Should Public smoking be banned?

[DUDECOW]

We all know smoking is bad for you, I say smoke all you want- I don't care if you die. I know its addictive, hard to bite the habbit- I should know, half my family is dead now from it, but should PUBLIC smoking be illegal? Second hand smoke kills too, Not as much but still it kills them! No one deserves to die for something they didn't do.
Secondhand tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds.

Direct quote from cancer.org-------------------

Secondhand tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds. More than 60 of these are known or suspected to cause cancer.

Secondhand smoke can be harmful in many ways. In the United States alone, each year it is responsible for:

-An estimated 35,000 to 40,000 deaths from heart disease in people who are not current smokers
-About 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmoking adults
-Other respiratory problems in nonsmokers, including coughing, phlegm, chest discomfort, and reduced lung function
-150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in children younger than 18 months of age, which result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations
-Increases in the number and severity of asthma attacks in about 200,000 to 1 million asthmatic children

I myself was subjected to second hand smoke asa child, and I have a respiratory problem, i have chronic bronchitis and i was hostpitalized 3 times from getting sick from it. I personally am distgusted by people who are smoking.

I used to help out at a hostpital for children and cancer patients, when i walk through the door, i'm bonbarded by smoke from the outside smokers, most of them doctors. Pretty hipocritical right there

[stafffighter]

Here you can't smoke in any workplace. You have to go out into the parking lot which is oh so much fun in winter.

[rainmaker]

It's banned from any public buildings in Georgia. Bars, clubs, it doesn't matter - if you want to light up, you have to stand outside.

[uberpyro911]

Public smoking should be banned everywhere across the united states. Its a filthy thing. The smoke sticks to your cloths and stays inside the building and stinks it up. Plus its very bad for you. MY mother smokes and i cant stand it >_< I say banning cigarrettes all together sounds like a good idea. It would DEFINATLY make a healthier america

[rainmaker]

At 7/9/06 05:43 PM, uberpyro911 wrote: I say banning cigarrettes all together sounds like a good idea. It would DEFINATLY make a healthier america

Oh, smoking cigarrettes would still happen. And the crime rate would increase.
We tried a similiar thing with probibition.

[Korriken]

I'm all for a ban on public smoking. personally i find the smell to kill my appetite, and i HATE IT when im in a restaurant, enjoying a meal, and some selfish, inconsiderate asshole lights up and i wind up smelling it. or worse, the people who go into places, with like 5 or 6 buddies and they sit around chain smoking. I've seen people thrown out of restaurants for producing TOO MUCH smoke.

smoking is a habit i have never understood. you get nothing from it, and it shortens your life. people who smoke know this, and continue to do it. even teenagers, who have not been exposed to smoking, walk into a place, buy a pack, then start up, knowing that it is bad for them. I asked several people when i was in high school and most of em did it so they would look cool in front of their friends. some friends....

[rockizzy]

well, i dont really care when people smoke, cuz its their life. if they wanna have a disgusting habit, whatever. but i dont really like going to clubs and bars where everybody smokes and after a while my eyes burn and i start to cry because of all the smoke, and when i get home and clean my nose... i find obvious traces of second hand smoke. so i dont wanna know what my lungs look like just from breathing in the air that smokers have contaminated. and i dont see why i should stop going places where they play great music just because people smoke there. so that could be an argument FOR banning smoking in public places. but then again... i think laws like that are sorta creepy. i mean, if you stop people from smoking in the public, whats next? banning drinking in public? banning bikinis in public cuz little kids could see it? i dont know...

[darKnite92]

It's banned from all public buildings in California. So I don't deal with it too much. I do believe other states/ countries should join in the ban since there's now Nicolite so they don't need to smoke to get their nicotene.

[peedee]

I hate how governments create "blanket" solutions which do nothing.

"You can't smoke in these places:

Your house.
The bar.
Your car.
Outside.

But you can still buy smokes."

[ImmoralLibertarian]

Well, Scotland has just introduced a total public smoking ban. If it’s a building were public frequent and more than 50% covered by a roof then smoking is illegal. Individuals will be fined £50 and businesses £1000.

And despite people crying that bars and clubs would suffer, they’ve seemed to have an increase in business… more non-smokers (who make up about 75% of us) are going out because now they don’t come home stinking off smoke.

Personally I wasn’t that bothered, as I smoke pot and put a little tobacco in my joints I didn’t want to be a hypocrite.

But I disagree when people say this is a personal freedom Vs public health issue, it’s a personal freedom Vs personal freedom issue. And those that don’t smoke outnumber those that do, its simple maths.

[peedee]

I'd say it's like seatbelt laws.

There is a seatbelt law to protect you, and their should be smoking laws to protect you AND other people.

[snoboarder199]

In NY theres a ban in smoking in restaurant, but I wouldn't care if they stopped smoking out on the streets because I've learned to just live with it.

[DUDECOW]

At 7/9/06 05:53 PM, rockizzy wrote: whats next? banning drinking in public? banning bikinis in public cuz little kids could see it?

Well is it harming us as in the people not doing it? And they can't ban bikinis- well if a fat chick is wearing one that hell yea, bann fat chick bikinis

[Buffalow]

Already banned in New York State.

Dead Issue.

[MortifiedPenguins]

At 7/9/06 04:55 PM, stafffighter wrote: Here you can't smoke in any workplace. You have to go out into the parking lot which is oh so much fun in winter.

