You can be firm in your beliefs, and that's fine, but leave everybody else alone.
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Everything is true in some sense, false in some sense, meaningless in some sense, true and false in some sense, true and meaningless in some sense, false and meaningless in some sense, and true, false, and meaningless in some sense. Repeat this 666 times and you will reach enlightenment.
In some sense. The only good fnord is a dead fnord.
Smoking does help some to socialize. To be honest when I start a new job or move to a new area, most of the time the first people I start to socialize with on a regular basis are the smokers at my work place or around where I live. When most people feel a general disgust for your habit you find that the people that share it usually are more than willing to accept someone into the group. And if anyone on these boards has ever moved to a new place or started a new job and is not the most socially dazzling person on earth, you know how it feels to try. Sometimes being a dirty smoker makes it a bit easier.
Now I'm not advocating smoking for socializing purposes, I'm just addressing the person that earlier tried to refute my point by saying smoking was not necessary for socializing.
I enjoy how almost every person that has come forward to state their viewpoint on making cigarettes Illegal has never been a smoker and many have stated they have never tried it. Many have stated they have had family members die to smoking which I'm sure both smokers and non-smokers can agree is a terrible thing but as stated before it's no reason to make something illegal. It's a choice, just like driving a little faster than you should or eating that extra cheeseburger. Yes I understand the counter-argument is eating too much may not kill you and driving fast also could not kill you. Well smoking MAY NOT kill you =/. As Father of Lies stated many people die every day of different causes and while many people in my extended family are smokers only one to my knowledge has died of smoking related causes.
You cannot make something illegal solely based on the fact you view it as "suicide" or it is harmful for you. In this day and age using health threats as an argument puts you in sticky category that brings up many other possibly dangerous lifestyles and begs they question if you are to make smoking illegal well why not them?
In either case I highly doubt anyone who has spoken out against smoking on these boards is seriously living the perfectly healthy life compelte with regular exercise, diet, good sleep habits, and vitamin intake. I may smoke for the next 60 years and die of old age while you may die of a blood clot due to unealthy fast food habits tommarow. No one knows for certain.
I'm quitting smoking, I don't like it, it's disgusting and expensive but for god sake's people it's a human being's right to choose what they want to do with their life whether it be running for president or being addicted to cigarettes. I'm sure you wouldn't want anyone restricting one of your lifestyle choices so why do some of the populace feel they have the right to try and restrict one of mine?
You want to be mr. healthfreak then fine, I won't push my lifestyle on you and please do the same for me.
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Do we have to stay and see people suiciding this way? Don't we have to do something against it? Smoking is wrong.
We only have a duty to prevent self-harmful behavior in others when such behavior is a symptom of a mental disturbance, and thus, not really the result of a considered free will. For those who are sound of mind, we have no right to interfere in their personal enjoyment, whatever it may do to them.
You mention drugs and weapons. I'm not saying you said it, but please don't tell me, for a second, that you think drugs or weapons aren't wrong. I haven't mentioned them only because that would be off topic. OK, drugs help in medicine. We can keep those. The rest is no good. Weapons help maintain order ( well, kinda... I understand that the police has to have something to fight the crime with ). But the rest, the military equipment and all, is wrong.
Military equipment, and some would argue even personal firearms, have their role to play in maintaining order, but that's beside the point. Things aren't right or wrong. Actions are right or wrong, and only with respect to a given purpose that we can say they either advance or impede. To wit: For the purpose of morality, which is the harmonious coexistence with and flourishing of others, it is wrong to commit murder, but not wrong to kill in self-defense. However, for the same purpose, getting high is neither right nor wrong per se, since it does not inherently have any impact on one's coexistence with others or others' flourishing.
I'm not saying those who smoke should all, indiscriminately be ashamed, but they have to try to stop. How can you live when knowing what helps you relax can harm someone else? Isn't it strange for you that you have to be very careful to do something that "helps" you? Don't you mind attracting naive young ones into something that they'll regret? Why waste the money you work for on something that not only turns into smoke, but also takes something away from you?
All personal decisions. We don't have to agree with the choices some people may make, but we ought to respect them.
