer + yellow teeth + awful breath.

Oh, and your face and hair will thank you when you quit smoking.

For a lot of people (including myself as of late) smoking doesn't suck is quite enjoyable. Even with the negative downsides. But people relieve stress in different ways, so playing a DS might not be an option for others. It also makes you feel better about yourself and more relaxed and in some peoples cases, more confident.

OT: I chose the wrong time to start smoking with all these bans going round..

Slowly killing yourself makes you feel better about yourself?

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Slowly killing yourself makes you feel better about yourself?

We're all slowly killing ourselves, regardless of whether we choose to smoke or not...

 

[Disaster Button]

Smoking sucks and is bad for your health and has no good sides. Stress relief? I can play on my DS for that, and I don't spend $3-5 for a pack of smokes AND get a throat/lung cancer + yellow teeth + awful breath.

Oh, and your face and hair will thank you when you quit smoking.

For a lot of people (including myself as of late) smoking doesn't suck is quite enjoyable. Even with the negative downsides. But people relieve stress in different ways, so playing a DS might not be an option for others. It also makes you feel better about yourself and more relaxed and in some peoples cases, more confident.

OT: I chose the wrong time to start smoking with all these bans going round..

Slowly killing yourself makes you feel better about yourself?

Not what I said. The effects of smoking make you feel better, not the negative health effects. Although some people will like it for those too.

But like Housebroken said below you. We're all slowly dying, might as well enjoy it

 

[Abedeus]

Slowly killing yourself makes you feel better about yourself?

We're all slowly killing ourselves, regardless of whether we choose to smoke or not...

No, we are not killing ourselves. Unless you count our lifestyle and so on, but then again, you might call living "kiling ourselves".

Not what I said. The effects of smoking make you feel better, not the negative health effects. Although some people will like it for those too.

But like Housebroken said below you. We're all slowly dying, might as well enjoy it

Yeah, those great effects of smoking that make you great...

Chronic cough, higher chance of various cancers, yellow teeth, horrible smell around you and problems with hair. There was something more, but I forgot.

Anyway, I have had too many experiences with people who have smoked their whole life.

Grandma - died of lung cancer.
Aunt - constant coughs (and she's still smoking...) every few minutes.
Another aunt - ...yeah, coughing again. Plus disgusting yellow teeth.
Neighbour - 50-year old woman with a voice of a drunken 65-year old guy with a cold. She's almost like Bale's Batman. It's often hard to understand what she's saying.

Also, I can pinpoint which girls in my school/class just by the ravages on their faces, the stink when they move past me and how they constantly go to the toilet (and got caught 2 or 3 times outside of the school smoking) because they can't go on without having a smoke for more than an hour.

Yeah, it's REALLY great to have an addiction.

 

[Kirky]

When it comes down to this, I'm in the "Don't care, but dude seriously why?" section, as I don't really have any personal problems with smoking, I've just never seen any advantage to it.

I don't actually have any friends that smoke, but I certainly haven't tried to avoid smokers, although I do admit that I probably distance myself from them subconsciously.

Getting to the original focus of the topic, my views on the smoking ban (having been experiencing its effects for the last few years here in Britain) are neutral, perhaps leaning towards the "pro" side simply because of my personal lack of interest in smoking.

I've never had a problem with the unhealthy effects of it (in reality, I'm sure my rather excessive energy drink consumption and 48-hour gaming marathons have a much worse effect on my personal health than smoking could), but the smell has always annoyed me, so I have to say that the lack of it in public places has been an advantage for me, although it's more of a "take it or leave it" kind of thing.

 

[Steindorh]

I live in Iceland. I smoke.

I do not smoke inside my house, I do smoke in a small shed I built especially for the purpose of smoking.

In Iceland it is forbidden to smoke in public places (as in inside, not out in the streets) and the government has issued a statement that they are looking into forbidding all tobacco products.

However, the law banning smoking here in Iceland also has a kind of loophole. For example, if a bar has a separate room with a closed door where bouncers are posted, and paying members of some sort of "VIP club" are allowed to smoke there, then that's fine, apparently. Iceland's largest netcafé does this (it's no ordinary netcafé, trust me, I make a point of checking out as many netcafés as I can when traveling abroad) by having you pay a members one-time-only fee, and then charging you (one-time-only fee, again)for a key to the third floor which has a door with added insulation, twice the number of windows that can be opened as well as other means of ventilation. No one bothers us, no one minds. The law does, however, state that only members of the club are allowed access, meaning if I want to invite a friend to join me for some gaming, then he or she must pay the member's fee and buy a key.

