I am a non smoker, but I do support the rights of smokers. However, second hand smoke is a carcinogin and they do not have the right to subject others to it, including restaurant patrons and employees, nor do they have the right to trash up the outdoors or any other area. I support their right to a sealed and ventilated indoor area that others do not have to pass thru. Restricting smoking in open outdoor areas is stupid, as are, many of our laws.

 

Let's install industrial exhaust fans above all the smoking tables, then no one can complain.



This is one of those discussions that will never resolve anything.

 

It is morally delinquent of any government that knows this to be true, to continue to tolerate tobacco because of the taxes it generates.[QUOTE]

Does this "morality" apply to other things as well.....
Alcohol
Fast Food
Automobiles
Gasoline
just to name a few, I wont even bring guns into this.....
The Government has no right or responsibilty to legislate morality. If it did, the religion would be involved too. Last time I checked, there is supposed to be a seperation of church and state.

I respect peoples decision when it come to their pesonal lives, regardless of what it may be, I only wish that they would respect mine as well. If I choose to smoke, drink or eat at taco bell, that is my decision not the Governments.

 

What I really dislike is those people all gathered around doorways
outside causing a *Smoke Cloud* permeating the air that EVERYONE who enters or leaves the building has to go through.

They can force a law to move them 200 ft from the doorway.
The least these people could do is move downwind.

I often wonder if smoking eventually causes brain damage too.


If I had a bar or restaurant,the first I would put in would be the most efficient smoke evacuation system they made.

Or I would have seperate rooms for each group.

One room for smoking the other room *SMOKE FREE*

Equal facilities for both groups.

 

It's good that smoking is not allowed e.g in Restaurants or public buildings.
I'm a ex smoker and must say, that I never believed that not smoking is so easy. I enjoy every Day without those toxin.

Today I hate smoking, I respect the rights of the smokers but nowbody is allowed to smoke in my house. Unfortenetely or should i say fortunetely I get sick if I visit a birthdayparty or something like that where my freinds are smoking. I have to leave if they are smoking to much otherwise i get a huge headache next day

Smoking makes not a sense and I wish most of the smokers could quitt.....better would quitt.



Jens

 

I have always believed that the gov't should keep its regulatory and legislative nose out of the citizens business as much as possible. Now, that we have the facts about the health implications of tobacco and all its various forms of intake , non-smokers are pressing the case for their rights to socialize and imbibe in a smokefree environment. Smokers , for the longest , have taken the privilage of smoking , in all situations , for granted. This arrangement is rapidly comming to an end. Carlene , being the drop dead , good looking and intelligent Moderator that she IS will surely have to kick the habit if she wants to OUT live her old ford truck. Toss them little stinkers in the Trash bin "Darlin". fd

 

Thanks for the kind words FD, but I'm not quite ready to quit yet. First off, I like smoking. Second, I couldn't see quiting until I do away with this long hour, high stress, well paying job of mine.

Even if I didn't smoke, I'd like to believe my opinions on the "Rights of Choice" would remain the same. And, it's not just smoking - I'm against most anything to do with the Gov't controling my rights whether it's smoking, guns, religion or whatever.

 

Yes Mam! i never argue with a lady , i just hope you quit sooner rather than later. fd

 

Now, I have to ask this, especially since I am a New Yorker, who in a month or so, is going to be all but banned from exhaling anywhere in this state.

Would this really be an issue if not for the fact that the tobacco industry was getting too big for it's britches.. Maybe I'm grasping at straws here, but this is the way I see it.
But, had they just stepped out of it in the first place, allowed the business owners, building owners, and property owners to make their own decisions, it would have made for a much better balance. So, instead of giving each business owner a timeframe to submit as to wether their business was going to be smoking, non-smoking, or a combination that would conform to whatever necessary health precautions were necessary to protect those who are non-smokers, we just outlaw it.
Why, in the name of protecting the service workers. Uhh, MOST OF THEM SMOKE!!! What do they care. Every one, EVERY LAST ONE, that I have talked to, even the few non-smokers, have felt that this law is a joke.
The choice is with the employee, just like it is in every situation. I can chose not to work in a smoking restaurant. I can also choose not to work in a coal mine, or shoveling horse poop, or diving nude into the antarctic.. I don't do a job that requires any of those. Why, becuase I don't think I want to. But, the world must be protected from us horrible smokers. We're rude, we stink, and we're trying to kill everyone. RIIIIIGHHHTTT...