There is no one who said, as far as I read ( parts of ) the thread, that the smoke has any benefits, except "making you cool", which is generally an outdated idea even among smokers, and "giving you a high". As I mention, this is nothing compared to what you give away: money, health, image, time, and it leads to unmotivated mistrust from non-smokers. I mean, one's smoking at a bus. I have a younger friend with me, he starts coughing and I kindly ask the man to stop, or at least change position. When he refuses, how can I not be angry with him? Why do we need to support something that makes us humans "enemies'?
You're placing the burden of guilt on a little cylinder of rolled-up leaf and paper, when you really should place it on the jackass who chose a place to smoke that does have a (negative) impact on his harmonious coexistence with others. Blame the action, blame the agent, but don't blame the article.
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Vive, vale. Siquid novisti rectius istis,
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
Smoking shouldn't be banned because it's my own choice to smoke. If you don't like it then go F*** yourself. Smokers have already been banished from restaurants, bars, parks (yes it is now illegal to smoke around parks where I live). You have a higher chance of getting run over by a car than dying from my second hand smoke waiting for a bus or something. I try to be courteous when I smoke around people, but if YOU come near me when I'm already smoking and give me attitudes, then you best believe I'm not going to move. Cigarettes and Marijuana should be and stay legal for people.
Maybe they should illegalize the use of harmful chemical additives (Nicotine) in cigarettes. Make smoking more cultural and less destructive. I am a fan of cigars and marijuana for that reason.
But cigarettes? I don't smoke em. I probably won't until it's just tobacco they put in them.
As an asthmatic, I would love for smoking to be made illegal in any public place. While great lengths have been made with restaurants (I remember my childhood birthdays at Ground Round being hell - no one told the smoke itself that I was in the non-smoking section), it's still a pain in the ass on a college campus when you get downwind of a smoker.
Unfortunately, there is absolutely no way this could happen, at least in my lifetime.
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#define ALWAYS SOMETIMES
#define NEVER RARELY
#define ALL MANY
-=GIVE US SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN=-
I'm nerd enough to link my WoW Armory Though I'll put it in a small font.
But seriously, tobacco companies going out of business would leave a nasty tear in the American economy
Oh dear. The war in Israel/Palestine - and everywhere else too for that matter, except possibly the ones you're fighting in yourselves - is also very good for your precious American economy. I'm sure legalising child pornography and cocaine would also generate a healthy amount of economic activity. Hell, with your private health insurance system, even cancer is good for the economy. The reality is, sometimes the economy has to give in to common sense. If cigarettes were illegal, people would have the same amount of disposable income - they would just spend it on something else.
Oh dear. The war in Israel/Palestine - and everywhere else too for that matter, except possibly the ones you're fighting in yourselves - is also very good for your precious American economy. I'm sure legalising child pornography and cocaine would also generate a healthy amount of economic activity. Hell, with your private health insurance system, even cancer is good for the economy. The reality is, sometimes the economy has to give in to common sense. If cigarettes were illegal, people would have the same amount of disposable income - they would just spend it on something else.
It must be nice up there in your little cloud of illusion. Cigarettes are not just a boon for the economy, sin taxes make up a good portion of the public budget. If smoking was made illegal, then people may spend their "disposible" income elsewhere, but with next to no taxation.
Not only that, that's not how disposable income works. People that stop smoking don't spend the money they used for smoking on some other want, they tend to use it to pay off debt and other things that do nothing for the economy. People are terrible with money, and spend to feed their smoking with money they don't have.
Another point would be the amount of weight that a smoker would gain after being forced to quit by the government (fat chance it would mean illegal cigarettes would be cheap and easy to get). If a smoker looses a pack-a-day appetite repressant, then they probably would eat a lot more, furthering the US's obesity problem.
On top of it all, you managed to jab in with some political views you have that have nothing at all to do with smoking. Good for you.
