Smoking in public....should this be banned?

I smoke, but not cigarettes. I smoke those middle-eastern water pipes called hookahs. It is a much more pleasant smoke, and no addictive since only 0.5% nicotine makes through the filtering water, and no tar is present in the smoke. The tobacco is soft and wet, and mixed with molasses and fruits, and there are flavours like apple, arabic coffee, cola, banana, etc.

here's a picture:


about the topic, I do believe that smoking in indoor public places should be banned. It basically comes down to a conflict of rights: the smoker's right to smoke and the non-smoker's right to breathe clean air. I believe the non-smoker's right has precedence.

[edit on 17-11-2004 by General Zapata]

Originally posted by The Teller

Originally posted by ThEeNd
e know it kills you, so if you want to die just shoot yourself

I'm an ardent anti-smoker and I still feel your post is a little too harsh. I too do not agree with people even smoking in their own space as it is killing them. People are ambushed into smoking, and then become smokers; they hate people trying to stop them doing something they cannot stop on their own. So don't be too harsh.

It is called addiction! Yes, many smokers don't even realize they are addicted. They will tell you that they enjoy smoking so why should they quit? They "enjoy smoking" because they are addicted and they have to smoke to feel normal.

It is not easy to quit!

I can understand not smoking at work, i live in california where you really can't smoke inside a public building. Does banning smoking affect the business of a bar or club? Yes it does i only go to places that have a patio area i can smoke at. and i personally prefer meeting smokers in public to nonsmokers. It a great way to meet people, huddled in a corner , like some sort of outcast, begging for a light. its great really. I also understand banning smoking at a family resturaunt, i have never lit up next to a child. for that matter i don't drink around kids either. now waht i dont' is before there were bars that were Non-smoking only and they did fine. so why not have signs that say Smoking aloud , at a bar or club? as for smoking a hookah That totally rocks , especially when it's flavored vannilla or mint . anyway i gotta go cough up a lung

yeah most people drink because because they say they enjoy it, have you ever seen a person that drinks every night for forty years? alcohol causes a lack of REM sleep which then leads to emotional problems. Not to mention it kills your liver, increases the chances of heart disease. and alot of other fun stuff.

I used to work at StarBucks and you know what , Those people are as bad as smokers, actually worse. Because they Are moody and angry until they get their morning cofee, or evening or afternoon, or mid afternoon. i saw people going in 6times a day to drink down triple expressos. and if you got their order wrong they acted like they wanted to kill you. now it wasn't all of them, but enough of them to make you dislike hardcore cofee drinkers.

THere are alot of things that are addictive that we used everyday, now if you'll excuse i have to go fix myself my 12th cup of cofee today, if i don't i get headaches adn the shivers

[Edited on 17-11-2004 by bordnlazy]

Originally posted by bordnlazy
as for smoking a hookah That totally rocks , especially when it's flavored vannilla or mint . anyway i gotta go cough up a lung

haha. yes it does. I just got a jar of Al-Fakher golden seal eskandaraini apple. Holy $hit! Need a towel to mop up the drool, it smells so good!

I Smoke and I am a Proud American!

Originally posted by The Teller
Oh right so Neanderthal man went outside his cave at 11am for a cigarette break then did he?
God I need a smoke!!!!!

yes, in fact. Except, it wasn't a cigarette, but just dried tobacco wrapped with leaves or something. Later, they used pipes. 6000 BC I think was the earliest confirmed instance of smoking tobacco

I am with Bill Hicks on this one. I want to see the violent results of this inane behaviour by the Australian Govt (imagine all those P@##ed off smokers in peakhour).
As smoking gradually becomes outlawed I see my demise in a shootout with police over the possesion of my last packet of Peter Stuyvestants.

Allow me to expand on my last post of

I Smoke and I am a Proud American.

circa 1988 my brothers and I, all smokers, became a bit fed up with the anti-smoking propaganda that was propping up out of seemingly nowhere.

At this time there was no one to really *hate*
There was no bad wars to protest, no bad politicians to protest, no nothing at the time.

But the people have to have something to hate yes? I was there, I lived it.

