Attention citizens! You will enforce this no-smoking law!

This is ridiculous. If smoking is so bad then just ban it for heavens sake. Instead they ban a plant that doesnt have any where near the effects as smoking it actually has more beneficial factors to it.


I am a smoker, more of a social one when I drink and I always ask those around me if they mind I smoke. If they do I don't smoke. I am not a hardcore smoker. I can take it or leave it.


I will never understand why they make all these rules on smoking yet keep it legal. Oh wait they make too much money off it being legal between sales and medical. It's stupid. Smoking is bad we all know it and those who smoke choose to and yes it's addiciting but for me it isn't. I guess I dont have an addictive personality for it but I know people who can't stop, their body goes thru withdrawls if they dont have a cigarette. If it is so harmful and they want to ban it being done all over the place then why not just make the damn things illegal? Cigarettes and alcohol and the worst legal things out there for you!!

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
This is ridiculous. If smoking is so bad then just ban it for heavens sake. Instead they ban a plant that doesnt have any where near the effects as smoking it actually has more beneficial factors to it.

They'll lose a huge amount of tax revenue if they banned smoking. Smokers AND Drinkers for that matter pay in most states huge taxes for their pleasures. It's a catch 22. Having said that, the amount of Medical expenditure for people dying from lung cancer etc who do not have Medical insurance costs the Government Billions. On the flip side of that Billions go back into the system for R&D on related Medical research.

So there you have it folks.....

Here in the U.K. such laws have been passed. It began many many years ago when smoking was banned on public transport such as buses and taxis and more recently it has been enforced on nearly all pubs, resturants, bus stops, shopping malls and even public telephone boxes. The problem-reaction-solution formula is a winner everytime. Local councils across the country put up thousands of stickers every where stating it is against the law to smoke in the areas where the stickers are put. There were many who protested but it made no difference. As always the price of cigarrettes went up, twice, and will do again. and again.

Hi Group, I wanted to weigh in on this one as the town I live in has actually had this very same law in effect for about 3 years now.

I'll start by saying that I am a smoker of tobacco products. I consider myself a conscientious smoker as I always step away from others, to the fringe of said area, I dont leave butts behind, They go in the trash or my pocket.
I'll be the first to acknowlege that most smokers I watch will grind their butt into the earth even if they are standing next to an ashtray, but in my opinion that is not solely because they are a smoker, it is more because they dont see the value in properly disposing of trash.

How this new ordinance affected me- I stopped going to public places, parks, beaches and such. I opted for lesser frequented and in some cases way cooler places to bring the little ones to play or swim.

How this new ordinance affected the town- Probably not much as there always will be the people who just dont care where, when and how often and whether or not it violates laws.

Soon I hear, In NY at least, People will begin to be ticketed for smoking while driving if they have children in the car. Its a no brainer to me that smoking in a small box with your kids is not a good idea, but it just seems as though smokers "rights" are being slowly and surely chipped away at.

I think it is easy for this to happen as most people will not publicly fight for the right to do something that is harmful to their health, and ostrisizes them from the popular way of thinking.

Just my 2 cents

Originally posted by eNumbra

Still, said Norman Siegel, the civil liberties lawyer, the most likely reaction will be “go to hell, or stronger language.” However, Mr. Siegel hastened to say, it is a common misconception that civil libertarians should be on the side of smokers.

“There is no constitutional right to smoke,” he said. “People have asked me whether we can bring litigation to challenge some of these prohibitions. It does not work, because government has general welfare powers to enact legislation affecting people’s health.” So the bottom line, he said, is that making the ban work would indeed be a matter of civility.

Last I checked cigarettes are still LEGAL; so until you change that we do in fact have a constitutional right to smoke.

The founding fathers smoked, I'm sure if they didn't want us smoking they would have written something about it into the constitution rather than be concerned with real issues: like freedom, liberty, and not being an as* towards your fellow Americans.

Drinking is legal, yet there are restrictions on who when and where etc. one can imbibe. Why are cigarettes special? I cannot drink in some public beaches, booze is legal.

reply to post by Adamanteus


Some pollutants trigger some illnesses, and some don't dont, from allergies to asthma.

reply to post by TrgiclyHip


A ticket for smoking in a car with children present is not an infringement nor a stomp of your rights. It is a ticket for civil behavior the city has deemed finable. You still retain the right to smoke.

Yes, and all these "Holier-than-thous" having ticked someone off for smoking in their vicinity will then climb into their car and pollute their way around town without a care in the world.

I don`t smoke and never have but I hate all this "ban everything" attitude.

What happened to "live and let live"?

I'm a smoker. And a drinker. And I eat bacon, salt, red meat, watch ninja movies and, on occasion, I pass gas.

When am I going to be against the law?

Seriously? Most will comply because it is the law. Like gun ownership, most will obey even the most draconin laws.
It's the criminals that don't care. And if I'm ever in New York, then I may be considered one as well.

