Smoking bans....... your thoughts????

[Dunkopf]

I think they should make smoking and non smoking bars. The whole smoking non smoking section didn't work worth a hoot. Just make the whole building one or the other. Other than bars it should be banned except in cars.

 

[Camelot Farms]

I once worked for a Not for Profit agency who did alot of transporting of clientele. Agency cars were supposed to be smoke free. One employee did not follow the rules and smoked in the vehicle. The next employee to do a transport in that vehicle nearly lost a client to an asthma attack brought on by a serious reaction to the smoke residue left in the vehicle that morning.

I cant imagine what it must be like for someone whose asthma is that serious and they have to worry about clean air all of the time.

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

Quote:
Banning smoking outside, I think, is completely CRAZY! Just like at one point they were talking about banning smoking in a car. WHAT?! That's like saying you can't smoke in your own very' home.

I get public places inside but some are getting a little ridiculous.

I agree! I always smoke outside and away from the building as much as possible, but I have gotten quite miffed when people allow their children (or even send them over) to tell me that smoking is bad for me!

I also think it would encourage smokers to move away from the building to smoke if there were a couple of well placed benches for us to sit on and an ash tray.

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

Where I work is actually now smoke-free on all property. The state law is 15 feet from a doorway or outside vent. Which was fine. But the smokers in all their genius thinking refused to obey the state law and the nice benches and ashtray outside in the designated area, and kept moving to stand in the covered doorway to not get wet or sun on them or whatever other reason they thought up. Which is a clear violation of state law. We work for the state.

3 months of daily warnings and nope. This was apparently the same at other buildings. So it came down that since the smokers made the choice to violate the law repeatedly and often, we were just going to go 100% smoke free. Our hospitals and schools here now also have smoke free campus rules.

Now they just go across the street. Then come back in and complain that we apparently have mold and drafts in the building, thus that is the cause of their allergies. When ahem, we do have mold sensitive people working in the building who don't have ANY problems.

I'm not generally in favor of the smoke free campus outside of a hospital or school - but GEESH! Abuse your privilege to go smoke in a designated area that is within the state law, I think you deserve to lose the privilege in general.

 

[desertdarlene]

That's great that Arizona is smoke free. I haven't been there in a little while, but my relatives have and they still complain about all the smoking that still goes on there. Perhaps their anti-smoking laws aren't as strict as California's or something or maybe it's only The larger towns that are enforcing it.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

I am a serious freedom of choice in your own behavior person. You wanna do something stupid that is your choice. The problem ALWAYS comes down to where does your freedom end and where does my freedom begin?

You can ride a motorcycle without a helmet, do I need to support you and your family after you scramble your brains on the sidewalk??

You can smoke if you want to but do I need to deal with the side issues of the smoke and the littering??

I have very severe asthma. I don't like that I have it, but there it is. Rainy days I almost always end up having an attack when I go to work because people cluster closer to the buildings. They know that they aren't supposed to be right by the doors, but if thats the only overhang, that's where they go. So I breathe the smoke or I hold my breath. Both often trigger attacks.

They should allow smoking bars - you choose to go in there or not let the market sort that one out, but the bars should have to be advertised as such so you know way before going.

I dearly wish college campuses were non-smoking...... It just astonishes me that people still take up the habit knowing what we do about it.......

 

[mom'sfolly]

I love smoking bans, Here, even bars are smoke free. It's nice to be able to go out, and not feel sick from the smoke and not have to shower before bed.

When I moved from Minnesota to New York, there were no smoking bans in New York. The first day I went grocery shopping I was thoroughly disgusted, and wanted to leave the state. There was someone smoking in the produce section, flicking ash over all the fruits and veggies as she reached for things. Further on in the store, I saw a guy drop a cigarette on the floor and stomp it out. This wasn't, a bar it was a GROCERY store. I couldn't make the choice for a non-smoking establishment. I had to buy food.

So, I don't believe a business owner should have the opt out. At least not business that people must frequent. As far a smokers are concerned, I feel your right to smoke ends with the air I have to breathe. I don't think there should be a complete outdoor smoking ban, but sometimes I find walking through the cloud immensely irritating.