Oh dear. The war in Israel/Palestine - and everywhere else too for that matter, except possibly the ones you're fighting in yourselves - is also very good for your precious American economy. I'm sure legalising child pornography and cocaine would also generate a healthy amount of economic activity. Hell, with your private health insurance system, even cancer is good for the economy. The reality is, sometimes the economy has to give in to common sense. If cigarettes were illegal, people would have the same amount of disposable income - they would just spend it on something else.
An entire industry being declared illegal and shut down resulting in thousands job losses and the begining of an illegal underground tobacco drug industry... Actually I think common sense would be to Not do what you are proposing to do.
P.S. I do believe him stating the effects it would have on the american economy was not an opening for you to take a few cheap shots.
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I don't smoke, but i don't think it should be banned for a multitude of reasons
1)It's your life not mine. If you want to smoke, feel free as long as you smoke while not in my presence
2)Smoking is kind of cultural here. You'd be basically destroying part of the culture
3)It's not something you can just make illegal. Some people are already addicted, and it'll be hard to make them stop.
4)You have more monitoring on how many cigarettes are sold this wau
5)It's profitable.
So yeah, I think smoking (as well as marihuana in my opinion) should be legal
Ditto, I don't smoke. I smoked for 7 years and have quit for about a year.
Although now I hate the smell and can barely tolerate. It is peoples wight to smoke.
Plus marijuana should've never been made illegal.
It's a given to me that smoking shouldn't be criminalized. But I'm also against the recent wave of restaurant/bar smoking bans handed down from local governments. It's not due to personal preference - I've never smoked, and don't see myself ever starting - but due to my view of personal property.
Property owners should have every right to decide what health-threatening - and to some extent, what life-threatening - activities go on within the confines of their property. Any criticisms to the effect of "it negatively impacts others' health" or "I couldn't find a nonsmoking restaurant before the ban" ignore the reality that you always have at least one non-smoking option: avoid the property.
When you enter a bar, you aren't a constituent or a patient, you're a guest. And threatening your host with legal action if s/he doesn't alter the atmosphere to your particular liking isn't just immoral and unjust, it's downright childish.
Oh dear. The war in Israel/Palestine - and everywhere else too for that matter, except possibly the ones you're fighting in yourselves - is also very good for your precious American economy. I'm sure legalising child pornography and cocaine would also generate a healthy amount of economic activity. Hell, with your private health insurance system, even cancer is good for the economy. The reality is, sometimes the economy has to give in to common sense. If cigarettes were illegal, people would have the same amount of disposable income - they would just spend it on something else.
Cancer is not good for the economy because of the point you make in your last sentence - but twisted. If somebody didn't have cancer, they could have done something else with their effort. And although if cigarettes were illegal people could spend their money on something else, that they choose cigarettes when they have the option between cigarettes and something else implies they prefer cigarettes.
Not only that, that's not how disposable income works. People that stop smoking don't spend the money they used for smoking on some other want, they tend to use it to pay off debt and other things that do nothing for the economy. People are terrible with money, and spend to feed their smoking with money they don't have.
I have no idea how you could come to the conclusion that repaying debt "does nothing" for the economy.
I have no idea how you could come to the conclusion that repaying debt "does nothing" for the economy.
I just meant that it wouldn't be spent on other consumer goods. Of course paying off debt helps the economy, I think the focus on the forclosure rate can attest to that.
I just meant that it wouldn't be spent on other consumer goods. Of course paying off debt helps the economy, I think the focus on the forclosure rate can attest to that.
The guy who's getting the money back is certainly doing something with it.
Made illegal? Yes, if people keep smoking right outside the entry/exits of a building. And no, I'm not going to walk around looking for a exit that doesn't have smokers loitering around. Especially when they shouldn't even be smoking there in the first place.
It's really tough to hold my breath for 10 seconds. I need a new law passed.
Nice strawman. Do you work in a farmer's field?
They're required to smoke 20 feet away from building entries/exits. Also, I don't want to expose myself to second hand smoke. If you would like to, be all means, have fun. I happen to take my health alot more seriously, and I shouldn't suffer because other people don't.
They're required to smoke 20 feet away from building entries/exits. Also, I don't want to expose myself to second hand smoke. If you would like to, be all means, have fun. I happen to take my health alot more seriously, and I shouldn't suffer because other people don't.
