New Weekly "off Topic" Topic No. 26 (30/07/12)

[Ludwig Venter]

In South Africa, the freedom of smokers is progressively being restricted (no smoking allowed in restaurants, pubs, the workplace and in shopping centres) and is now being threatened with a total ban....

I believe this is practiced and implemented in many countries..... Considering the repercussions and job losses this will bring about.... will you support such incentive if it is suggested in your country.... How would it affect advertising and sponsoring in sport.... Increased contraband smuggling...... job shortages and so many other negatives...

Mention if you are a smoker or not and air your view.... (I'm sure we'll get different responses from smokers and non smokers.

I am a chain smoker for 47 years and personally I think that with so much more serious crime going on in the country.... Who do they expect to police this petty issue?.... sometimes I think lawmakers shoot from the hip without considering all logistics associated......

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I may be missing something but I don't see how there are going to be job losses by restricting where people can smoke? If you're talking about a total ban on smoking, full stop - well I can't say I'd be against it but it would also never work so there's not much point in trying. Unless everyone just switched to eCigarettes (or whatever they are called) instead, some of my friends have done that but I think they smoke way more now than they did when they were smoking the real thing.

I support restrictions on smoking in public spaces. I'm not a smoker and I certainly don't want to have to breathe cigarette smoke. It makes going to the pub MUCH nicer these days because you don't come home stinking and wake up the next day feeling like you smoked a pack yourself (though the alcohol may have something to do with it ). Some smokers don't seem to have a clue or at least not care about the people sitting around them. I know this isn't all smokers - there are plenty who try to smoke conscientiously but unfortunately they all get tarred with the same brush I suppose. When I see people driving around with children in their cars, puffing away, I do get angry. Young people do need to be protected from the effects of second hand smoke because there are those without the sense to protect their own children from it. And don't even get me started on pregnant women that smoke.

Sorry if that's insulting to any smokers out there!

 

[the_lock_man]

Blimey, you pick my favourite subjects. Last week grammar & spelling, this week Cancer-sticks.

If smokers wish to poison their lungs, and potentially die a horribly slow and painful death, then that's their right. WHAT ABOUT MY RIGHT NOT TO? The effects of passive smoking are well-known, yet I was forced to inhale someone else's carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic and ammonia (yes, that same stuff that we ALL try our hardest to protect our fish from). Thankfully, the smoking ban in the UK has seen to it that I am only forced to do so when walking through the entrance door to the pub (as that's where the smokers congregate).

Tell me, Mr Venter, the proposed total ban in RSA, is that not a total ban in all public places (indoor and outdoor), whilst leaving smokers free to indulge their weaknesses in the privacy of their own home? Or is genuinely a complete ban on smoking anywhere? I would certainly not support the latter, it would cause far more issues, far worse than heroin or cocaine, or whatever, as there are far more tobacco addicts in the world than there are any other banned narcotic.

In the UK, cigarettes are still freely available, as they are not illegal, there have been no consquent job losses, and the only thing which causes an increase in tobacco smuggling is a desire to avoid the increasing taxation. The EU has long since had a ban on tobacco advertising in sport, and all sports are continuing without issue - Formula 1 was probably the biggest sport to use tobacco advertising, but since the ban, they have recruited sponsors from other industries without problem. I don't see why a similar ban in RSA would cause the effects there to be any worse than they were here.

I believe I'm right in saying that enforcing the ban in the UK has fallen to local authority officials, rather than the police, who do indeed have more serious things to be doing.

I'm interested to know whether you have called this issue "petty" to be controversial (you have phrased previous topics in such a manner) or whether you genuinely believe that your right to smoke is superior to others' right not to, that you have a right to poison other people's environments.

No prizes for guessing whether I smoke or not!

tarred with the same brush

Very appropriate!

 

[fluttermoth]

I am a smoker and I wholeheartedly agree with bans on smoking in public places. I didn't smoke when I was pregnant, and would certainly never, ever smoke in the same room as my kids. I always go right outside.

As lock man says, we've had bans on tobacco advertising and sponsorship in sport for a long time now and it hasn't affected them in any way.

I do think a total ban is going too far though. Yes smoking is bad for you, but smokers (at least in this country) more than cover the cost of treatments through taxes, and there are loads of dangerous pursuits that no-one discusses banning. Are we going to ban car driving, horse riding, mountain climbing etc?! It's up to each individual person to decide what risks they want to take.

