Should smoking be......

[Winka]

Even as a non-smoker, whenever I venture into these 'smoking' threads I can't help but want to side with the smokers sometimes.

If it's a concern about your own health and the health of your kids-I quite agree; I'd like as little contact with second-hand smoke as possible. But to be honest I really don't remember the last time I've ever felt trapped or imposed upon by someone's smoke and for the most part have found the smokers I've come across to be quite considerate.

If it's THEIR health that we are all so concerned about, well, they're adults and it's their choice (again, I don't feel as if I encounter too many obnoxious smoking situations -maybe it's regional?)... I don't feel it my right to tell them what to do as it is not my right to snatch away every hoho or twinkie from a morbidly obese person. (or is it?)

These threads always bother me most because of the belligerence and the self-righteous tones and the utter lack of sympathy that always seem to accompany them. Believe me, it would make me so happy to shut down some of these cigarette companies but I'm not convinced that making cigs illegal -and treating nic addicts like 2nd class citizens-is the best way to do that.

 

[sweet angel]

What about local taxes? I'm sure those companies are huge ratables for the areas they're in.

I'm curious because I live in an area near a power plant and they're constantly lobbying to close it and people in town scream that we'll lose our ratable and our taxes will go up.

I'll be the first to admit, I really don't know anything about it.

 

[cati]

I smoked for 15 years. On the day I took my DS's bottle away from him I quit smoking... figured if he had to suffer so would I.

I always got bronchitis every winter that went into pneumonia. Now that I have quit smoking I have not gotten sick in about 12 years.

I can not stand to be around smoke anymore. It absolutely stinks. When my children go to their grandparents they come back and their clothes reek of smoke.

I dont think smoking will ever be illegal. But I like the idea of banning it in all restaurants, bathrooms, etc.

Oh, I dont wear perfume either - it chokes me up.

 

[wvjules]

babar, if I had to walk past one smoker, one time, fine. If I have to be in the area of smokers, over a period of years, yes, I will be affecrted. It is fact.

Dan, reread what she said.

So you are seriously telling me, that if you are around secondhand smoke for a very short amount of time.....you will get cancer?

Let's not be hysterical people. I'll agree that the risk increases for people who are exposed to it all the time..

But no, not for people who have to walk by someone smoking in a park.

Big difference in whats's she's saying and what you're trying to make it into.

 

[disneysteve]

Before it became politically incorrect to smoke and people smoked everywhere...offices, supermarkets, stores, while pregnant, around children, etc., where did all the non-smoking people hide?

Personally, I don't remember a time when smoking in stores and supermarkets was allowed and I'm 40 if that matters.

But I do remember when far more restaurants allowed smoking. Numerous times, we entered a restaurant only to turn around and leave when we smelled how strong the smoke was. I never went to bars or niteclubs because I hate the smoke. Even when a restaurant doesn't seem bad upon first entering, I hate coming home from dinner with a headache, a sore throat and needing to throw my clothes down to the laundry room then hop right in the shower. There have always been homes of friends and relatives that we have refused to visit because they smoke.

So yes, even before smoking was more permissible in public, those of us who dislike it avoided it as much as we do now. Its just easier to avoid now.

 

[danacara]

What about local taxes? I'm sure those companies are huge ratables for the areas they're in.

They'd just have to suck it up, same way Pittsburgh sucked it up when steel died as an industry, and Silicon Valley sucked it up in 2001. The industry died, the jobs are gone, ratables are down, it will be ugly for a while, but people have to pick themselves up and dust off and find another way to survive.

 

[babar]

thank you for pointing out that people should actually read my posts before they go and answer them (Totalia) But then some people don't actually want to see anything but what they choose to...

And if smoking was the worst flaw that I showed to people, well then Thank God!!!!

 

[PatriciaH]

No, but I do think that anyone who is a nonsmoker (including children of smokers) should not have to be exposed to it. It should be banned in all public areas.

I do not think people with children should be allowed to smoke anywhere near them. My mother smoked with us right in the car and we could not get away from the stink This was the 70's though. With everything we know today about the dangers of smoking, anyone who tells me they love their kids and then smokes in the car with them or right next to them-I don't believe them.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Dan, reread what she said....

 

[doxdogy]

I smoke and I try everything in my power to be a considerate smoker. Last week in WDW, I tried to find the "secluded" smoking areas. Strange enough perfume has the same affect on me that smoke has on others. So, I don't think smoking should be made illegal. I don't drink alcohol and I feel as strongly about alcohol as some feel about smoking.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

No, but I do think that anyone who is a nonsmoker (including children of smokers) should not have to be exposed to it. It should be banned in all public areas.

That's my feeling as well...although I am not sure how you can prevent children of smokers from being exposed to it. I don't believe it is even worth arguing about b/c smoking will never be illegal no matter how much people fight it. But I do think it is fair to ask for it to be banned in public places...including in front of entrances. Smokers have the right to smoke and nonsmokers should have the right to breathe in a public place.

 

[totalia]

thank you for pointing out that people should actually read my posts before they go and answer them (Totalia) But then some people don't actually want to see anything but what they choose to...

And if smoking was the worst flaw that I showed to people, well then Thank God!!!!

I READ your post. Grow up.

 

[greenban]

Personally, I don't remember a time when smoking in stores and supermarkets was allowed and I'm 40 if that matters.

