Banning Smoking in Public Parks

[DominoKett]

How do you all feel about the rapid spreading laws concering banning smoking in public areas and the rising discussion of doing away with it in public parks.

personally i am against the banning of smoking. i believe it is a right to freedom a smoker should be entitled to and that the smokers habbit is harming none other than him/herself when smoking in a park.

[odin_dax]

I'm for the banning. There's nothing I hate more than the smell of cigarettes. Just a whiff of it makes me want to puke. It's banned/being banned in public areas mainly for that reason. Smoking outside still has the same secondhand effects. A lot of times people just throw the butts on the grass or sidewalk, that's also very disgusting.

Yeah, they have the right to smoke, but not at the cost of everybody else!

[Th0r]

Yea, I'm for the ban...

Public Transport went to total shite in my area because of people lighting up in a bus full of people. I'm not against smoking [Enjoying the occasional light up myself... ;)] I just feel people should only do it in their own spaces...

[savage_beauty]

Personally I?m for the ban. I think smokers should smoke if they wish but away from the crowds. Having many asthmatic friends its good to know i can go into town with them for some fun without our night being ruined by them having an asthma attack caused by smokers. My family often have pub or restaurant meals. So it?s great for me knowing we can eat our meals without choking on second-hand smoke. I think the smokers should still be allowed to smoke however; it would be foolish and damage the economy to put a ban on smoking altogether.

[torcher]

against. busses and other public transportation i can understand. parks, other outdoor recreational areas should be open to smoking just for the fact that its outside. say they ban smoking outside, such as in parks and whatnot, big deal. i'll just go to my car, light one up, roll down my window and blow the smoke outside. banning smoking in places isnt going to get people to stop and think about the damage they are doing to their bodies or to the atmosphere.

[odin_dax]

Parks get crowded. How would you like to take your family down one day and have a bunch of smokers puffing away around you? 90% of smokers throw their butts anywhere but in a garbage. I certainly don't want that kind of trash around playgrounds. Wind carries smoke and ash, too.

If you're a smoker, fine. I really don't care what someone else does to their health. A park is an image of health and sport. Smoking just doesn't go along with it.

Here, in Europe, I've waited outside for various reasons, and when someone outside is smoking even ten feet away, I can definitely smell it; thus, inhaling the toxins.

Ban it!

[Esophagus]

My big thing with smoking in parks is that there always ends up being butts everywhere. I work in a liquor store that is attached to the bar. Where I live they recently banned smoking indoors, even in bars, so there is always a huge amount of butts on the ground. As gross as that is in a parking lot, it looks even worse in a public park.

I agree with the indoor bans because it smells, outdoor for litter. Really, I'm just not sure why smoking is legal (not saying it should be illegal, just that they seem to be pushing smokers into a corner).

[Zippo]

No one has the right to clean air.

[Th0r]

No one has the right to clean air.

And how did you come to that conclusion?

[headcase]

Probably a reference to the fact that air isn't clean and a "right to clean air" is impossible.

[Zippo]

Probably a reference to the fact that air isn't clean and a "right to clean air" is impossible.

This

[Th0r]

Probably a reference to the fact that air isn't clean and a "right to clean air" is impossible.

Eh good point.

I took that the wrong way...

[UKSWAT]

A right to air that isn't being unnecessarily poisoned by your disgusting habit?

[DoubleTShiftty]

Personally I think banning smoking in Public Houses (Pubs) has taken some of the whole experience away...
But Public Parks I can understand.

[.VX]

people just throw the butts on the grass or sidewalk

That's not an issue of smoking, that's littering.

banning smoking in places isnt going to get people to stop and think about the damage they are doing to their bodies or to the atmosphere.

I don't think the government actually wants people to quit. They get millions, perhaps even billions of dollars from the tax. They just to give the impression that they want people to quit.

[odin_dax]

That's not an issue of smoking, that's littering.



I don't think the government actually wants people to quit. They get millions, perhaps even billions of dollars from the tax. They just to give the impression that they want people to quit.

Lung cancer isn't from smokes, it's from malfunctioning cells. :spank:

[7eleven mafia]

Lung cancer isn't from smokes, it's from malfunctioning cells. :spank:

no but smoking puts toxins in ur body which can make the cells malfunction

[odin_dax]

no but smoking puts toxins in ur body which can make the cells malfunction

So you see my point!

[M_Rommel]

A right to air that isn't being unnecessarily poisoned by your disgusting habit?

I'd have to say that this argument has several levels. On the surface, there's just the general consensus (which I disagree with, frankly) that smoking is a "disgusting habit." I don't think smoking is either disgusting or appealing, it's simply neutral in my estimation. Then there's the philosophical issue that concerns ethics, or wherein rights are derived. The principle question, as I see it, is whether or not there exists a right for someone to be able to breathe clean air.

But these sorts of philosophical concern are not things I want to really get into. Haven't thought about it, really. As a personal matter, I used to chew tobacco, and it was really unfortunate the level of animosity towards smokers. Pretty soon it could be conceivable that persons heckle and deride obese persons. I'd rather live in a world filled with smokers than in one that doesn't have the least semblance of common decency towards fellow human beings, frankly.

