New smoking ban

[Bard]

Re: New smoking ban

Actually, public urination is not legal. You can be fined $200 or be required to do 40 hours of community service.

That's what I meant, sorry if I wasn't clear. You can do it in your house but not out in public, by law.

Not that that stops a lot of homeless people here. We actually came to work one day to find a big pile of diahrrea by the front door of the building. Had to feel sorry for the guy who had no other place to do that but... yuck!!

[Hellbent]

Re: New smoking ban

I smoke on again and off again. I prefer not to be around smoke while I am eating, and do not smoke inside my house, by choice. I started smoking young even though my dad smoked my whole life and I hated the smell. I started because of friends when I was 16. I dont know why I started, it started with a puff I guess. Im lucky, I can quit cold turkey if I set a date and prepare mentally, but if a really heavy stress situation developes I might start again.
I know some people who like to smoke a cigarette when they drink, but do not smoke otherwise. I think the idea of a special license for bars to allow smoking inside is a good one. I am generally against extra expenses for small businesses, but it seems like it would be a good work-around.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: New smoking ban

was it George Carlin that once observed that you spit on the ground in a New York Subway, you'll get fined $50, but if you throw up over a police officer's shoes he let's you go.

[Palolo Joe]

Re: New smoking ban

Why aren't cigarettes illegal? These sticks of death... the worst thing to happen to humanity. If they are so deadly, why are we still allowed to purchase and smoke them?

Oh, yeah, the taxes.

And tradition. They were with us before modern laws.

So was marijuana and cocaine, and the federal government outlawed those substances over the past century.

It's not about tradition. It's about tax dollars.

[Got2HaVKaYaNoW]

Re: New smoking ban

I wonder how strip clubs are going to survive??:

[GeckoGeek]

Re: New smoking ban

So was marijuana and cocaine, and the federal government outlawed those substances over the past century.

It's not about tradition. It's about tax dollars.

I don't think either had much of a influential user base like tobacco. Then again, I'm not sure as either had any effective lobbyist. Maybe that's the difference - big business and effective lobbying.

[SouthKona]

Re: New smoking ban

I don't think either had much of a influential user base like tobacco. Then again, I'm not sure as either had any effective lobbyist. Maybe that's the difference - big business and effective lobbying.

Bingo! Which is why tobacco will remain legal, but the exposure to deadly secondhand smoke will be more and more regulated by laws. (Keep those profits and tax dollars coming in, but don't kill off the unsmoking public in the meantime.)

I have read that tobacco is the only legal product that when "used as directed" kills.

[sinjin]

Re: New smoking ban

I have read that tobacco is the only legal product that when "used as directed" kills.

Handguns come to mind.

[SouthKona]

Re: New smoking ban

Handguns come to mind.

"Used as directed" is the key phrase. I have yet to see a handgun come with instructions to "point at another person and shoot". Or, "leave loaded in an area accessible to children". [Hey HTers, don't get too funny in responsing about what gun instructions might say in certain geographical areas or situations....]

The same concept applies to abusing legal drugs, or driving while drunk - the effects of using the product according to intended methods will probably not kill you, although misuse certainly can.

But, the intent of cigarette manufacturers is for users to light up and breathe deep. Cigarette smoke is a known carcinogen, not to mention contributing to other health problems like heart disease and asthma. I assume from that comes the statement "tobacco is the only legal product that when used as directed kills".

[sinjin]

Re: New smoking ban

Um, cigs don't have instructions on the packs.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: New smoking ban

Um, cigs don't have instructions on the packs.

Just wait for the day someone gets burned from lighting the wrong end, or from placing a lit one in the incorrect orifice, then sues for damages. Instructions will be soon to follow.

[jdub]

Re: New smoking ban

I've been a pack-a-day smoker for years. Longer than I care to remember or admit. I'm glad for my musician friends that abhor smoke but endure to make a buck. They're stoked about the ban. And any health argument about smoking is irretrievably one-sided and unassailable.

But this ban isn't about health issues. It's populist, chickensh*it legislation that is going to have an as yet undertermined impact on local bars. I'm not talking about Fudrucker's or TGI Friday types of joints. I'm talking about small business owners who count on every drink sold at their bar. The pretense of protecting service industry workers is weak at best, and an abject sanctimonious conceit at worst. Protect people who willingly took a job in a smoking establishment? Please. There are other jobs, if smoke bothers you that much. Not qualified for them? Get qualified and stop whining.

So now people will have to go outside to smoke. Once they're outside, they're no longer the problem of bar owners or their GMs. At my neighborhood bar (and significant source of supplemental income), people on the street are going to pose a noise and public safety issue in the neighborhood. Business will fall off, perhaps not catastrophically, but perhaps to the extent that it affects how much I get paid for what I do. And that pisses me off.

And before any non-smoking HTers come at me with horror stories about the dangers of smoking, I'd like to make clear that mine is a political opinion. Hell, I wish I never started smoking, and wish even more that I had the strength to quit.

[CranBeree]

Re: New smoking ban

hey jdub, i think when your ready to quit, you'll quit.

my husband has been a smoker for over 20 years, he tried to quit several times before and usually ended up going back . anyhow this past year, i don't know what it was, i didn't tell him to or assail him with the you have children to think about speech, he just decided that he was getting older and that it was time to quit. and so he has been smoke free for about 3 mos.

people that whine about smokers do annoy the crap out of me though.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: New smoking ban

Well we wouldn't whine so much if the smoke stayed in one place instead of drifting all over the place for others to smell. I compared cigarette smoke to the likes of a fart. You wouldn't blow one for everyone to smell either right?

One thing similar about farts and cigarette smoke...they both come outta butts and they both stink

[CranBeree]

Re: New smoking ban

Well we wouldn't whine so much if the smoke stayed in one place instead of drifting all over the place for others to smell. I compared cigarette smoke to the likes of a fart. You wouldn't blow one for everyone to smell either right?

One thing similar about farts and cigarette smoke...they both come outta butts and they both stink

heh..our rule was when we were smoking, we would go to another spot or somewhere else or away from the crowd of people. but well since we dont smoke anymore .its a moot point....