1988 was the year it began to persecute the smokers.

I will never forget the day I stood waiting for a bus and smoking a cig. A woman came up and said "Don't you know that will kill ya"

Just then a big truck came by and halted to a stop whilst spouting out a huge black fume from its tailpipe.

I glanced at the woman to see if she even noticed this, and she did not apparently. She continued to chide me for my little plume of smoke.

Soon after the bus came, we both boarded and headed to the Industrial District. Passing by the HUGE plumes of thick black smoke coming from the factories she did not complain at all.

As the driver let me off at my stop, I preceded to walk the few blocks to my place of employment. Gazing back at the downtown I saw a huge yellow haze of smog.

Leespitfire
You have a valid point. I am sick of people saying why ban smoking when cars emit dangerous fumes, facories create pollution etc. So what? So beacuse there are many forms of pollution we should not tackle any of them.
Ban cigs beacuse it is a personal addiction in whilch hundreds of thousands of people die elongated and agonising deaths. It is anti-social and unhealthy. But with that said it is okay now as it HAS been banned in the whole of England (public confined spaces). So let's tackle fuel emissions better. In the UK if you spout black fumes, or excessive amounts of exhaust you can be fined and the car made unroadworthy until a cat converter is added. But let's promote this further, better more efficent fulels as a long term aim (I mean we would not goo to war over oil if cars ran on electricity). But in the short term much cleaner fuels. This is being tackled by fuel companies all the time and legislation and taxes to address this problem.There are many many laws about industrial pollution in this country, But a quater million pound fine to say ICI for polluting rivers is like taking milk money from them. Let us rememeber that the enviroment is not just about global warming, it is about the air we breathe too.Let's all sign up to a treaty like the Kyoto one or an improved version. The problem is big industry has such lobbying power with the US government this won't happen. Maybe global warming will not be the new armeggedon, but it could be, and the effects are apparent now to the world to see. But a treaty like Kyoto could at least give us all a bit more clean air to breathe.
So America itself is blowing huge puffs of smoke in the face of the world and taking no responsibilty for its actions. Now that is the land of the free!

Smoking is anti social? Please explain what you mean.

Smoking is unhealthy? So is many many other things, but the smoking is what is being attacked.

Why you ask? Because they (the big drug companies) have developed replacements for nicotine addiction. Thereby they can sell you a pill or a patch or whatever and make the cash instead of the tobacco companies, whom as we speak are getting paid out.

Once the drug companies can figure out a way to make a patch to help overeaters feel satisfied without having to eat, (that would cost twice as much as just eating). Then maybe you will see what is going on here.

Originally posted by JamesBlonde
As smoking gradually becomes outlawed I see my demise in a shootout with police over the possesion of my last packet of Peter Stuyvestants.

not likely! The government makes too much money from tobacco taxes. hey impose jus enough regulations on smoking in public to get the anti-smoking lobby off their backs, and thats as far as they'll go. Think about it. In lebanon, a pack of cigarettes costs $1.50 australian. 52% of the population (not adults, THE POPULATION) are defined as smokers. Even with that high a number of smokers, they don't make that much money due to the low population. However, there are no controls on advertising by tobacco companies, and this is where the lebanese government makes it money. sickening, really.

I was going to join in this debate a while ago but...Teller ,you're doing a great job mate.
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you have said .
Keep going my friend.

A fellow scouser.

Cheers GEORGE. Nice to see that the intelligence in here not only leans heavily toward the UK, but the true capital of England, Liverpool.

This is my solution for non-smokers.
Respro


Maybe they can start fitting them with straw holes for when you’re down the pub.

Yes it should.

I have been DJing in clubs off and on for 14months now and I find smoke one of the most annoying and disguisting things there is.

Let alone so people can have fun they put other peoples health at risk [and their own.]
It makes peoples stink.
It makes peoples clothes stink.
In public places lighters and cigarettes are used far to often to set things on fire for a "joke". [The amount of holes in the sofas at the clubs ebcause people put their cigarettes out on them.]

There are tons of problems wrong with smoking.