I suppose you avoid cars waiting for people outside too? That makes about as much sense.
Perhaps it's my fault for not stating that this is 'public' property. In particular, a college campus. Yes, I attend and pay tuition at said college. Are you now going to tell me that I should quit and apply to one that has no smokers?
I suppose you avoid cars waiting for people outside too? That makes about as much sense.
Right, I'm going to stick my nose a foot from the muffler and breath. Sure thing.
To keep anyone else from making any other dumb sounding statements, I'll rephrase my post in the hopes that it's clearer.
You want to smoke? Go ahead. You want to smoke on private property? Go ahead. You want to smoke near a public entrance (where you shouldn't be to begin with?)? No. That is where a line should be drawn, and if smoking needs to be made illegal so that public/mass use entrances are kept smoke free, so be it.
You have every right to enjoy your freedom of choice, but not when it prevents another person from enjoying their right to a healthy life. That's why you get in trouble for crying 'Fire' in a full theater if there is none. You may think it's funny. Everyone else probably wont.
And before any of you fire off a 'well gee, second hand smoke isn't bad/not that bad' : Secondhand Smoke Fact Sheet.
To keep anyone else from making any other dumb sounding statements, I'll rephrase my post in the hopes that it's clearer.
You want to smoke? Go ahead. You want to smoke on private property? Go ahead. You want to smoke near a public entrance (where you shouldn't be to begin with?)? No. That is where a line should be drawn, and if smoking needs to be made illegal so that public/mass use entrances are kept smoke free, so be it.
Uh huuhh....So because a few Rude people smoke in front of entrances we should make smoking illegal... How about you just make it a ticketable offense to smoke in front of public areas (such as what my home state has done) instead of making the whole damn thing illegal. I'm sorry but your logic is a little silly. It's not like every smoker congregates in front of public entrances to smoke. And I doubt if you really consider what your saying that you would think it's fair every smoker should suffer. Target the offenders, give em a ticket, and keep things fair.
And before any of you fire off a 'well gee, second hand smoke isn't bad/not that bad' : Secondhand Smoke Fact Sheet.
Nice unbiased fact source. I don't think anyone here is going to argue with you that second hand smoke is bad for you. But for god sakes the small amounts you Might inhale walking into the entrance of a building are not going to kill you. Even on your "fact sheet" they state people that worked in environments filled with second hand smoke, people that lived in a smokers home, etc. were at serious risk. I didn't see anywhere on there that breathing in some second hand smoking walking to and from class on a daily basis will kill you. I think if you are as avid as you say in avoiding second hand smoke then you should be fine. I think at this point you have more to fear from speeding cars and muggers than you do those terrible smoking villains.
Like I said, target the people that are clogging up your entrances with smoke, I don't think that anyone here really has a problem with that. Give em a ticket, point them to the nearest smoking shack.
P.S. Four year smoker, two packs a day, Now on his third day of no cigarettes.;)
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I'm pretty sure if I made a mask of Asbestos, and ran around putting on people's faces, I would be thrown in jail immediately. Why? Working with the Asbestos puts me at a lot of risk for cancer and other health problems, so I'm mainly hurting myself.
On the flip side, people crowding in entrances and exits of restaurants, etc. smoking are doing the same thing to me. Everyone in my extended family smokes or used to smoke. Being around them as a child caused me to develop terrible asthma which still debilitates me today (its been 24 years since I developed it), and it prevents me from going to a lot of places that I would normally go to. I never smoked, and yet here I am paying the consequences for other people's "lifestyle decisions". If I made a lifestyle decision to go out and prick everyone with the same syringe, surely people would object, hell there are people that have been arrested for going around and spitting on people- and yet smoking, something that directly affects everyone in the general vicinity of those who choose to do it is still legal and rampant. I am disgusted and apalled by people that smoke around anyone else, and I definitely don't think smoking should be legal at all. Do I think it will ever be totally banned? No- for the lobbyist reasons stated above.
I do however, think that smoking in front of public places, or anywhere other than your own home should be charged as assault with a deadly weapon for obvious reasons.