 

[Carols Clucks]

One other thing I that has not been talked about is the liability of the property owner in the case of a bar/restaurant that allows smoking (for those that would like to see a smoking bar be an option)


Did you know the bar owner can be held liable for workers compensation claims if their staff gets ill? Be it asthma or cancer, that is an on the job illness that could have been avoided. (Bar owners also have to have rules that do not allow the staff to drink on the job, as alcoholism also can be come a work-comp claim)

When times are tough, a person who might normally never go in to a smoking bar may have to accept a job in one.


On the landlord tenant issue, in CA we are limited to 2 months of rent as the max security deposit on an unfurnished apartment, it is rare anyone collects that much and many tenants think they can live out their deposit. Since you will loose about 6 weeks of rent per smoker-something you can not deduct from the deposit if they gave proper notice. Not allowing a smokers deposit will leave more and more smokers unable to find housing as landlord just can not afford to rent to them.

 

[HHandbasket]

As someone else said, knowing what we know about cigarettes and the damage they do anyway, I cannot fathom for the life of me why any semi-intelligent (i.e., smart enough to read) person WOULD light up a cigarette.

Cancer is the LEAST of the problems that smoking creates. Many people never get cancer from smoking, but they get COPD and emphysema, leading to poor circulation, which can lead to loss of limbs, loss of skin, loss of hair, inability to walk one's self to the toilet, you name it.

Don't kid yourself into thinking I'm exaggerating... I've been a medical transcriptionist for 27 years, and I transcribe these people's reports EVERY day... since I started transcribing for southern hospitals, at least every 2nd or 3rd patient whose reports I transcribe are in the hospital for smoking-related and/or obesity-related problems. It is absolutely, unequivocally, without a doubt, NO SMALL TRUTH that the smokers are depleting the funds and services of healthcare providers in our nation and across our world. I see it every day in patient reports. It costs our country billions and billions of dollars to treat these people chronically. I did a report just yesterday on a patient for whom this is her 6th hospitalization so far this year for COPD because she smoked 1-2 packs a day for 30 some-odd years. Poor gal was only in her early 60s and has been bedbound for more than a year because her O2 sats drop the minute she stands up to try to walk.

It's not funny, it's not a small problem, and it's not a matter of choice. If you want to smoke, don't go to the hospital with your COPD problems and drive up the cost of MY health insurance premiums or MY taxes to pay for YOUR choices. If you want to smoke, then by all means, smoke. When I say, "Don't ask ME to pay for it", I'm not just talking about the cost of your cigarettes. I"m talking about the $4,000 a day it costs the hospital to treat you, maybe $10,000 a day if you're in ICU with your nasty lung problems.


Edited for typos.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I have WHAT in my yard? :

I am a serious freedom of choice in your own behavior person. You wanna do something stupid that is your choice. The problem ALWAYS comes down to where does your freedom end and where does my freedom begin?

You can ride a motorcycle without a helmet, do I need to support you and your family after you scramble your brains on the sidewalk??

You can smoke if you want to but do I need to deal with the side issues of the smoke and the littering??

I have very severe asthma. I don't like that I have it, but there it is. Rainy days I almost always end up having an attack when I go to work because people cluster closer to the buildings. They know that they aren't supposed to be right by the doors, but if thats the only overhang, that's where they go. So I breathe the smoke or I hold my breath. Both often trigger attacks.

They should allow smoking bars - you choose to go in there or not let the market sort that one out, but the bars should have to be advertised as such so you know way before going.

I dearly wish college campuses were non-smoking...... It just astonishes me that people still take up the habit knowing what we do about it.......

We do have a VERY FEW hookah bars where smoking is allowed. After all, that is pretty much the purpose of the place. Also smoking is allowed in tobacco shops: once again, pretty much the purpose of the establishment. Regular bars or pool halls: no smoking, which means that I, a severe asthmatic can still choose to go there, without having to be near smoke. Likewise, the people who work there are not nearly as impacted (there is still outdoor smoking allowed).​