Who thinks the smoking ban is a good idea?

Question

I do because then smokers will realise that it harms other people, not just themselves

oh yeah I'm a 12 year old. Some people round here should realise that smoke and secondhand smoke is potentally harmful to children!!

Answer 1

I think it is!
What annoys me is when smokers quote their human rights. Yes, they have a right to do what they wish to their own bodies, but I say "Please do not do the same to me when I choose not to pollute my lungs with cigarette smoke". After all, non-smokers have human rights too.

Answer 2

Its completely wrong. People say that second hand smoke harms people which might be true but where is the evidence?
People can no longer smoke on public transport or in most public buildings. The pubs and clubs were the only places left.
People don't seem to realise that their cars pump out more poisons then a smoker ever could and just think about that next time you drive through a town. What your car fumes are doing the lungs of the children that live there. Put it simply if i lock my self in a room with a car engine running the fumes from that are going to kill me quicker than if I'm in the same room with a smoker, a lot lot quicker. I'm not saying ban cars all I'm saying that its hypocrisy at its highest.
A ban wasn't the right way to go better ventilation or separate areas would have been a better choice.
So i say congrats to all you smug people that have got smoking banned in pubs. Maybe one day you will go out and get laid and stop being the bunch of miserable intolerant fools you are. The government will soon turn on the drinkers of the world and get that banned. Surely a pint and a smoke is better than nothing at all. (also hats off to anyone ignoring the ban)

Answer 3

I do think the smoking ban is a good idea, however the ramifications of a ban of this nature are yet another blow to our civil libity. Is banning smoking in an enclosed public space a good idea? The answer here cannot always be yes . For example is it right that a van driver cannot have a cigarrette while driving his own van when there is no one else or, say, another smoker in the cab and is it not stupidly petty that the same van driver must now display no smoking signs in his van - even though he will be driving the vehicle when anyone else could be affected. The same goes for a bus shelter why should smokers not be allowed to shelter while they have a smoke if it affects no one else.
The bottom line is simple for me this is just another law to be broken daily, most people admit to speeding daily and I suspect a smoker will treat this exactly the same.
As a life long non-smoker myself, I simply beleive that the issue is one for good manners and choice not legislation. If you are the only non smoker in an enclosed space and you don't want to breath in their smoke, the answer is simple - pick yours behind off the chair and move. Simlarly if you are the only smoker in a space, ask if it bothers anyone and if it does shift.

It's not rocket science

Answer 4

IS an abuse and a stupidity.

-First: As smoke is legal we should have freedom of choice, smoke in pubs and bars is an activity with most than 100 years, should be places for smokers and non smokers, people had the opportunity to choose, nobody was forcing anybody to go to a smokers pub or club.

=Second: Is a Human right to decide how to live your life, a project of law had been already passed where people with over weight will be asked to loose weight for being treated in the NHS, as many non smokers support the abuse, I think as a non over weighted then I should back up this decision too then, good uh?, to defend just the rights that conform your way of life is abusive and stupid.

=Third. I don't give a damm about the "Californian stereotype" or "Californian way of life", do I have then to eat organic, go to the gym, be green, buy certain car and dress in certain way because more and more the rules are stretching us to the point that we HAVE TO BE... certain way.

I strongly disagree an this is a very dangerous precedent for many other issues.

=Fourth: It is actually so funny the amount of people that consumes drugs and are very addicted to Cocaine, Extasis, Heroin, Crack, the amount of deaths had double this year, but if somebody lights a cigarette then will be fined...

THE WHOLE LAW IS STUPID, GROSS AND HYPOCRITICAL FROM BEGINNING TO END...

Answer 5

Quite alot of people seem to think that its a good idea to ban smoking but then alot of people are annoyed by it. Logically speaking you would expect that any smoker who wants to give up smoking will find that the ban useful for giving them that extra push they need. Also since most people who dont smoke, think that the smell is revolting or / and hate the idea of getting lung cancer (or some other health problem linked with smoking), and therefore they will enjoy the fact that they won't have smoke around. Also presumably our government think it is a pretty good idea to ban smoking.

I don't personnaly think that banning something will really make people think about the effects of something. I do think that in some respects its a nice idea by the government as i don't like the smell of smoke and sometimes it does make me cough. However i dont think that all smokers will take notice of the new ban apart from at bars and pubs where people will not be able to smoke because presumably the owners of the bar / pub will have to enforce it. I have already seen someone walk into a train station whilst smoking (although admittedly they where just finishing with it before stubbing it out). Also apparently slash (formely from guns and roses but now from velvet revolver) at a recent gig in wales smoked on stage even though the ban had already been brought into affect in wales.