I'm pretty sure if I made a mask of Asbestos, and ran around putting on people's faces, I would be thrown in jail immediately
Come on, seriously? Your examples are just rediculous. Smokers do not intentionally cause harm to others, which is what all your examples are stating. Most smokers Go out of their way to make sure no one else has to even catch a small hint of a smell of their smoke. Myself and many other smokers I know will stand out in the pouring rain way away from other people just to make sure no one has to deal with our addiction but ourselves. I don't get why many people who post on this subject seem fixated upon the most obnoxious horrible example of the smoker population. It's not fair to insist upon punishing a large group of people based upon what the very small minority of it does.
Your asthma and the lingering debilitating problems it has caused you are highly regrettable and I think the only people to blame in this case are the people that smoked around you as you were growing up. It's not the smoker population at large that gave you asthma or caused your problems. But it's the people around you that apparently Didn't give a damn about the problems their addiction could cause you. I agree, and I think may other smokers on this board also agree, that the smokers that intentionally loiter in public entrance's/exits, blow smoke in peoples faces, or smoke around children should be reprimanded for their activites. But for the most of us, all we want to do is enjoy our terrible habit, far away from others, in the comfort of our home, our cars, or in a nice park when no one else is near.
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Like Bill Hicks said...
Nonsmokers die every day.
You can be firm in your beliefs, and that's fine, but leave everybody else alone.
In some sense. The only good fnord is a dead fnord.
Now I'm not advocating smoking for socializing purposes, I'm just addressing the person that earlier tried to refute my point by saying smoking was not necessary for socializing.
I enjoy how almost every person that has come forward to state their viewpoint on making cigarettes Illegal has never been a smoker and many have stated they have never tried it. Many have stated they have had family members die to smoking which I'm sure both smokers and non-smokers can agree is a terrible thing but as stated before it's no reason to make something illegal. It's a choice, just like driving a little faster than you should or eating that extra cheeseburger. Yes I understand the counter-argument is eating too much may not kill you and driving fast also could not kill you. Well smoking MAY NOT kill you =/. As Father of Lies stated many people die every day of different causes and while many people in my extended family are smokers only one to my knowledge has died of smoking related causes.
You cannot make something illegal solely based on the fact you view it as "suicide" or it is harmful for you. In this day and age using health threats as an argument puts you in sticky category that brings up many other possibly dangerous lifestyles and begs they question if you are to make smoking illegal well why not them?
In either case I highly doubt anyone who has spoken out against smoking on these boards is seriously living the perfectly healthy life compelte with regular exercise, diet, good sleep habits, and vitamin intake. I may smoke for the next 60 years and die of old age while you may die of a blood clot due to unealthy fast food habits tommarow. No one knows for certain.
I'm quitting smoking, I don't like it, it's disgusting and expensive but for god sake's people it's a human being's right to choose what they want to do with their life whether it be running for president or being addicted to cigarettes. I'm sure you wouldn't want anyone restricting one of your lifestyle choices so why do some of the populace feel they have the right to try and restrict one of mine?
You want to be mr. healthfreak then fine, I won't push my lifestyle on you and please do the same for me.
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Nor do all cigarettes.
And many smokers die of something other than lung cancer.
Neither are cigarettes.
We only have a duty to prevent self-harmful behavior in others when such behavior is a symptom of a mental disturbance, and thus, not really the result of a considered free will. For those who are sound of mind, we have no right to interfere in their personal enjoyment, whatever it may do to them.
Military equipment, and some would argue even personal firearms, have their role to play in maintaining order, but that's beside the point. Things aren't right or wrong. Actions are right or wrong, and only with respect to a given purpose that we can say they either advance or impede. To wit: For the purpose of morality, which is the harmonious coexistence with and flourishing of others, it is wrong to commit murder, but not wrong to kill in self-defense. However, for the same purpose, getting high is neither right nor wrong per se, since it does not inherently have any impact on one's coexistence with others or others' flourishing.
All personal decisions. We don't have to agree with the choices some people may make, but we ought to respect them.
