Do people understand the arguments against the smoking ban?

Question

Every time their is a question about the smoking ban, why do people always come up with comments along the lines of,

'Ohh, my clothes and hair smell lovely at the end of a night out!'
'I,ve got ashma'
'What about Roy Castle'
'What about my right to fresh air'

If pubs and bars that did not serve food where allowed to provide smoking areas that where ventalated and self-contained in a way that did not contaminate the rest of the bar at all what is the problem?

For those who don't like smoke for a start in 80% of places their would be no smoking. In the rest when you went in their would be no smoking, when you bought your drinks their would be no smoking, when you went for a wee their would be no smokein the air.

SMOKING ROOMS WOULD NOT RESULT IN YOU BREATHING SECONDHAND SMOKE
I repeat.
SMOKING ROOMS WOULD NOT RESULT IN YOU BREATHING SECONDHAND SMOKE
& one final time!
SMOKING ROOMS WOULD NOT RESULT IN YOU BREATHING SECONDHAND SMOKE

Answer 1

i am 5 days off the cigarette's we have had the smoking ban for many yrs now in Ireland and it was much more fun going ouside to smoke thats just my opinion anyway you get to meet and talk to people you probably wouldn't talk to otherwise champix the new drug to help you quit smoking is fantastic im using it at the moment

Answer 2

Smoking rooms would be a great idea so long as there were no staff having to enter the room. Which would mean you can't take your drink in there as then the staff would have to breathe in second hand smoke when they went to collect glasses, etc. They would have to be completely separate from the non-smoking - so not just flimsy screens but proper walls with no windows that could be opened into a non-smoking area. The extractor fans that would be needed to be able to allow people to see through the smoke, never mind keep the air clean, would be pretty hefty and so probably expensive to run. How much extra would they need to pay people to clean these rooms as well? Second-hand smoke can linger for a long time and still do damage, so would these cleaners demand "hazard pay" for working in such environments? Would the owners of these bars spend the money on all this? Maybe they could put up the price of cigs to pay for it? Also, it means that those who don't smoke would be less likely to stand with their friends who do. Even if you are a non-smoker who doesn't mind smoking you are not likely to want to be in a confined space with no fresh air and 50 people puffing away like steam trains!!

Finally - can you imagine how BAD that room and the people in it will smell? When people have had a cigarette outside, they still smell of smoke, but not too bad. If they were in an enclosed room full of other people's smoke as well then the smell is going to be at least 10 times worse and last longer.

So if you want to spend your time in a confined room, filled with smoke, stinking to high heaven, surrounded by cig butts, empty packs, spent matches, broken lighters and overflowing ashtrays, where few of your friends would ever enter, then be my guest and campaign for the introduction of smoking rooms in pubs and clubs.

Answer 3

I smoke and would stop tomorrow if the nicotine would give me a break (believe me, I've tried) but I do feel one of the best things to happen in society recently is the smoking ban.

If anything for the few hours I am out now I don't feel the need for one as I'm not constantly being reminded of their existence. I smoke nothing like the amount I used to since they are no longer on TV (apart from the nicorette adds!) so again, no reminders.

I for one will be glad to see them of the shelves, as everytime I have stopped, the only thing (apart from my obvious lack of willpower) that has got me back on them after breaks of many months and even years once, was seeing them when I was at the checkout and going 'ahh go on then' in the same way as kids do when faced with a stack of sugar while mum is to busy handling groceries and credit cards to be able to deal with the demands effectively.

Answer 4

The reason why they had a smoking ban is because it is bad for peoples health. Wrong. Only a percentage of people smoke, so there is only a percentage of taxation. They will eventually introduce a tax whereby everybody pays, then more revenue is received by the government. The result is that the government wins on this issue but smokers rights have been denied. An example is pubs serve drinks in pints (imperial) and yet the fuel pumps deliver in litres (metric). It's not about the interest of the public at all, it's all about receiving more tax on liquid quantities. Tax us which ever way but we will always lose out.