It'd be interesting if any ATS folks live in New York and would want to test this out.

reply to post by exroyalnavy

Meh. A lot of the holier-than-thous in NYC take public transportation. But that's neither here nor there.

What happened to live and let live? Other than politicization? I guess in some places, where it's more crowded, what you do impacts more people, and while most people are considerate with their habits and observant about their immediate environment, some are not. This in turn makes others angry to the point of "doing something" about it. Pretty typical human behavior.

The question is, how far will it go. The person who feels it's their right to enforce the no smoking ban on the street, park, beach etc.. will probably feel it's ok to enforce it just about anywhere they go. I am a cigar smoker and don't smoke them just anywhere, not even in my own house. I am in my back yard, cup of coffee sitting on the table, a good book in hand and contentment in my heart. I also had a busybody neighbor [ our yards are 100ft apart ] who thought it was her duty to loudly announce that smoking was bad enough , but cigars were the worst and how could anyone stand that smell and it must taste horrible and blahblahblah. [Manners forbid typing my response] THESE are the ones who will tie up 911 call centers with their unwarranted calls about a law that should not exist, and is largely unenforceable. Yes I know that there are smokers who would light up in a kinder garden classroom if they were there and wanted a smoke. But the majority of smokers, I have noticed, will use common courtesy in when and where they smoke. Wait and see, there will be violent reactions to this.

In this clip, Charles Bronson thought they pulled out lighters for their cigarettes. If it were only knives, then they might have survived.

Originally posted by hotbakedtater
Drinking is legal, yet there are restrictions on who when and where etc. one can imbibe. Why are cigarettes special? I cannot drink in some public beaches, booze is legal.

The difference between 10 drinks and 10 cigarettes.


Every time I see someone banning smoking outdoors it's because some smokers are littering. Solution: Enforce littering laws and provide proper receptacles.

Regardless the public drinking laws are just as hypocritical and stupid. You can get drunk at a baseball or football game, but not on a beach? This is the kind of thing we need to be taking legislators to task for.

reply to post by DAVID64

Your neighbor took it way too far. That would make me want to move. You're right...that's exactly the kind of person who will misinterpret things, not consider the circumstances, and probably not even want to discuss it, who then will escalate it to the level no one wants to be at. They're rare but they are everywhere. What this kind of person also does is pave the way for intolerance in another person. You may be patient the first time it happens to you, but that patience wears thinner and thinner, and soon even someone who maybe is being polite gets the "treatment."

reply to post by ~Lucidity


I agree I am a smoker and I am very responsible, it's gotten so bad, I usually just go back to my car to smoke a cigarette I feel if I light up in the wrong place I may be lynched, I am not exaggerating either. I am glad I don't live in NY lol New Yorkers are a lot scarier than Floridians Fo' Sho'!

reply to post by ldyserenity

Wanna bet they'll be after smoking in cars at all next? (We already can't smoke in rental cars and if children are in the car.) First they'll try to say something like, you have to keep your windows shut, and then then the approach will be from an insurance angle, either to make more money on riders and premiums or to stop it altogether. I can hear it now...more smokers' cars blow up after a wreck!

I loooove smoking.

Don't make your dislike of it my problem and I won't make mine yours. I have a right as human being to whatever the hell I want with my life, whether you disagree with it or not.

People can smoke if they want. Mean, seriously this has become like the new hate. Why don't you just paint me black and load me off at KKK meeting.

reply to post by SlovenlyGhost

Becoming? They've been after smokers for a long time now...let me guess and say at least 20 years? It's just getting worse, which of course many predicted. Point is, as someone said, it's a legal product that some people love and some even abuse and whose by-products annoy the hell out of other people. Until it's outright outlawed (not likely) we have to keep up these charades and compromises, which often bring side-effects and unintended or unanticipated consequences of their own.

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

Wanna bet they'll be after smoking in cars at all next? (We already can't smoke in rental cars and if children are in the car.) First they'll try to say something like, you have to keep your windows shut, and then then the approach will be from an insurance angle, either to make more money on riders and premiums or to stop it altogether. I can hear it now...more smokers' cars blow up after a wreck!

edit on 2/17/2011 by ~Lucidity because: (no reason given)

Well if that ever happens, I will sell my car and become a hermit, I will stay in my house and smoke, until they ban that too, then Well, I don't know what options I will have? I guess I would be forced to quit, as will many others and the Tobacco companies won't be all too happy about that!

reply to post by Adamanteus

Not long ago I was outside a resturant waiting in line for a table. So this extremely ugly, fat lady waddles over to a smoker and starts berating him for "ruining my health." It was like watching a comedy show.

Very few human beings are guiltless for commiting the securlar unhealthy act mortal sin. That includes Bloomberg and all the other health nazis populating the cities today.