You're placing the burden of guilt on a little cylinder of rolled-up leaf and paper, when you really should place it on the jackass who chose a place to smoke that does have a (negative) impact on his harmonious coexistence with others. Blame the action, blame the agent, but don't blame the article.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
But cigarettes? I don't smoke em. I probably won't until it's just tobacco they put in them.
Unfortunately, there is absolutely no way this could happen, at least in my lifetime.
Though I'll put it in a small font.
Please stop hijacking my reply box.
Oh dear. The war in Israel/Palestine - and everywhere else too for that matter, except possibly the ones you're fighting in yourselves - is also very good for your precious American economy. I'm sure legalising child pornography and cocaine would also generate a healthy amount of economic activity. Hell, with your private health insurance system, even cancer is good for the economy. The reality is, sometimes the economy has to give in to common sense. If cigarettes were illegal, people would have the same amount of disposable income - they would just spend it on something else.
It must be nice up there in your little cloud of illusion. Cigarettes are not just a boon for the economy, sin taxes make up a good portion of the public budget. If smoking was made illegal, then people may spend their "disposible" income elsewhere, but with next to no taxation.
Not only that, that's not how disposable income works. People that stop smoking don't spend the money they used for smoking on some other want, they tend to use it to pay off debt and other things that do nothing for the economy. People are terrible with money, and spend to feed their smoking with money they don't have.
Another point would be the amount of weight that a smoker would gain after being forced to quit by the government (fat chance it would mean illegal cigarettes would be cheap and easy to get). If a smoker looses a pack-a-day appetite repressant, then they probably would eat a lot more, furthering the US's obesity problem.
On top of it all, you managed to jab in with some political views you have that have nothing at all to do with smoking. Good for you.
An entire industry being declared illegal and shut down resulting in thousands job losses and the begining of an illegal underground tobacco drug industry... Actually I think common sense would be to Not do what you are proposing to do.
P.S. I do believe him stating the effects it would have on the american economy was not an opening for you to take a few cheap shots.
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Actually, I was curious about your take on the matter...
Ditto, I don't smoke. I smoked for 7 years and have quit for about a year.
Although now I hate the smell and can barely tolerate. It is peoples wight to smoke.
Plus marijuana should've never been made illegal.
Property owners should have every right to decide what health-threatening - and to some extent, what life-threatening - activities go on within the confines of their property. Any criticisms to the effect of "it negatively impacts others' health" or "I couldn't find a nonsmoking restaurant before the ban" ignore the reality that you always have at least one non-smoking option: avoid the property.
When you enter a bar, you aren't a constituent or a patient, you're a guest. And threatening your host with legal action if s/he doesn't alter the atmosphere to your particular liking isn't just immoral and unjust, it's downright childish.
Cancer is not good for the economy because of the point you make in your last sentence - but twisted. If somebody didn't have cancer, they could have done something else with their effort. And although if cigarettes were illegal people could spend their money on something else, that they choose cigarettes when they have the option between cigarettes and something else implies they prefer cigarettes.
I have no idea how you could come to the conclusion that repaying debt "does nothing" for the economy.
I just meant that it wouldn't be spent on other consumer goods. Of course paying off debt helps the economy, I think the focus on the forclosure rate can attest to that.
The guy who's getting the money back is certainly doing something with it.
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
Also, my local bar has all these drunk people in it. We should do something about that.
Nice strawman. Do you work in a farmer's field?
They're required to smoke 20 feet away from building entries/exits. Also, I don't want to expose myself to second hand smoke. If you would like to, be all means, have fun. I happen to take my health alot more seriously, and I shouldn't suffer because other people don't.
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
It's not a strawman if you really do want a law to protect you from holding your breath for 10 seconds.
You don't have to. Avoid private properties where this is a problem.
I suppose you avoid cars waiting for people outside too? That makes about as much sense.
And where did you get this from? At best your statement is facetious, at worst it's sardonic.
Perhaps it's my fault for not stating that this is 'public' property. In particular, a college campus. Yes, I attend and pay tuition at said college. Are you now going to tell me that I should quit and apply to one that has no smokers?
Right, I'm going to stick my nose a foot from the muffler and breath. Sure thing.