Answer 5

Yes, I understand them completely. Here in the states in most states, if you are in a bar that does not serve food, you can smoke. I quit 6 years ago and have tried to join my friends in those establishments, but the chest pains the next day are unbearable for me. I have no problem with my friends going there, they just need to understand that I will not be amongst the crowd. The non smoking places are actually more full of people.

Answer 6

Not very bar & pub owner wants to go through the trouble and expense of providing a special room for those of you who are addicted to poisonous tobacco. And why should they do so? Your addiction is just that - YOUR addiction. Learn to control yourself.

No matter how much you try to justify it, every time you light up you're inconveniencing someone else; from the server who brings you your drinks to the people who have to step over the mounds of used butts you inevitably leave littered on the ground.

As far as I'm concerned tobacco should be declared an illegal drug and completely outlawed. The only cost would be a few weeks of withdrawl symptoms for you poor selfish addicts, then the whole world would be better off.

Answer 7

The simple answer to this question is that the anti smoking nazis dont even accept that their could be another side to the argument.
It has been proved that the air on airlines is actually dirtier now they are no smoking than they were before.
Why is this ?? simple the airlines dont use the extracters and air purifiers installed to extract smoke therefore leaving the same stale air to circulate the aeroplane.
The same thing is now happening in pubs , also it means that pubs will start to close. I as a Dj have already lost work due to this draconion ban.
Pubs are not full of non smokers because the po faced humourless nazis that wanted this ban wouldnt ever frequent a pub in thefirst place.
The beer will be next , mark my words.
By the way I am and always have been a non smoker.
Oh and there is not a single shred of actual scientific evidence to prove that passive smoking is a killer and before you say there is i would ask you to show it (from an independant source)
This is nothng to do with health and everything to do with control . middle class idiots whose only fun is spoiling every one elses fun.
Oh and it isnt illegal to smoke in the houses of parliament...
The argument about strain on the nhs doesnt hold water either as the average smoker pays far more in taxes than any treatment will ever cost.
Look at the bar staff in pubs next time you go, bet you 90% of them smoke.
So who are we protecting ??? Po faced miserable sods who dont go in pubs in the first place . Thats who.
Smoking is a risk , so is life , you might get run over by a bus tommorow should we stop all busses running to eliminate that risk??

Answer 8

I work at a bar, I feel much cleaner and healthier now that the smoking ban is in place, if one of these "smoking rooms" were introduced at my work place then the users would be cleaning it out themselves because I'd refuse.....why should I be forced to inhale your stale cancergenic smoke?
Smoke all you like, thats your right but don't ask bar staff to clean up after you.

Answer 9

I am inclined to agree. I inhale more 2nd hand smoke now that everyone is clogging up pavements outside pubs and loitering around supermarket doorways than I ever did before the ban. Near me there has been a massive increase in complaints from people who live near pubs about noise from people smoking outside.
I am inclined to feel that this whole ban should be consumer led. Some pubs should be smoking and some should be non-smoking. Simple.

Answer 10

Smoking is not natural or normal; it goes beyond the actual smoke. I have had to change lines in a supermarket because a smoker got in close proximity and the smell on the person was absolutely ghastly. I have not smoked for 16 years, but when I did, I smoked heavily. I know what it is like to NEED to smoke, been there, did that. (2 packs a day) I used to get pissed off to the extreme when people complained about my right to smoke. I remember being told by someone I could not smoke in their car and I was livid. I thought it was a travesty to not be allowed to smoke on airplanes. I was very good at rationalizing the insanity of smoking.
I have a horrible sense of dread knowing I smelled that bad, made other people uncomfortable and rationalized that it was my "right" to slowly kill myself. Ventilation helps, but does not contain 100% of smoke. When smokers become debilitated because of emphysema, COPD, or cancer that was brought on by smoking it hits everyone in the pocket in terms of higher insurance or taxes to cover the care of people who become so sick they can not care for themselves financially.

Answer 11

Good argument, very correct!
Shame the government didn't think of that, or the many thousands of job losses with the current closure of so many pubs. Two more great pubs just gone in central London yesterday! RIP social meeting places.