Poll: smoking

[crtreedude]

My issue has been regarding smoking is this. When everyone is supposed to smoke outside because the company request it - they huddle around the door where people are passing.

Sorry, but if so many smokers weren't so inconsiderate - they wouldn't be losing their right to smoke where they wish. You also have to take into account the people around you who choose not to participate.

The same thing goes for butts in parks, in parking lots, in fact, anywhere you let people smoke. You come in my house and mess things up - and you won't be back.

You have a right to smoke - but you don't have a right to mess things up for others.

[SwampDonkey]

When I'm in a room of smokers it makes my head ache and I have to leave. I know several people who's folks smoked and the children have allergies. My cousins never did get allergies, but it's a wonder because my uncle smoked like a chimney. My folks and grandparents never smoked in my life time. Mom's dad used to smoke 50 years ago. Mom had two brothers that smoked and never lived to retirement. Mom grew up with a bunch of neighbors kids in a big family and everyone had/has cancer or heart disease. They would smoke in the hospital down to their last breath.

[jon12345]

NY has banned smoking in restaraunts, bars, and workplaces.  The last place I worked people had to smoke in the parking lot away from the building, and if people threw butts on the ground they had to pick them up.  Another place I worked did not allow smoking because of the mosaic virus could infect some of the plants there.  Even though smoking is banned in bars, a lot of people still smoke in them.  Their reasoning is if you don't like it, leave - there are bars that do enforce the rule and you can go to them.  In NY they are proposing another tax, that would provide additional funding to help build a cancer hospital and stop smoking programs.  I also know people who are on nebulizers and smoke, and a coworkers father almost burned because his oxygen tank wasn't off when he lit up.

[flip]

I think the initiative started when the states and govt. found out how much they were spending taking care of those that smoked for years and were dieing because of cancers and emphazima.  Now, if the states, cities whoever wants to pass a bill to regulate where people smoke fine great.  I don't think they have the right to tell a private business owner what can and can't be done inside their establishment (unless smoking is outlawed entirely).  I don't smoke, never have but when I walk into a bar or where ever I know what to expect.  I know I'll smell like an ash tray at the end of the night and may feel like poop but I know what I'm in for before  hand.  I don't need the govt. telling me what is and isn't good for me, next they will limit the number of beers I can buy a night...week...month. >:( 
Our city is considering an initiative to ban smoking in all public places, which I know for sure it will shut down several bars and restaraunts.  The greater good, huh :

[asy]

Let them smoke - as long as they can totally control the smoke, and I don't mean little signs that say "smoking section". 

Um... yeah... It's sorta like the peeing and non-peeing ends of a pool...   

asy :D

[EZ]

I quit about a year ago and glad of it. I dont miss it and hate the smell of smoke. If all the smokers new how I feel, health wise, I think they all would quit.
EZ

[Phorester]

Dadgumit, ASY, you just beat me to that... ;D  I was going to say that a currently popular comedian, can't remember his name,  said that having a smoking section in a public resturant is like having a peeing section in a public pool.

For the record, I voted to let the establishment decide.  Then let the marketplace dictate if he stays open or not.  I don't frequent bars or smokey resturants myself  anymore.  They lost me as a customer. That's the marketplace at work.   There's lots of nonsmoking resturants available for people who don't like it.

[Max sawdust]

Um... yeah... It's sorta like the peeing and non-peeing ends of a pool...   

asy :D

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D
I enjoy this discussion, Ron thanks for the Poll.
Max

[SwampDonkey]

I could never figure out those silly little signs on tables either. How does the smoke know it's not suppose to flow over into the non-smoking section with all these fans blowing it around the room?  :  :D :D

[Frickman]

A few months ago I visited a sick friend in a hospital in West Virginia. In a central courtyard the hospital had installed a "smoking room" for employees and visitors. It was a prefab type of building similar to office trailers you see at construction sites, but set up permanantly at ground level. It had some kind of exhaust system that filtered out the smoke.

You weren't allowed to smoke anywhere in the facility or on the grounds except in this room, where they contained all the fumes. What a great idea! I commended some of the staff for this smoking room. It completely seperates the smokers from everyone else.

[sawguy21]

Now they are talking about making smoking while driving in a car illegal, as too many people throw their butts out the window (cigarette ones, that is ;) )
asy :D

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D Seriously, I agree with the laws governing smoking in a confined area but I do have a problem with the goobermint saying butt out in yer own back yard because the smoke drifting over the fence distresses the neighbour while he is burning a sacrificial chicken on the bbq.

[Ironwood]

My Dad has smoked for ever, since he was probably 11-12. Still does at 63. We'll probably bury him for it. My Great grandma (Dad's side) live to be 92, she was a chain smoker and drank a case of beer a week  and hard liquer to boot, maybe Dad has the same genes. I despise the smell, gives me headaches, I bitch at the new counter guy at NAPA, tell him he's trying to kill me. I do like some pipe smoke, reminds me of my Grandpa (Mom's side). Go figure!

