Should People Be Allowed To Smoke In Public ?

I quit smoking almost 17 months ago. I don't have to worry about smokers rights anymore, but after 45 years of smoking, I still tend to have a lot of sympathy for those who haven't quit yet.

So maybe the non-smokers screwed up. They knew they screwed up when they asked for smoking and non-smoking areas, deciding that it didn't really help as much as they thought it might. So they sent smokers outside, but now seem to realize that maybe they want to go outside too.

I'd give non-smokers one more stab at it. If they want new regulations restricting smoking to indoor places only, then I think smokers ought to go along with it. Give the non-smokers the outdoors. Sure, it'll suck in the warmer months, but it'll look like a pretty good trade off come November.

Unless I misunderstood and non-smokers are saying they want the indoors and the outdoors and every other place in between. If that's the case, I'd just tell them to shut up.

It sucks being a non-smoker. My group has a bad attitude.

Sadly enough, I think a lot of this comes down to attitude.
I noticed a couple cigar smokers on here who have advocated "smoking courtesy", which is MUCH appreciated. Unfortunately, I personally have never met a considerate smoker, including my former best friend. I think that fact probably leads to the people that someone referred to as "militant" non-smokers (which yes, can be a bit ridiculous in their own way as well, but...). It's a rock and a hard place. Those who do "will be damned if anyone is going to tell them they can't", and those who don't are determined to squelch those who do.
Yes, we can all get along, but we have to be grown-ups first, and therein lies the rub. I'm not a smoker, but I'd much rather see them have places of their own to gather seperately and enjoy each other than to have someone tell them they "absolutely can't" do something. No one comes to my home and puts a cigarette in my mouth, and I don't go to theirs and try to take it out. Yes, public is different, but again, there are many definitions to "public". So until we come up with a good way for everyone to communicate and compromise (yeah, umm, I'm not holding my breath, but...) hopefully the few people on both sides of the coin that actually try to be courteous to each other will give hope to all.

Sadly enough, I think a lot of this comes down to attitude.
I noticed a couple cigar smokers on here who have advocated "smoking courtesy", which is MUCH appreciated. Unfortunately, I personally have never met a considerate smoker, including my former best friend. I think that fact probably leads to the people that someone referred to as "militant" non-smokers (which yes, can be a bit ridiculous in their own way as well, but...). It's a rock and a hard place. Those who do "will be damned if anyone is going to tell them they can't", and those who don't are determined to squelch those who do.
Yes, we can all get along, but we have to be grown-ups first, and therein lies the rub. I'm not a smoker, but I'd much rather see them have places of their own to gather seperately and enjoy each other than to have someone tell them they "absolutely can't" do something. No one comes to my home and puts a cigarette in my mouth, and I don't go to theirs and try to take it out. Yes, public is different, but again, there are many definitions to "public". So until we come up with a good way for everyone to communicate and compromise (yeah, umm, I'm not holding my breath, but...) hopefully the few people on both sides of the coin that actually try to be courteous to each other will give hope to all.

You probably won't "meet" a considerate smoker because they are trying to be off the beaten path so they can smoke in peace without bothering others.

Not all smokers have the "I don't care" attitude. Some smokers make an effort to go around a building, walk away from people, not light up next to someone if there's even a hint that it might bother another person. If they are smoking in an area that does have foot traffic, they try to move as far away as possible.

These are the smokers that you won't meet because they are trying to avoid you as much as you are trying to avoid them...and it's not to be rude, it's trying to be as respectful as possible.

I'm glad about our law that forbids smoking in bars, clubs, and restaurants these days. It works perfectly for those of us, who don't smoke and don't want to inhale it passively. The smokers have their spots outside next to the entrance.

ETA
I do wish people would clean up their cigarette butts, though, rather than just throw them all over and forcing tax payers to pay someone to clean up after their lazy *kitten*.

<<<Confirmed non-smoker here. I go to bars (in OK people are still allowed to smoke in them) If the smoke gets to be too much I step outside for a few minutes...or simply leave. My choice.

I do hate seeing cigarette butts thrown on the ground. Wish more establishments provided outdoor ashtrays, then maybe there wouldn't be so many on the ground.

But why should I have to choose to either stay or leave because the smoke is so bad that I can't have a good time? That costs the establishment money. It's just as easy for a smoker to go outside and have their smoke.

I'm glad they passed that law everywhere as well. I no longer have to wake up feeling like I smoked 4 cartons of cigarettes, I don't have to put my clothes in another room when I get home because they reek of smoke, and I don't have to jump in the shower before bed because the stench is in my hair and skin. Not only that but when it's crowded -- be it a club or a bar -- I don't have to play "dodge the lit cigarette" in the hopes that I don't get a hole burned into my clothing or a nice, round burn mark on my skin from someone's cigarette. The law hasn't stopped people from smoking and it certainly hasn't hurt any of the businesses.

