Please vote below in our new poll on smoking bans. Feel free to use the comments box to tell us what you think about the value of smoking bans in your country.
Please vote below in our new poll on smoking bans. Feel free to use the comments box to tell us what you think about the value of smoking bans in your country.
Growing up my dad was a very heavy smoker. I always had repetitive severe sinus infections. I had to be given a lot of meds and missed a lot of school. I married at 18 and moved away from my parents. I have never had another sinus infection since (30+ yrs.). Being near cigarette smoke now gives me an instant migraine. My body wants no more. There are so many people in the world with health problems and allergies. They have proven that second hand is more harmful that what the smoker inhales. Now I am watching my dad die the agonizing death of emphysema. Slowly just suffocating is a horrible way to die.
voted ‘no’. not because i am a smoker, but we are intruding on the freedom of rights [in a sense]. if you want to smoke, you should be able to, but before lighting up, think of the person next to you. either go outside, or where you are inside i.e. cinema, restaurant etc, there should be facilities/areas provided. we have gone from one extreme to another – tho’ the first extreme didn’t have any law enforcing bills, now all of a sudden they’ve remembered that there are such persons as non-smokers!!!!!!! [whose spouse got cancer from being a non-smoker, but whose “better-half” smoked like a chimney and was a M.P.?].
You are not supporting smoking by voting no, you are supporting freedom to choose.
I just checked the poll…. SHAME on you fools that voted yes! If you don’t like your freedoms, there are other countries you may live in where your freedoms are taken away. Do us REAL AMERICANS a favor, and GTFO! Your foolish decisions are costing me my freedoms and rights.
KennethVerbeke don’t think there is anywhere in the so-called civlized world now, that doesn’t have the ban. you would think there are more serious issues in the world to be dealt with.
I quit smoking(cigarettes) two months before I was diagnosed with ms, I can’t believe I smoked for so long.
sjanderson23 didn’t help, but not cause of ms. quite a lot of people having their IV medication [in hospital for a few hours] take their little plastic medication bag and off outside for a smoke! Same in re-hab. person [invalid] couldn’t/wouldn’t go outside, so sat by open window to have a smoke.
As a mom of a severe asthmatic, he should be able to go to a public place without the fear of being sent into a severe asthma attack and possibly ending up in the hospital, that is HIS right. While we’re busy protecting the rights of someone who CHOOSES to smoke, he’s in the hospital because of something he did not choose. If you want to smoke, do it in the privacy of your own home, as long as it’s not attached to anyone else’s house. My son, and anyone else who has a severe reaction to cigarette smoke, has a right to live, just like you and I have a right to live. You do not have to smoke to live, but you do have to be able to breathe to live.
CraazyBlues I also have severe pulmonary illness. But, my illness should not selfishly inhibit someone else’s right to do anything legal. As a parent, I can sympathize with wanting to protect your child. But, is it fair for the government to interfere with private lives, and business? Once you start down that path, it is a slippery slope that will snowball into George Orwell’s “1984”. Are you familiar with the book and story? About “Big Brother” government knowing what is good for the citizens? This isn’t about smokers rights, it is about all rights. Or, should I say, the loss of rights. I have fought in the armed forces to protect everyone’s rights, and I cannot stand by while selfish fools give mine away.
KennethVerbeke CraazyBlues @KennethVerbeke I have the right and freedom to breathe CLEAN unadulterated air … if people don’t have manners enough to smoke in their own homes/backyards/frontyards/cars or any other place they OWN then yes I appreciate the govt help. I was a smoker for over 30 years and used manners/common sense so as not to endanger OTHER people’s health; especially children. I had/have the right to endanger my own life all I want! Thanks to my dad/nephew and your service to our country. I see the lack of manners and living thoughtful of others as the reason everything has to be legislated.
kuhlkeesI agree you have the right to breathe CLEAN. But, more government interference is NOT the answer. You wrote “…if
people don’t have manners enough to smoke in their own
homes/backyards/frontyards/cars or any other place they OWN…” Doesn’t
that right also extend to the bar/restaurant owner that smokes, or
wishes to allow smoking in their establishment? More than 75% of the bars & restaurants
will still be smoke free, but shouldn’t it be the owners’ choice? I
have
severe COPD and asthma, and can’t be anywhere near smoking. Just this
week-end, I had to leave an establishment because there were people
smoking right outside the doors while the doors were propped open
because the owner is too cheap to use the A/C. They were following the
smoking ban law, yet the place stunk as bad as if they were smoking
inside. Had
this been a “Smoking allowed” establishment (as the owner & staff
wish), I would not have patronized there. I would have chosen to go
somewhere else. But, because the law forces them to go outside, and
human nature is to be as lazy as possible, they go just outside the door
and smoke. Let the business owners decide, then YOU get to decide if
you want to patronize a smoking or non-smoking establishment. The CHOICE
should go to each individual, not the government!