  I don't mind others smoking, as long as they don't contaminate MY AIR. I view it as natural selection, just like doing drugs, Hey knock yourself out buddy just don't drive under the influence, or come to my place looking for stuff to steal to support your habit( I'll guarentee that I will feel my, and my families lives are threatened ;)). Just don't contaminate MY AIR!!!!

[Don_Papenburg]

Smoke from most anything gives me a bad headache . I always hate the fall on a nice day I can't go to town because the air is filled with smoke .
But if the goverment bans smokeing  it won't be long and they will try to ban the use / posesion of guns.  Keep an eye on them varmits!

[Roxie]

I voted to let the business decide.  Let me preface my remarks by saying that my Grandfather was a tobacco farmer in the hills of North Carolina.  I grew up thinking that tobacco smelled wonderful.  Neither of my parents smoked, but I like the smell. 
My mind pictures a group of government officials saying, "Well, we got them to believe that smoking was the devil, now let's go after the overweight, it's not healthy and it offends me to see someone fat."  "We're spending billons of health dollars on obese people and their fat diseases like diabetes and heart attacks."  "Let's create separate rooms for fat people to eat and ban them from public buildings." 
Think that's far fetched?  If ya would have told me 30 years ago that they'd be treating people that smoked like the dregs of society, I wouldn't have believed ya! 
I'm allergic to most perfume.  Estee Lauder can give me an asthma attack like you wouldn't believe.  If I go somewhere and I smell real strong perfume, I move.  I don't blame the woman with the perfume on....it's not her fault.  She didn't wake up that morning and say, "I'm gonna wear some cologne that will make someone sick."  Where's our tolerance?  When will this end? 

[isassi]

You guys notice how everyone tries to shame a smoker? Especially in a public forum? I stood tall, I admit I smoke, and I am cutting back, goal of quitting, for my own health and peace of mind. My stance is still government intrusion. After the smokers have all quit or died and you guys seem to wish for, who is next? As roxie points out, the next target will be the obese. I do not have the statistics in front of me, but weight and lifestyle issues (no exersize) are killing many, perhaps more then direct causes of smoking. As I have heard them called around here, when the smoking nazis get done with eradicating smokers, the fat people will be next, then the lazy..(hard work never killed anyone)...who knows?..will health care costs (cited as the number one reason to eradicate smoking) of the elderly and infirm dictate death chambers? (to keep health care costs low?)...I know, I know, an extreme position, and foolish. I do get sick and tired of hearing it about smokers, smokers rights, and not in my space. Well, fine. I smoke, but in my own vehicle, or back yard. I do not smoke in customers job sites, friends homes, outside of theater doors, ect. I make a concious effort to not subject anyone to my smoke, I never have, I never will, and I never smoke around my kids. I do not throw butts down. This forum, which I have met some of the nicest people, must be disproportionate to normal in one regard. 20% of the population smokes, but I am the only admitted bad habit here, however, the population of the US is 290,000,000. There are less then 800,000 licenced pilots in the US, fewer A&P mechanics, and I bet there are 12 on this forum I have seen or read posted. What I am getting at is the odds of knowing a pilot or mechanic are much, much smaller then obviously, knowing a smoker. Hard to believe I am the only smoker here, and yes, I do hope to be smoke free soon, but not because ofr all the griping at me.  : Sorry for the rant.

[Deadwood]

Maine has new ad campaign going on right now and it starts out like this...

Breath easy...you're in Maine.

We have the toughest smoking laws in the country bar none and they are trying to make it even tougher. I think they are trying to pass a law now that will make it illegal to smoke in a vehicle with children inside. It raises some serious questions about Personal Rights and the ill affects of smoking with non-consenting children.

Personally, I like the idea. I decided to come into this world 2 months early and have under-developed lungs because of it. A person's right to smoke means I can't breath.

[crtreedude]

When you live by yourself - you can be whatever you like. You can leave the dishes in the sink, the bottles all over the place and you don't have to shave unless you want to.

But, when you choose to live with someone, well, lots of things change. This is part of the cost of being social. If you don't like it, you live by yourself.

Smoking is similar. As long as it is you and your lungs - go for it. Oh, and as long as I don't have to pay for  your health care. Freedom means that you can AFFORD your freedom in my book. I have the freedom NOT to work, if I can afford to - but I sure don't have the freedom to have you pay for me to sit around all day.

If you are in your own seat - well and good, but if you weigh 700 lbs and are seated next to me on a plane for the next 10 hours - can I complain?