Sadly enough, I think a lot of this comes down to attitude.
I noticed a couple cigar smokers on here who have advocated "smoking courtesy", which is MUCH appreciated. Unfortunately, I personally have never met a considerate smoker, including my former best friend. I think that fact probably leads to the people that someone referred to as "militant" non-smokers (which yes, can be a bit ridiculous in their own way as well, but...). It's a rock and a hard place. Those who do "will be damned if anyone is going to tell them they can't", and those who don't are determined to squelch those who do.
Yes, we can all get along, but we have to be grown-ups first, and therein lies the rub. I'm not a smoker, but I'd much rather see them have places of their own to gather seperately and enjoy each other than to have someone tell them they "absolutely can't" do something. No one comes to my home and puts a cigarette in my mouth, and I don't go to theirs and try to take it out. Yes, public is different, but again, there are many definitions to "public". So until we come up with a good way for everyone to communicate and compromise (yeah, umm, I'm not holding my breath, but...) hopefully the few people on both sides of the coin that actually try to be courteous to each other will give hope to all.

You probably won't "meet" a considerate smoker because they are trying to be off the beaten path so they can smoke in peace without bothering others.

Not all smokers have the "I don't care" attitude. Some smokers make an effort to go around a building, walk away from people, not light up next to someone if there's even a hint that it might bother another person. If they are smoking in an area that does have foot traffic, they try to move as far away as possible.

These are the smokers that you won't meet because they are trying to avoid you as much as you are trying to avoid them...and it's not to be rude, it's trying to be as respectful as possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_packaging_warning_messages

Here's just a tid bit to sum that website up:

Smoking can kill
Smoking causes lung cancer
Protect children: do not let them breathe your smoke
Smoking can cause a slow and painful death
Smoking can slow blood flow and causes impotence(just in case you didn't know that already guys)
In case you didn't get that last line Smoking can cause your man parts to not work....super unattractive

There's literally pages and pages and pages and pages of the warnings and damages smoking can cause. Not just to yourself but others as well. Second hand smoke is just as bad.

Have you ever smoked inside of a care of room? And have seen it transform in color because of all the toxins in the smoke? Think about what it does to our world, our environment, THE CHILDREN.

LOL its all I can think about when I come back to this topic!

My state already has regulations in place to curb public smoking. All restuarants, workplaces, business(public or private), and taverns are smoke free. I very much believe that public smoking should not be allowed except in specifically designated areas away from everyone else. Unlike other vices like drinking and drugs, smoking affects the people around the person smoking. An alcoholic and drug abuser is only(physically) hurting themselves but a smoker is harming everyone around them. You've never heard of second-hand liver cancer from being around an alcoholic but second-hand smoke can cause lung cancer in non-smokers. I had a co-worker who died due to lung cancer and didn't smoke a day in her life but had relatives that did.

My state already has regulations in place to curb public smoking. All restuarants, workplaces, business(public or private), and taverns are smoke free. I very much believe that public smoking should not be allowed except in specifically designated areas away from everyone else. Unlike other vices like drinking and drugs, smoking affects the people around the person smoking. An alcoholic and drug abuser is only(physically) hurting themselves but a smoker is harming everyone around them. You've never heard of second-hand liver cancer from being around an alcoholic but second-hand smoke can cause lung cancer in non-smokers. I had a co-worker who died due to lung cancer and didn't smoke a day in her life but had relatives that did.

Please tell the families that have lost someone to a drunk driver or drug related violence how those vices do not physically hurt anyone other than the alcoholic or drug abuser... I am pretty sure being hurt,disfigured or dead is being physically hurt.

for those worried about second hand smoke you may want to include some respirator masks in yours and your kids wardrobes.

Ignorance is Bliss and I see many Blissful people around here

Sorry to go off topic a little, but is it still legal to use your mobile phone and drive in the US??

Yes but in designated areas, same in bars and restaurants. I always sat in the smoking area to avoid people with their obnoxious kids so now we try to sit near the bar so they can't have the kids around. I'm sick of all this anti smoking crap, just another politically correct tool to crush personal freedom.

Absolutely there are other fish to fry but this is what you responded to in the topic.

Yes drugs are outlawed. But people still get them. I highly doubt kids would smoke if they didn't already have them prepackaged and handed to them like candy. You don't see a lot of 14yrs old who can roll a zig zag.

I really think if they stopped making cigarettes that would solve the problem. Which has nothing to do with the government.

Absolutely there are other fish to fry but this is what you responded to in the topic.

Yes drugs are outlawed. But people still get them. I highly doubt kids would smoke if they didn't already have them prepackaged and handed to them like candy. You don't see a lot of 14yrs old who can roll a zig zag.

I really think if they stopped making cigarettes that would solve the problem. Which has nothing to do with the government.

Yes, because abandoning production of an item that puritanical society disapproves of worked so well during prohibition. I am sick of being 'nanny-stated' by the government who think that they know what they are doing when in actual fact there are a heck of a lot of other problems out there they should be looking into (like the appalling state of our badly funded NHS and deplorable education system). You can choose not to smoke and not be around those that smoke but dictating to others is always a poor move when it comes to the freedom to choose that everyone has a right to.

Guess there is a good question to be had here; do you fancy paying more in taxes? If cigarettes, alcohol, fast-food and everything else bad for a person were banned then the general populace would be paying much higher taxes...

Oh, I am a non-smoker, have always been a non-smoker.