kuhlkees KennethVerbeke CraazyBlues You want to breathe clean air then what about all the fumes from cars everyone has to breathe on a daily basis, or all the pollution from power plants I imagine it’s much worse than cigarette smoke. Oh and government help, well the government is quite happy to rake in all the tax from smoking products and keep it a legal substance if everyone stopped smoking tomorrow they would be in a panic, so if they really cared they’d have banned everything a long time ago utter hypocrisy and a prime example would be that you can still smoke in most casino’s and why is that? because if everyone is outside smoking who’s going to be gambling so there are no profits to be taxed . But of course if you don’t smoke then you shouldn’t have to breathe it in but you can’t exile a population of people and treat them with contempt so why not have non smoking bars and smoking bars it’s only fair, Now a days most bars are full of rude people and their unruly screaming kids where really it’s a place they shouldn’t be, so if kids apparently see adults smoking they will want to smoke so I can only assume that same idea applies with alcohol so lets all think on the children and the dangers of alcohol, the abuse it can cause, the drunk drivers killing the kids, the broken bottles on streets please everyone think on the children. Yes I am a smoker and it’s completely my choice, if I get ill from my 40 year habit then it’s my fault I made the choice to smoke. Well that’s just my opinion anyway and just to let you know I was raised right and I have manners and if there is anyone with a lack of manners it’s you KUHLKEES for complaining about people who express their views which great servicemen that fought for us to have, well that’s just my view and I thank my Dad and brothers for their service to the country that gave us all the right to express our views and opinions.
CraazyBlues sympathize with your sons problem [i to was asthmatic due to hay-fever]. going to be ironic in my reply, sorry, yours sons problems were caused by polluted atmosphere, but made worse by smokers. also, if my memory serves me well, asthma is an auto=immune condition, which could be caused thru’ allergies, even house dust, pollen, flour to name a few.
aggeliki CraazyBlues His is not due to environmental pollutants, his is genetics and also caused in part by his heart problems, which he was born with, also not caused by environment or pollutants. An auto-immune condition is also not caused by allergies, an “auto-immune” condition, which asthma is not, is your own immune system fighting your body. If it is caused by house dust, pollen, flour, etc, then why doesn’t everyone have it? And things like that are hard to put a law on anyways. I agree that everyone has the choice to do with their own body as they choose, but again, if you are putting someone else’s health at risk, that’s where the line needs to be drawn. My son did nothing to deserve his heart problems or his asthma, both of which are affected by other people’s smoking, so why does he have to be the one to pay the price?
As a former smoker I can say I’ve been on both sides of this. Now that I’ve stopped smoking, I refuse to turn into one of the rabid ex-smoker cliche’. If people choose to smoke, let them smoke. I would like to see more public corner ashtrays, but that would help both smokers and non-smokers with ash, butts, etc.
And consider that the U.S. wants to include e-cigs in their ban. These do no harm to anyone, there is no second hand smoke, no ash, no butts, no smell, no smoke, only flavor, veg glycerin and varying amounts of nicotine from none – great for helping to stop smoking (helped me immensely) up to full I believe 12mg?
Once even more people do stop smoking (it’s inevitable considering the constant raising of taxes and all the places – including your own home in some places! where you can’t smoke – ridiculous), then the local up to federal government will be looking at other “sin” taxes – overweight? taxed, buy fast food? an additional tax, want that candy bar? a sugar tax. It doesn’t stop with “just” cigarettes or “just” alcohol – which does far more damage to far more people than cigarettes. Take away anyone’s right to choose on anything, and eventually your right to choose will also be taken away.
ban it completely, horrid habbit! why should those who choose not to smoke inhale others filthy habbits ..
While I am a staunch non-smoker, I cannot condone taking away someone else’s rights. For anyone who wants to say “But, it’s for the good of all!” I say, for the good of all, allow all their rights. It is not right for the government to interfere with a business owners right to run their business how they see fit. For the patrons, you choose who and where you want to give your business. For the employees, you choose to work at that job. No one forces you to go to a certain business, and no one forces you to work there. You are more likely to be injured or killed in an alcohol-related traffic accident than you are by tobacco smoke. But, allowing the government to take away any rights is a crime against all.
People who still smoke should try ecigarettes since they can get the nicotine but it spares the rest of us from their smoke and smell.