For ex-smokers regarding all the non-smoking bans...?

Question

How do ex-smokers feel about all the laws banning smoking from one place after another? Now there's a town in California trying to ban smoking in your own home... Do ex-smokers become advocates for prohibiting smoking even though they might have been the ones fighting the hardest against it? How do you feel after that transition?
I'm asking because I am a new ex-smoker-- for 2 weeks straight now and hopefully for the rest of my life, I used to smoke 2 packs a day for 10 years.
I used to feel bullied and criticized by the "smoke-free brigade" out there. I feel like,even though I made a personal decision to quit smoking, I still don't agree with the bullies and the criticism.I think the current public view is good because fewer kids will start and eventually, far enough in the future, there will be no new smokers and the current smoker will have died out.. BUT there is a serious hyper-sensitivity going on right now that is ostracizing all smokers and I think it's going overboard

Answer 1

I dont understand why smoking was ever allowed indoors in a public place.
Banning smoking outdoors is preposterous tho.
I'm working on 3 months as an ex smoker, and have always tried to be considerate of the filthy habit I am attempting to break.

Answer 2

I completely agree with the smoking bans. I'm an ex-smoker too, and enjoyed having a cigarette while sitting in a bar having a beer (back when it was still allowed). But knowing the health hazards with smoking, why should we force the employees of these different restaurants, bars, etc. to be subjected to second-hand smoke and potentially develop health problems? It's not fair to them. If I was a smoker today, I would prefer to step outside in the bitter cold or nasty weather than have my smoke negatively affect a non-smoker. If I want to smoke indoors, I'll do it in my own home.

Answer 3

I quit smoking 3 months ago, but even when I did smoke, I agreed with pretty much all the new laws that are designed to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke. I hadn't heard about the one you're talking about (banning smoking in your own home). But I can even see the point of that to some extent, because there are still A LOT of parents who don't think twice about smoking in their home around their kids. It's probably even more important to protect kids who don't have anywhere else to go, than it is to protect waiters and bartenders who choose to work in smoky bars. BUT, I can also see that it would seriously infringe on personal privacy and property rights. So, I don't even know how I would vote on that if I lived in CA. A better law might be to ban smoking within X feet of children, no matter the location. Good question.

Answer 4

Congratulations for becoming an ex smoker!

I quit 15 years ago after smoking nearly 3 packs a day for 25 years. I was so desperate to be free that I swore to myself "I'm going to quit, or die trying".

This is the land of the free, and we all want to do our own thing, and that's part of what makes America so GREAT!

None of us likes being told what to do, but according to statistics smoking bans, along with exorbitant taxes on cigarettes are really good for us, because they encourage many smokers to taper off or quit due to the cost, and inconvenience, and they discourage the critical teen group from allowing smoking to become an addiction or habit in their lives.

I think the smoking restrictions are good for us, even though we don't like them, sort of like how cancer surgery is good for us even though most of us don't want to experience it. It's a necessary evil, and we're better off afterwards because of it.

Answer 5

i think the smoking bans are getting utterly ridiculous! it's getting to the point where you can't walk down the street anywhere and smoke. you can't smoke inside any buildings, you can't smoke inside bars (both of which i'm fine with, when i smoked i preferred going outside), you can't smoke within 20+ ft of a door. if you rent certain places, you can't smoke inside (understandably) or even smoke on the property, some companies won't hire those who smoke. what's left?!? one's home (indoor & out), one's car, and going out in the country to smoke where no one can see you.. and now the home is at risk of becoming a no smoking zone. where will the smokers go? it is a hard addiction to break, i struggled with it for years.

Answer 6

I quit smoking 5 years ago. other smokers don't bother me it is the non smokers that think and say that no one should smoke that bother me. Even people that smoke have rights. They want to ban smoking because they say it is bad for you and will kill you, I think 99.7% of those people have nothing better to do than look at others. maybe they should look at them selves and see what there doing that is killing them and hurting others maybe thy wont talk as much. good luck!

Answer 7

I don't live in California but I do feel that prohibiting what people do in their own home is a bit much. We have a law here in Ohio that only applies to public places and, as an ex-smoker, I am all for it.

Smoking is a choice. You are choosing to do something that is dangerous, no only to you, but to those around you. If I ask someone to put out a cigarette who is smoking in a non-smoking section, I don't consider that bullying. If I talk about the dangers of smoking, I'm not bullying. If I refuse to allow people to smoke in my home or around my kids, I'm not bullying.

Listen, they're not humming or skipping rope. They are doing something that causes cancer. Nuff said.

Answer 8

I am an ex smoker for 16 years and love the anti smoking measures. No smoker has a right to polute the air and give me cancer. The only smoking that they have a right to do is in their own backyard or house. All public smoking will be banned because IT HARMS AND KILLS OTHERS!

Answer 9

No smoking in your own home?!?!?! What! That's just nuts! Ok.. I'm not a smoker and I like that I now can go to bars and not have to smell the crap but if they get it passed that you can't smoke in your own home.. what's next? Can't watch channel 2 between hours of 4 and 5.. can't take a bath after 10pm.. COME ON!!! Ok... that just ticks me off! I'm tired of the government trying to control what we do in our own homes!!!!

Answer 10

I quit cigarettes two months ago, some campaigning on the issue goes a bit far, but smoking is a plague apon humanity.
Too many young people think it's okay to kill them selves.