You can't smoke in a parking lot anymore.

Public area.

[DUDECOW]

Anyways, i mean if smoking is legal, why isn't marrajauna?there isn't any second hand smoke from it cept for getting high

[MortifiedPenguins]

At 7/9/06 08:41 PM, DUDECOW wrote: Anyways, i mean if smoking is legal, why isn't marrajauna?there isn't any second hand smoke from it cept for getting high

Because the government doesn't want pot to be legal.

[fli]

For many...
yeah--

But not smoking outside of a bar?
Kinda excessive.

I mean... even though I don't smoke... I think we should be fair.

[Slat]

Lol best thing about being a smoker is that you dont give a SHIT about people around you..

[rainmaker]

At 7/9/06 09:50 PM, Slat wrote: Lol best thing about being a smoker is that you dont give a SHIT about people around you..

Excuse me, I know many people who give a SHIT about other people despite the fact that they are smokers.

[ImmoralLibertarian]

At 7/9/06 09:50 PM, Slat wrote: Lol best thing about being a smoker is that you dont give a SHIT about people around you..

Exactly why a law is needed for what should be common courtesy.

[rockizzy]

At 7/9/06 08:38 PM, DUDECOW wrote:

At 7/9/06 05:53 PM, rockizzy wrote: whats next? banning drinking in public? banning bikinis in public cuz little kids could see it?

Well is it harming us as in the people not doing it? And they can't ban bikinis- well if a fat chick is wearing one that hell yea, bann fat chick bikinis

well, you dont have to use the "harming us"-argument there, i think. if you say instead that you ban smoking in public to make it harder for smokers to smoke and easier for them to stop, so that youre trying to protect them from themselves, you could also ban alcohol with the same argument. cuz alcohol can be dangerous as well. and during the prohibition times they used the "harming us"-argument anyway, saying that alcohol abuse could lead to domestic violence and stuff. drunk people are more likely to do stupid stuff, like the other day, when some soccer hooligans kicked out a window on the train i was riding. fun! and maybe the public spaces should have ratings, like movies. so in certain rated areas kids arent allowed to enter because there girls could wear bikinis and hot pants. which is obviously dangerous for kids to see.

[ImmoralLibertarian]

Why is kids seeing girls in bikinis and hot pants a dangerous thing? I’m sure kids see their parents coming out of the shower or shit like that… I know I did when I was wee.

And what about nudists colonies?

[SmilingAssasin]

I laughed when smoking was banned in NY, because what the hell is a ciggarette going to do to you that the exhaust fumes from 60 taxis at a red light arent?

[rockizzy]

At 7/10/06 07:47 AM, o_r_i_g_i_n_a_l wrote: Why is kids seeing girls in bikinis and hot pants a dangerous thing?

i dont know! cuz people are weird! i was hanging out at the house of a mormon family in utah once, and we were watching lara croft. they had some weird device installed in their tv to bleep out four letter words. but there werent any four letter words and instead other stuff was bleeped out. lara crofts pants were pretty short though... and mormon mom was discussing the shape of lara crofts breasts with me. erm... so my point was... that... erm... when i went to school in the states, i almost got send home once because my "midriff" was showing. so apparently some people do think that things which seem normal to normal people are dangerous and should be banned.

And what about nudists colonies?

hahaha... when i was little, like in fourth grade, we went to a class trip to some island off the german west coast. there we walked down the beach from the northern to the southern end of the island, walking right through the nudist part of the beach. which wasnt really shielded or anything, there was just a little sign saying it was the nudist part. we were all pretty shocked when we saw all those naked men.

im sorry for all those stories, i dont think drinking in public or wearing bikinis should be banned. im not so sure smoking in public should be banned, either. im sorta worried that if the government manages to get through laws affecting millions of people resulting in their discrimination and no one cares, its sorta likely that other, more crazy laws could get passed as well.

[natwel]

i don't care what you think

ALL smoking should be banned

[Dzex]

At 7/10/06 08:41 AM, natwel wrote: i don't care what you think

Then don't participate in discussions.

ALL smoking should be banned

Never!

[kidray76]

Georgia has some good smoking laws also. A person can't smoke so many feet from an entrance of a public building and no smoking in restaurants. Of course, I think there should be smoking bans. If a person can't take 10 steps outside to smoke, sounds to me they are addicts and need counseling, but If u do decided to smoke. Only thing i ask is be over 18 (just because thats the law), don't do it arounds kids even if they are outside, and support your own habbit with your own money.

[ReiperX]

Smoking in publinc buildings I fully support being banned. Dispite what smokers say about it hurting businesses, I was reading the other day that business actually increased in many of those areas. Its been a few weeks I don't remember what articale on CNN I was reading.

A lot of smokers say that its not harmful, yet its been shown it is. Is it as harmful as smoking? Most certainly not, but its still not good. But I'm not so worried about your people who are patrons to bars, clubs and restaraunts as I am to the people who work there. Yes, they could get another job, but depending on their education, age ect. its not as easy as that. And it is putting them into a position where their lungs are being needlessly harmed.

[Elfer]

At 7/10/06 08:02 AM, SmilingAssasin wrote: I laughed when smoking was banned in NY, because what the hell is a ciggarette going to do to you that the exhaust fumes from 60 taxis at a red light arent?

Make you smell like tobacco?