I gotta stop here, but I'll cap it off with this question..
If you're a smoker - Has anyone ever asked you politely to not smoke around them, in a bar, the one place where you always (until now) expected that it was a given that you would be allowed to? If so, what did you do? I know I have, and I put the dumb thing out, or move. One way or the other, I come to a solution..

For the non-smokers - Have you ever asked someone to put out the smoke, in a bar, and had them say no? I can't imagine why someone would.

I guess, in my eyes, bars are one of the last places in public I was allowed to have a smoke. Guess not. I suppose I'll just have to start hiding in my closet at home. Or will that offend our delicate legislative lungs, also?

 

Matt, the difference is, the majority of the folk's in the restaurant seemed to be tolerant of crappy music. The majority of folk's who go to restaurant's to eat, do not want to tolerate other people's smoke.

The majority of the population are non-smoker's. Only about 30% of the population smokes. It wouldn't make good business sense to create a 'smoking only' business and eliminate the majority of the population if they could do business elsewhere. I agree with smoking in bar's though. A bar should allow smoking away from the dining area. As well as dart throwing, chainsaw juggling, fist fight's, prostitution, gambling and playing with venomous reptiles.

To those who say government shouldn't stick it's nose into the affair's of private business, I agree. But most smoking ordinances start out as citizen initiatives and have to get a minimum number of signature's before they qualify to get on the ballot. Then they must be voted into law by the majority. So that's an example of our "government by the people, for the people".

 

Hey - leave the chainsaw jugglers out of this!

I guess you do have a point if the majority of the population are non-smokers. That part does make sense. It also makes sense to enforce it in chain restaraunts and such.

I still firmly believe, though, that if I want MY bar to be a smoking bar, then I should be able to. If it's going to tank my business, then let me worry about it. It's kinda like that Men's golf club down in Georgia, where all the women were whipped up into a froth because it's a men only club. If it's MY club, then I make the rules. If I want it to be an all mens club, that's my deal. If you don't like it, start another club that excludes me.

BTW- Don't you ever...EVER...badmouth the chainsaw jugglers. I'm a member of the chainsaw juggler's union.
XXL

 

This mandatory ban thing is crap. If you want to allow smoking in your establishment, fine. I know I wont go there. I know as a nonsmoker, any cigarette smoke annoys me. Then again, isnt that my freedom of choice?


Rich

 

Hey if they want to ( I belive they have here is CT) ban smoking in resurants -that is fine by me I wont go there !
I have cut back a lot over the past 3 weeks -1 pack a day to 1/2 a day which is really good for me !
I am generally very curteous with my smoking but please do not complain about it because I just dont want to hear it . OUT SIDE IS OUT SIDE PERIOD-not far enough form the door just ask and I will move !
I think the new laws are really too bad - busineses will end up losing buisness and losing money -so on .
It is too bad - we no longer have rights -freedom of choice is already gone!

 

For Sure – The small businesses are the ones to lose out on this. We visited this little town in Wisconsin a couple years ago, Steve mentioned that he didn’t see any little country restaurants like we did in Illinois. We ended up going to Denny’s (nationwide chain) and found out that there are no little hole-in-the-wall places to go unless we go outside their town limits. Their town was now completely smoke free and the smaller places that could, moved. Hey, if I were in the restaurant business, I’d much rather be a manager of a large chain restaurant than an owner of a small successful business any day…..

As with anything you could ever oppose, the 30% stat’s that are being “quoted” depend on what organization’s stat’s you’re reading.

But, since it’s been mentioned here soooo much, and, we are now a minority. Shouldn’t we be given the benefits of all the other classes of minorities??? Me being a woman, I deserve a double dose and I now want what you of the majority owe me. I’ll be here awaiting my monthly check or my promotion, whichever comes first.

Heck, “Kill the small business” send your check to me……

Signed “The new minority”.

 

As a smoker in the military I am in the majority, but all buildings are smoke free as of Dec 7 02 This includes bowling alley and the base clubs. what a crock of crap The Air Force is going to smoke free eventually, they will soon ban smoking during duty hours or while in uniform, then on base at all, and eventually they will ban it for off-duty personal time as well. What can I say, that is where it is headed it sucks but I cannot do much aboutit. "Smoke 'em if ya got 'em" Do it while you can I will not have the right to smoke long enough for it to harm me,,,i hope