But I do remember when far more restaurants allowed smoking. Numerous times, we entered a restaurant only to turn around and leave when we smelled how strong the smoke was. I never went to bars or niteclubs because I hate the smoke. Even when a restaurant doesn't seem bad upon first entering, I hate coming home from dinner with a headache, a sore throat and needing to throw my clothes down to the laundry room then hop right in the shower. There have always been homes of friends and relatives that we have refused to visit because they smoke.

So yes, even before smoking was more permissible in public, those of us who dislike it avoided it as much as we do now. Its just easier to avoid now.

ITA, we have walked out of many restaurants and bowling alleys in the past.

-Tony

 

[babar]

Happy Holidays Totalia!!

 

[snoopy]

I appreciate considerate smokers ... wish there were more of them ...

Interesting to think about what would happen if cigarettes had been invented today, with no powerful lobby to back them. Would we all be open to allowing smoking in as many places as it's currently allowed? How would we feel the first time we smelled someone else's smoke? Revolted?

As a side point, I feel bad for smokers, and I'll never become one but for a reason that I doubt most share. It's expensive, but that's not it ... it's unpleasant to have to stand outside in cold weather, but that's not it. It's that smoking a cigarette seems to be saying, "I am dependent on this material thing that is hurting my body, and I can't control it." It makes me crazy to communicate a flaw like that to strangers. That was part of the reason I lost weight - I absolutely hated the nonverbal message I sent, "I can't control my eating, and that's a flaw in me that you can detect. You can use to discriminate against me, or look down on me, or be uninterested in me." It makes me crazy to do that. I'm going to present the most mentally powerful and physically beautiful shell I can to the world, hoping that good things will bounce back at me. It means no smoking and watching what I eat. I have to think there are people out there who feel this way too.

Thats really interesting Dana. Good for you for having such a strong will.

When I was smoking, I refused to even consider the ill effects it had on me. Lung cancer and heart disease was for old people, not me. So it might lop off 10 years, so I die at 70 instead of 80. Since I was never a heavy smoker, I was sure that I wasn't one of those people who smelled like day old smoke. And then I quit, and starting reading quit sites and the enormity of it all blew my mind. Smoking causes a lot of illnesses, mainly on the smoker, but the family of the smoker too. I didn't know any of it when I was smoking, because I didn't want to know any of it. I was definately in denial. I think most addicts are. It wasn't until I quit that I realized how insidious smoking is...it gets in your clothes and in your pores and on your walls (if you smoke in your home) and it stays there.

That being said, I can definately say that ostracizing people because they smoke only makes them dig their heels in deeper. We should work toward better educating our young people so they will never want to pick up a cig in the first place, and better support for those who want to quit.

 

[jrydberg]

Dan, reread what she said.



Big difference in whats's she's saying and what you're trying to make it into.

And there's a big difference in what I said and what she's trying to make it into. I said that second hand smoke does increase the risk of cancer, even in small doses. It does not guarantee you will get cancer. It does not make it likely you will get cancer. It does increase the risk.

 

[babar]

Well, along those lines, stepping outside of my apartment increases the risk I will get hit by a car. So then yes, I agree with you.

You know, I said that I do understand the risk of second-hand smoke for people who work or live with smokers.

What I am talking about is some of the people who complain that the few seconds they are in the area of a cigarette is going to kill them.

If you would say "I just hate the smell", then fine. But please don't tell me that everyone who comes in contact with cigarette smoke by walking by someone is going to get critically ill.

 

[jrydberg]

Fair enough. But what irritates me is when smokers claim that just a little smoke doesn't have any effect. It does have an effect, albeit a small one. If I was a bit overzealous, I apologize. I don't want to ban smoking. Actually, most of the people I know who smoke are very considerate about it.

 

[totalia]

Well, along those lines, stepping outside of my apartment increases the risk I will get hit by a car. So then yes, I agree with you.

You know, I said that I do understand the risk of second-hand smoke for people who work or live with smokers.

What I am talking about is some of the people who complain that the few seconds they are in the area of a cigarette is going to kill them.

If you would say "I just hate the smell", then fine. But please don't tell me that everyone who comes in contact with cigarette smoke by walking by someone is going to get critically ill.

Look, if you want to die of lung cancer (and believe me, that's a hell I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy) then go right ahead. But don't go subjecting the rest of us to it.

 

[disneysteve]

This is somewhat OT but I think it may add something worthwhile to the discussion. My wife used to belong to the Curves gym down the street from our house. After several months, she finally had to stop going because they always used those plug-in air fresheners and the place always reeked. By mid-way through a workout, she was having trouble breathing and needing to use her asthma inhaler. Not a very healthy environment for exercise. She asked the owners several times to stop using them and they would unplug them while she was there but it didn't make a difference since the air was so saturated.

She has spent the last couple of weeks checking out every Curves in the area, all of which are less conveniently located. Today, she finally found one where the owner said, "Why would we possibly use air fresheners? There are too many people who are sensitive or allergic to them. That is no way to workout. In fact, we make all members sign a no perfume policy when they join." My wife signed up immediately and is looking forward to being able to get back to her exercise routine.

What's the point? I guess it is consideration for others. If something you are doing has a negative impact on those around you, you should stop doing it. Its a good personal decision and, in a case like the gym, may be a good business decision. Many restaurant owners in states with smoking bans complained that the ban would ruin their business. In fact, some restaurants in those states did see an initial drop but ultimately business is thriving because the people who smoke still come and those who don't smoke and used to stay away now come also.