If I walk out of a door at a building and cigarette butts are everywhere - if I am the owner of the building, I am liable to be angry. If I am a worker there, I just might decide to work somewhere else. If I own a business in there, I just might decide that is a bad first impression on my customers... Can the business owner sue the smokers for loss of revenue? It would be an interesting court case.

If your smoking has no impact on me, I have nothing to say, but if it does, I have a lot to say. If you cause my wife to be sick for 3 days because you decided to light up next to her, I might have more than just words with you... And that goes for stinky aftershave too. By the way, part of our employee training is - NO AFTERSHAVE OR PERFUME. Why? Because no one seems to know how much is enough. Sheesh.

My issue really has nothing to do with who kills themselves off - after all, we are all going to die eventually. No, it is only about your right to smoke interfering with anothers right to breathe. If someone's weight interferes with my right to snooze on a plane, I will be irritated too.

If a person drives like a maniac on a public road - I want to have the police pull him/her over. If you want to drive like a maniac on a race track - go for it. I might even buy tickets. Your life is your own to do with as you will - as long as you don't involve me.

As the world gets more crowded, we have to recognize that the space around us is populated by others - and act accordingly.

just my dos colones

[asy]

Wow, not sure I coulda said it better than Fred did.

* asy throws her dos colones in with Fred's.

Must add this:

I did NOT condemn anyone for smoking. Not ever. I sure condemn people for smoking around me, coz it makes me sick, as does heavy perfume, and truck exhaust, etc...

I understand addiction, I have my own addictions. Quite a number of them. Not one of them will harm you (except if you are sitting next to me on 10 hour flights, hehe, although I'm not 700lb).

Since getting together with Andy, I have put ALL my perfumes away, and have had to stop using scented deodorant, as even the smallest smells make him really sick. I can't open cleaning chemicals when he's home, and I can't vacuum if he's home or expected home in the next few hours...

I guess it's not telling you what to do, it's asking you not to do it to me.

asy :D

[Roxie]

Keep giving up your rights, pretty soon it will be the communist states of America

:D Sorry. 
I didn't interpret this poll as whether or not you are FOR smoking.  I saw it as whether or not you thought the government (federal or state) should make laws regarding using a legal substance on private property. 
Can't smoke in front of your children?  One step away from the government deciding who will have children, and dictating BY LAW how they are to be raised. 
There's a million irritating things out there.....let's make a law for all of them.  I got skin cancer from sun exposure when I was a child......time for a law requiring all parents to put sun screen on their children.  Childhood diabetes is at an all time high....time for a law forbidding the distribution of sugar to a minor. 

[crtreedude]

Actually Roxie, haven't you heard?

Not enough sun causes cancer too... Internal cancers from not enough Vitamin "D", so too much sunscreen is a problem...

[crtreedude]

If you neighbor likes Rap music played when you need to sleep - is it okay for the police to force him to stop?

I don't think this is anything new - as we learn more about the impact of certain behaviors, then expect those behaviors to be limited. The rule does not change - you can do what you wish - as long as it affects no one else.

As we learn that certain things affect others more than we knew, then the rules change to reflect that.

For example, asbestos was considered the "Wonder Mineral" - well, it also kills. And because of that, laws were passed so that schools, etc. had to spend money to remove it - or stop subjecting kids to it.

You are correct Roxie - the government can go too far. In my opinion, has gone too far in many things. It is a slippery slope and the only way NOT to slide down it is those who want rights, to respect the rights of others not to be infringed on. That has not happened with smoking in my opinion, hence, the gradual scaling back of this right.

[rebocardo]

I voted "dont know" because I don't know what is considered "public".  Is calling a business "public" redefining a piece of private property into "public" use?

Is public a city street, a city side walk, inside a city hall, ?

Is public a private business open to the general public that walks in?

I do not think there should be smoking inside truly "public" buildings such as city halls, government centers, etc. Just as there should be no spitting, swearing, or drawing on the walls. A gentleman should remove his hat when entering and passing the flag, though I would not want it a law.

A business should decide for itself if it wants to allow smoking and where.

imo, Smoking on public streets would be okay as long as there is a $0.25 return fee on each butt. I have never seen a smoker walking along the street put a butt out and save it. It usually goes in the gutter, swere hole, or unto the sidewalk.

I rather put up with my neighbor's annoying nasty habit then have my freedom eroded with another government law.

[SwampDonkey]

 smiley_beatnik

[Patty]

The less the government interferes with my life the better. No laws should be made to restrict legal activities. If I don't like certain behavior, I can leave. I do not allow cigs to be smoked in my home nor my office, but I only have the right to restrict activity in places that I own. Not everywhere I might want to go.

Being in a smoke filled room gives me a head ache, but so does being in a room full of busy bodies who want to make rules for my behavior.

I voted no to any government regulation for smoking.

[crtreedude]

As long as the Government allows me to thrash a jerk who makes my wife sick - I am all for it.  ;D