If a bar wants to have a smoking section in Iceland that is open to anyone who wants to walk in, then it must be outside, you can't have more than two walls, and the roof should not cover it all or something (sorry, not exactly feeling like riding the bus to the university law library to look this up).

I'm all FOR laws against smoking in restaurants, clubs, bars, whatever. But my opinion is that smoking sections should be allowed, with similar restrictions as those mentioned above. Say... only a certain percentage of the establishments total public square meter space is allowed to be a smoking section, it has to have a closed door and better ventilation than most places have at the moment, and it should have to be very clearly marked as a smoking section and to have posters and such advertising those "quit smoking helpline" things.

On a side note, since I noticed some people mentioning coming home from clubs or bars smelling like cigarette smoke, I don't know how it is where you come from, but when I come home from clubbing at weekends... I'd rather smell like cigarette smoke than other peoples' sweat xP

EDIT : I'd like to add that I've been smoking for something around seven years, my teeth are white, my hair is fine and my skin is fine. I do have to make an extra effort to conceal the smell, though =/

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

No, we are not killing ourselves. Unless you count our lifestyle and so on, but then again, you might call living "kiling ourselves".

Exactly. Killing yourself through smoking is just as viable way as any to slowly kill yourself. No one is living anyway, we're all just dying slowly.

Yeah, it's REALLY great to have an addiction.

It is if you chose to get this addiction and had the right to do it...

 

[Darkmark44]

This thread made me laugh quite a bit. Mainly the fact like the people bitching about the smoke and all of this and the smokers retaliating. The thing is, you all have to fucking deal with it. We are all going to die, who cares what happens to the people that smoke? Let them smoke, I dont give a damn what happens to them.

I smoke every once in a while, but I really could care less about the 'slowly killing yourself' argument that someone keeps stating.

You either ***** about it, or dont ***** about it, in the end its bitching from both sides.

 

[Riyka]

of course it's not the governments business to decided whether or not you smoke.
it is however their business to stop your decision effecting others.

I, as a general rule of thumb, don't smoke. The odd occasions i have, have been at private parties with friends generally at their house/their garden/large open spaces.

Therefore i don't want my nice meal in a resturant ruined by smoke.
i don't want to be sitting in macdonalds with someone else second hand smoke in my face.

I live in England whicih has a similar law to stop you smoking in or around public property such as pubs clubs etc.

I've recently been to Romania...where smoking appears to have replaced breathing XD
i definately prefer our public areas to theirs...

Admittidly it was nice to sit in the pub and drink and smoke, but my friend (who doesnt smoke at all) hated it and rarely spent longer than a hour with me...

The biggets problem i've always had with smokers is there general inconsideration for those around them...and im not saying smokers are all the same...but a large majority are.

the laws are in place to protect those who dont smoke and to make PUBLIC places somewhere everyone can go...not to stop you from killing yourself ^^

 

[Malkavian]

Is it really right for a government to decide whether we smoke or not?

tl;dr: Should governments decide whether we smoke in private establishments? Should it be anyone's business except for yourself, whether you are destroying your body?

No it isn't, but thats the problem with smoking, you're not just harming yourself, but who evers walking behind you, or who evers sitting at the table beside you in a pub.. So I ask you, is it up to you to decide if they have to sit there inhaling your smoke? After all, 2nd hand smoke is worse than normal smoke, isn't it?

Oh, I agree. Noone should be forced to inhale smoke. But as longas we're talking establishments, a on-smoker has an option whether he wants to sit in a smoke-filled environment, or go somewhere else. It should, in my oppinion, be the owner who decides whether it's okay to smoke there or not.

In case there are proof that 2nd hand smoking is harmful, I agree wholeheartedly that it should be banned from public areas that aren't private owned.

 

[Abedeus]

It is if you chose to get this addiction and had the right to do it...

You speak as if people are given the right to choose which thing they want to be addicted to and which thing they don't want.