To keep anyone else from making any other dumb sounding statements, I'll rephrase my post in the hopes that it's clearer.
You want to smoke? Go ahead. You want to smoke on private property? Go ahead. You want to smoke near a public entrance (where you shouldn't be to begin with?)? No. That is where a line should be drawn, and if smoking needs to be made illegal so that public/mass use entrances are kept smoke free, so be it.
You have every right to enjoy your freedom of choice, but not when it prevents another person from enjoying their right to a healthy life. That's why you get in trouble for crying 'Fire' in a full theater if there is none. You may think it's funny. Everyone else probably wont.
And before any of you fire off a 'well gee, second hand smoke isn't bad/not that bad' : Secondhand Smoke Fact Sheet.
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
Uh huuhh....So because a few Rude people smoke in front of entrances we should make smoking illegal... How about you just make it a ticketable offense to smoke in front of public areas (such as what my home state has done) instead of making the whole damn thing illegal. I'm sorry but your logic is a little silly. It's not like every smoker congregates in front of public entrances to smoke. And I doubt if you really consider what your saying that you would think it's fair every smoker should suffer. Target the offenders, give em a ticket, and keep things fair.
Nice unbiased fact source. I don't think anyone here is going to argue with you that second hand smoke is bad for you. But for god sakes the small amounts you Might inhale walking into the entrance of a building are not going to kill you. Even on your "fact sheet" they state people that worked in environments filled with second hand smoke, people that lived in a smokers home, etc. were at serious risk. I didn't see anywhere on there that breathing in some second hand smoking walking to and from class on a daily basis will kill you. I think if you are as avid as you say in avoiding second hand smoke then you should be fine. I think at this point you have more to fear from speeding cars and muggers than you do those terrible smoking villains.
Like I said, target the people that are clogging up your entrances with smoke, I don't think that anyone here really has a problem with that. Give em a ticket, point them to the nearest smoking shack.
P.S. Four year smoker, two packs a day, Now on his third day of no cigarettes.;)
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On the flip side, people crowding in entrances and exits of restaurants, etc. smoking are doing the same thing to me. Everyone in my extended family smokes or used to smoke. Being around them as a child caused me to develop terrible asthma which still debilitates me today (its been 24 years since I developed it), and it prevents me from going to a lot of places that I would normally go to. I never smoked, and yet here I am paying the consequences for other people's "lifestyle decisions". If I made a lifestyle decision to go out and prick everyone with the same syringe, surely people would object, hell there are people that have been arrested for going around and spitting on people- and yet smoking, something that directly affects everyone in the general vicinity of those who choose to do it is still legal and rampant. I am disgusted and apalled by people that smoke around anyone else, and I definitely don't think smoking should be legal at all. Do I think it will ever be totally banned? No- for the lobbyist reasons stated above.
I do however, think that smoking in front of public places, or anywhere other than your own home should be charged as assault with a deadly weapon for obvious reasons.
Come on, seriously? Your examples are just rediculous. Smokers do not intentionally cause harm to others, which is what all your examples are stating. Most smokers Go out of their way to make sure no one else has to even catch a small hint of a smell of their smoke. Myself and many other smokers I know will stand out in the pouring rain way away from other people just to make sure no one has to deal with our addiction but ourselves. I don't get why many people who post on this subject seem fixated upon the most obnoxious horrible example of the smoker population. It's not fair to insist upon punishing a large group of people based upon what the very small minority of it does.
Your asthma and the lingering debilitating problems it has caused you are highly regrettable and I think the only people to blame in this case are the people that smoked around you as you were growing up. It's not the smoker population at large that gave you asthma or caused your problems. But it's the people around you that apparently Didn't give a damn about the problems their addiction could cause you. I agree, and I think may other smokers on this board also agree, that the smokers that intentionally loiter in public entrance's/exits, blow smoke in peoples faces, or smoke around children should be reprimanded for their activites. But for the most of us, all we want to do is enjoy our terrible habit, far away from others, in the comfort of our home, our cars, or in a nice park when no one else is near.
Currently Playing in Modern: U/W Control