Answer 6

I agree in principal with the ban but can't help thinking about another side to this debate. Passive smoking no doubt does damage to non-smokers, however, what the government, and indeed everyone else, seems to ignore is the damage done to people by, what I'd call, "passive-drinking". Exactly how many people are killed or injured as a result of people drinking? It'd be interesting to see the results and compare the two side by side. See if the government would be as willing to propose a drinking ban in public places. Just how far will the Labour "nanny-state" go?

And before you go off on one, yes I do like a drink and no, I don't smoke. I'm just posing what I believe to be an interesting question.

Answer 7

Whats wrong with just having a smoking area, where no food is served? I'm a smoker, I know its a horrible habit, but why make us go outside? Quiet village pubs will suffer as smokers wont go, its really only the big pub chains that will get through it. I really dont understand the ban on company vans either. If your the only one in it, having a cigarette, whats the problem there? It seems the "nanny state" has gone mad. After all if we gave up smoking the government would lose billions in tax. I cant see the "total" ban helping anyone. Ban in certain places by all means, i.e restaurants, but why cant we just have smoking areas in work and pubs like it has been???

Answer 8

Having lived with the smoking ban in Scotland for over a year now, here is my take on it all. Firstly let me say that I consider myself to be a considerate smoker. I will never smoke in someone's house who doesn't smoke. I don't believe in exposing non-smokers to my second hand smoke. Having said that, the way smokers are being treated is disgraceful. It could all have been done in a civilised way, but the government have managed to find a way to make one part of the community social outcasts. It would have been better to have separate rooms with proper ventilation, i.e. not a little explair fan on the wall - proper ventilation. That way the smokers could have gone and had their smoke without bothering anyone.

The effects of the smoking ban in Scotland has been interesting.;
1 - People go out less, particularly in the colder months.
2 - People's body odour is more distinctive, particularly people who go for a drink after work.
3 - People tend to do their socialising at home, unnecessarily exposing their children to an increased level of second hand smoke.
4 - Non-smokers tend to congregate in the smoking area for the social interaction. (smokers tend to be more sociable)
5 - Arguments start because the smokers can't get into the smoking area because of the non-smokers.
6 - Arguments start because smokers are not allowed to leave their company for a smoke without a lecture about their habit from the non-smokers.
7 - Non-smokers are always quoting facts and figures about smoking, but they hate the statistic that the revenue from tobacco pays for the entire national health service many times over.

Enjoy your parentalistic smoking ban England

Answer 9

The smoking ban is a good idea however, It should not alienate people, a choice should have given to pubs, clubs and bingo halls where separate rooms could have been made possible for smokers, yes it is harmful and harmful to others, smokers have become outcasts, a syringe out or cut your powder on the table and no one bats an eye, it because the feeling is that it is only hurting them, no it is not, it effects hundreds of people from their actions. You can drink drive and kill and get community service, but light out a cigarette and you’re frowned upon.
Yes it was possibly harming others, the freedom of choice was taken away from having pubs and clubs with smoking rooms, it would have been their choice to smoke and it would have been your choice the choice of the none smoker it they went it that room.

Answer 10

Yes, secondhand smoke does harm other people. It is a disgusting habit too, I agree. I am a smoker who quit for 3 years but then started smoking again, and I have been thinking about this from as many angles as possible. We live in a society of double standards, deception and GREED. Behind every thing that is bad for us is the money factor. The media just seem to play mind games with people. In front of a lot of movies they have that ad with hundreds of people dying in the streets, is that deterring smokers from smoking; how could it when after that ad, the movie has people smoking away in them??. Then you have the pictures of diseased lungs and people with tubes in their throats to breath, that doesnt help. So you can see how addictive this is. I once saw a triple bypass patient chain smoking after her surgery. Then you could smoke in the hospitals, in the offices etcetera, so maybe if smoking was banned it would help. but then did it help with prohibition? Good question for thought, question is banning smoking and selling tobacco, it is a contradiction. Would it be enough to make people stop smoking would depend on the psychology of the person. Most people are just too selfish to think of the whole, and no ban or rule can help that.

Answer 11

I'm not sure I agree with the OP here. The ban will not increase awareness about the effects of smoking; we all know what smoking is about and I'd gamble that all smokers are aware that lighting up "just anywhere" is unnacceptable because it damages the health of other people...

That being said, I think the ban is a bad idea. Enough pubs down here were non-smoking anyway, and if I chose to go to a smoking one with my smoking friends then that was MY decision. Power to the pubs that are fighting/ignoring the ban!

~ CC