What is your opinion on smoking bans?

Question

Like in restaurants, malls, etc.?

Answer 1

Good idea to protect the normal person from the insane

Answer 2

Interesting timing for this question. I live in th great state of Ohio, which during this last election, had two issues on the ballot. One issue was supported by RJ Reynolds (huge tobacco conglomerate) and essentially would have allowed smoking when a business provided a separately enclosed and ventilated area. This issue was a constitutional amendment. The subsequent issue was supported by the American Cancer Society. It banned all public smoking ...period. Very much like the bans in NY and CA. People turned down the issue from the tobacco company and passed the total smoking ban. I could not be happier. I fully support a persons right to smoke, but it has to be under circumstances that do not affect the person who does not smoke. I do not smoke cigarettes, but during the summer months I do enjoy a cigar or two while on the golf course. I would never impose the smell of a cigar on others in an enclosed space, cigars are more noxious than cigarettes, but without the additives that make cigarettes so deadly. For the health of children, the elderly and others with respiratory conditions, I wish all states would have these bans.
As an added note, while visiting Las Vegas last spring, the amount of cigarette smoking in the casinos is the grossest thing I have ever had to encounter in a public space.
-my 2 cents

Answer 3

First: I do not smoke.
Next: I do not care if someone else does.
Finally: I do not care where someone smokes as long as they're not blowing it in my face.

People were conned into the habit...I realize no one forced them to smoke, but when you're told for years and years that it's cool, it's hard not to do what everyone else does. Probably the only reason I don't is that I had asthma as a child, and never quite dared to mess with that. Everyone around me did, my dad and brother, and most of my friends did, and nearly every guy I ever dated except my first and current husbands. I've watched friends quitting. It's torture for them. I can understand how hard it is. I have a friend who has congestive heart failure, carries an oxygen tank with him...and still smokes. He can't help it. He absolutely cannot stop. He's tried and tried. It's tough. I think the anti-smoking laws are too harsh. There are towns you can't smoke in at all here in Texas. What are smokers supposed to do? Move?

Answer 4

How's this:

Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a swimming pool.

I used to be a smoker - I know how frustrating it is when you want a smoke and for the LIFE of you, you just can't find somewhere to have a cigarette without risking getting yourself in trouble.

But you're not the only ones suffering. Tobacco isn't so much bad for your health as all that extra stuff that cigarette companies are putting into their product. Originally, people just smoked the pure stuff. The problem is, most cigarettes come with filters, so when you smoke them yourself, you're not getting the full brunt of it - however anyone nearby breathing in the fumes coming directly from your cherry, is. And while some people are rude enough to sit down next to you and then complain about the second-hand smoke when you were there first, a lot of the time, they need to be in that area for one reason or another - to catch the bus, to cross the street, because they're standing in line for the same thing you are, etc. In these cases, you are forcefully exposing them to a serious health risk, and especially in the case of children, I think that should be a punishable offense. Trust me - that cigarette smoke spreads farther than you might notice.

I think it would be better for not only the health of the smokers, but of the non-smokers as well, if tobacco smoking just wasn't allowed anymore.

And I don’t mean “you” personally; I mean “you” as in “anyone who smokes.”

Answer 5

I think that this country is becoming too bothered about protecting people from themselves.

Smoking is one of those things that some people do on a recreational basis, but some become addicted. It shouldn't be up to the government to regulate where and when people are allowed to do this. If a private establishment wishes to allow smokers, the government oughtn't to interfere. On the other hand, it's also within the rights of private or public establishments to ban smoking if they so choose. I have no problem with banning smoking in public buildings. What I have a problem with is forcing private clubs, restaurants and other places to ban smoking.

One argument posed by our particular state government is that this is done for the safety of workers. That's simply silly. If a worker doesn't want to work in a smoking environment, then he or she can choose to work elsewhere. People make decisions all the time about where to work, and nobody is forced to work where they choose not to.

It's just another example of the politicization of smoking.

Answer 6

I don't think that privately owned entertainment businesses should be told that smoking is not allowed in their establishments. I do think that there should be mandatory signs posted on the doors letting the public know whether smoking is allowed there or not though. I am a former smoker and I would not go into a smoking establishment but it is up to the owners which clientele they wish to cater to.

Answer 7

Wow, just the right question to get me going lol wellllllllllllllll...I am a smoker and a non drinker..just erks me to no end when some drunk with beer breath is complaining about my smoke..Where the hell are these liquor bans that kill so many innocent people every year.I dont buy this second hand smoke bull ****, when those people start pulling up in their horse and buggie,instead of their smogged filled cars i might believe them a little more.(have you ever had to wait for a bus omg you cant breathe with one car after another,oh yes thats right thats ok ummmmmmmmm..How the hell the casinos got exempt from the ban that just passed, but the little business owner cant allow smokers if they serve food is just a joke again money talks and the little folks walk....Maybe someday all these laws that pass will be equal ,well damn humans arent even equal yet(what was i thinking) erase erase erase that thought...How much you wanna bet that if the casinos were included in this law that it would NEVER ever have passed.......

Answer 8

I don't agree with it in open places. I think its discrimination. Pefume causes migraines in others but is not banned. Sure have smokers area's ...I can not see why other people should care about them doing it way over there. My mother has never smoked and had never even noticed that you can't smoke in the shops or streets anymore, couldn't have worried her much.

Answer 9

I think they're a great idea. I love being able to come home from a bar without smelling like smoke! Seriously though, since it can negatively affect public health, and not just the user, I think smoking bans are a correct move.

Answer 10

I believe that we should at least be able to smoke outside some where that is designated at the very least. The tobacco industry promulgated this habit for the last at least 60 years and now we have bought and smoked ourselves into it. I love to smoke when I drink. I hate smoke when I don't drink but I respect the addiction of the smokers when I am around them.

Answer 11

a bar and smoking go hand in hand. make non smoking bars fine then make it new and seperate don't kick out all the regs if majority are smokers. Malls no smoking is a plus, resteraunts a major plus! I remember when i was a kid and they could openly smoke everywhere i hated it.