Most importantly is what they do to other peoples health.

The tiny minority should not punish the majority because they want to kill themselves. [And from working in a club and pub, the majority of people do not want smokers there.]

I smoke and I agree that smoking should be banned in public places.

What should happen is there should be smoking clubs and pubs an anyone who doesn't smoke or wnat to breathe it in should go elsewhere.

I guarantee you though...that most of the interesting, fun and care free people will be in the smoking venues.

Such is life...lots of humans like a smoke and a chat and they are fully aware of the consequences.

If you could list the ideas and plans that have been formulated and thought about over a smoke or two we would have very long list indeed.

Smoking is sociable..leave it the hell alone

Originally posted by Odium
The tiny minority should not punish the majority because they want to kill themselves. [And from working in a club and pub, the majority of people do not want smokers there.]

Perhaps at the clubs and pubs you frequent, but back where I'm from it's the exact opposite. They passed a public smoking ban and I know of at least one bar that shut down as a direct result of loosing business. Everyone else pretty much just ignored the law once they saw that. The bar my dad owns back there almost lost every customer he had because they made everyone smoke outside for a while. The cops would come around even when nobody complained--every customer in the bar and all the employees are smoking, no one has a problem with it in there, but we all need tickets.

As a smoker, I stopped going pretty much everywhere but his bar when they passed the ban. I used to spend most of my time and money at restaurants, hanging out or doing homework. I'd just as soon stay home and smoke at my own leisure than give a company money so I can go stand outside every 20 minutes. Most of the smokers I knew felt exactly the same.

I don't think it should be completely outlawed; maybe give benefits or tax breaks to businesses who don't allow smoking, or make the establishment purchase a permit of some kind. But I feel it should be up to the business owner, at least with bars. If you don't like the fact that I let my customers smoke, then don't come in. If I loose my business because there's more non-smokers in my area than smokers, then that's my problem. And if you'd rather sit around and whine about the smoke than hang out and relax, then I'd rather you not come in anyways.

Just my two cents.

BobDylan, how do you explain the clubs which have banned smoking and able to get more people than normal? In fact the place I work at, banned smoking two months back. [I DJ at three different clubs.] and since they banned smoking, they have had the place full to capacity every night.

Many people, do not like smoking. It is a minority of people in clubs that smoke and a vast majority of people dislike it. [Dancing on Drugs, study.]

well, personally, I don't like chlorine, can they ban that from the water, it makes my hands break out.....and it also demages peoples lungs if they routinely go into indoor pool areas....
and I don't reallly like pinesol, matter of fact alot of people are like me and have adverse reactions from it. can we at least ban that from the hospitals?
and, well, I'm back being a printer and well, I can smell those chemicals all night long while I am trying to sleep. It stinks, and according to the reports I've read from places like the EPA and Osha, those chemicals cause asthma! can we ban that from my workplace? maybe we could print with water colors instead.
and then there is those danged campfires burning in the summer and fireplaces in the winter!! they throw off more pollution that cigarettes ever dreamt of doing!! they should really be banned!
and, well, the perfume really must go!!
But, ya know, I was chatting with a person from amish country awhile back. he made a good point. he doesn't drive a car, and quite frankly, the cars spook his horses was too often. he lives in a nice little quiet community with others of the same faith. they were wondering if maybe they could....um...ban the cars from the highway that goes through it?
and then there is that child in la, she really wishes that we'd ban the buses, it's causing her lungs not to form properly and well, her asthma is keeping her home way too often.
then there's that lound music coming from the cars that go by my house, I know, on it's own, it looks more like just an irratation than anything. but when it's keeping you up all hours of the night and well, you are becomming sleep deprived because of it, it becomes a healthrisk...can we ban car radios?
and well, people bother me, so can we ban YOU!!

SORRY, I still think it's just a case of scapegoating. the pollution that we are pumping in the air is making many of us sick, and heaven forbid we should have to give up any of those nice comforts that causes that pollution, so it's just easier to blame a select group of habits....smoking, fast food resturants, ect....
sooner or later, the smokers will be gone, who will be the next scapegoat?