[TheKillingGame]

I don't mind smoking bans in restaurants. What I can't stand is smoking bans in bars/pubs.

[headcase]

By what logic?

[TheKillingGame]

By what logic?

Drinking and smoking sort of go hand in hand. I understand people not wanting to smell smoke but what I don't understand is why someone can't open up an establishment where smoking is allowed. That way if someone walks into a bar and starts fake-coughing because of the smoke people can tell them they can go fuck themselves because there is a non smoking bar right next door.

Sounds fair to me.

[odin_dax]

Drinking and smoking sort of go hand in hand. I understand people not wanting to smell smoke but what I don't understand is why someone can't open up an establishment where smoking is allowed. That way if someone walks into a bar and starts fake-coughing because of the smoke people can tell them they can go fuck themselves because there is a non smoking bar right next door.

Sounds fair to me.

Or you could tell the smoker to go outside and go fuck himself. Then smokers and non-smokers can enjoy the inside and make more profit for the bar. A smoking section out back, if possible, is okay with me.

[TheKillingGame]

Or you could tell the smoker to go outside and go fuck himself. Then smokers and non-smokers can enjoy the inside and make more profit for the bar. A smoking section out back, if possible, is okay with me.

Section outback is good enough for me. :D

I'm not trying to say non smokers shouldn't have the same rights, I'm just saying I don't understand why it isn't up to the businesses and has to be a state restriction.

[headcase]

Because what business would decide to be non-smoking? They had that option before and no one took it.

Secondly, I presume it was a mistake in your initial post where you said you agreed with smoking in restaurants but not in bars. Visa-versa, methinks.

[M_Rommel]

Or you could tell the smoker to go outside and go fuck himself. Then smokers and non-smokers can enjoy the inside and make more profit for the bar. A smoking section out back, if possible, is okay with me.

It seems like you've really got a chip on your shoulder when it comes to smokers. What's your deal?

I'm just curious because smoking seems to be a real hot button issue for a lot of people; I've never especially understood it.

[TheKillingGame]

Because what business would decide to be non-smoking? They had that option before and no one took it..

If no one took that option before than obviously there are still enough smokers for it to make a difference which makes me think there shouldn't be a reason to open a separate market for smokers only. I guess they already do that to an extent with hookah bars though some have had to move to herbal alternatives.


Secondly, I presume it was a mistake in your initial post where you said you agreed with smoking in restaurants but not in bars. Visa-versa, methinks.

I never said that. Re-read the post.

[odin_dax]

It seems like you've really got a chip on your shoulder when it comes to smokers. What's your deal?

I'm just curious because smoking seems to be a real hot button issue for a lot of people; I've never especially understood it.

No, I'm not angry. Most of my closest friends are smokers. I don't like it, but when I'm in their cars or houses, I don't complain. They know I don't smoke and put me near the window whenever they can. Secondly, when I go to bars, I hang out front with them when they're smoking. I think my reasons were quite clear, forgetting to mention health reasons, as to why I don't want smoking around me. I like to breathe without the smell of smoke chocking my lungs everywhere I go. I don't like the smell, and I don't want it stuck to my clothes! Clear enough?

[headcase]

I never said that. Re-read the post.

My mistake. Managed to overlook the word "ban" twice in two sentences.

If no one took that option before than obviously there are still enough smokers for it to make a difference which makes me think there shouldn't be a reason to open a separate market for smokers only.

I've read this several times and I still don't undertand it. I imagine it's me (I'm just back from a 5 day music festival) but could you expand?

[odin_dax]

My mistake. Managed to overlook the word "ban" twice in two sentences.



I've read this several times and I still don't undertand it. I imagine it's me (I'm just back from a 5 day music festival) but could you expand?

I forgot the name of it. Begins with "R", right?

[UKSWAT]

I'd have to say that this argument has several levels. On the surface, there's just the general consensus (which I disagree with, frankly) that smoking is a "disgusting habit." I don't think smoking is either disgusting or appealing, it's simply neutral in my estimation. Then there's the philosophical issue that concerns ethics, or wherein rights are derived. The principle question, as I see it, is whether or not there exists a right for someone to be able to breathe clean air.

The use of the word disgusting is to put emphasis on the more unappealing parts of smoking. See it from my perspective, the following is a real life example: it's raining and you're standing in the bus shelter, 6 people there do not smoke (or appeared not to at the time), another person comes into the bus shelter and lights up. Is it not fair that those who didn't smoke have to endure the side effects another person's addiction? It's not as if that smoker couldn't have smoked at another time.

That's my gripe with smoking. It's unpleasant to be around a smoker, but in situations where you don't have a choice (and often, the smoker has the choice of smoking elsewhere or at another time) you have to stand being choked and getting your clothes stunk up by their inconsiderate actions. I have to ask honestly, do smokers really have to smoke before eating a meal? It's just ridiculous that they have to light up, stink up the place, make a meal unpleasant for others and subsequently numb their own taste buds.

How about I start screaming loudly when inside a restaurant, would that not get me kicked out (or at minimum, told to stop making noise)?