Having said that I would like to give up. I did last year, for nine months, but started again after I lost an aunt, granny and my dad in quick succession; as I have mental health issues at the best of times, it was just too difficult not to start again

 

[FishFanatic04]

I was a ten year smoker and am now I am a 5 year "NON-Smoker" I gave up those nasty, stinky pleasure sticks when I started fertility drugs and procedures to have my first child. I would never smoke again, and knew that when I quit. I do believe that people have a right to poison themselves if they wish too, as long as they don't poison others.

I think the public bans are important. No one should be exposed to second hand smoke unless it's their conscious choice. I do think that a full ban on tobacco could affect the economies of countries and cities that rely on the jobs of the tobacco fields and factories. A full ban doesn't just affect those who smoke, the tobacco industry is a valid part of many economies.

A ban on alcohol didn't work in the US. I'm sure one on cigarettes wouldn't either. Though I would like to point out that back when I was smoking, a pack was only $2 and now they are $5. I wouldn't smoke now even if I hadn't had children.

 

[Squidward]

I am a non-smoker

Smokers should be allowed to smoke if they want to.
The problem is that it has an affect on the people around them. So I think a ban in public places is not a bad thing. If I want to go out and have a drink, why should I get a face full of 2nd hand nicotine from the chap sitting next to me?

 

[FishBlast]

Non-smoker here.

While I know that the restrictions would annoy smokers a lot, I also agree with TLM. Passive smoking is involuntary, and, I am not sure if this is true, but they say that it's a lot more harmful than first-hand smoking.

One of those who have been constantly abusing the right to smoke everywhere is my mom (the only smoker in the family, as she smokes enough for both dad and me! Sometimes 2 packs a day!).
Here's what bothers me about her smoking habits: I wanted to go out for a walk with her, thus leaving the computer behind, as she keeps saying I spend too much time and she says I am inseparable from it. Well, when I asked mom to go with me for a walk, maybe a little jogging, she said "Let me finish this smoke.". I was like, "Ok, sure, whatever..."
Then she says "Wait, I want to smoke ANOTHER ONE."
And then, when we finally go outside for a walk, she takes her cigarettes with her, and proceeds to smoke beside me as we walk. X_X And she knows that it makes me cough but she won't stop... Gah! Why the heck did she even have to tell me to wait for her to finish those 2 cigs when she would smoke on the walk too anyway?

I also know of some incidents about job losses and even LIFE LOSS due to trying to avoid getting caught at work smoking. The incident happened when a woman couldn't resist and went to smoke at her workplace, hiding in a freezer. Then, someone brought some kind of forklift there and somehow killed her with it because he didn't know the woman was hiding in there to smoke. -.- Fail.

Also, you have the smoking duo: my mom and my aunt. Whenever we go on a holiday at my grandparents, they have to avoid being spotted by grandpa, who hates cigarettes (although he is an alcoholic...). So my aunt and my mom have to keep hiding out of his sight in the backyard, going as far as to put me or my cousins to stand guard the gates so that they can know when my gramps is coming. And they do this a lot during the day. Then at night, they smoke till 2 AM since gramps sleeps then. Pathetic.

My cousin cannot quit smoking. She tried, even used those nicotine patches that say that you put them on your skin and you get less of an urge to smoke. Well, it's been maybe 5 years and she's still smoking.

And then there are crowds of smokers on the street. I have to keep moving according to the wind when having to walk on the same lane as them. Because I'd be "smoking" with them for about 10-30 minutes without wanting to. But nothing I can say to them anyway, they'll just say it's democracy and such, pretty sure.
However, democracy also has a rule: "My freedom ends where the other one's begins."

 

[the_lock_man]

I didn't smoke when I was pregnant, and would certainly never, ever smoke in the same room as my kids. I always go right outside.

I watched a TV programme a number of years ago about parents smoking in front of (or not) their children. IIRC, it said that you are still exhaling the carcinogenic stuff for (IIRC) 2 hours after your last cigarette.

 

[FishBlast]

I didn't smoke when I was pregnant, and would certainly never, ever smoke in the same room as my kids. I always go right outside.

I watched a TV programme a number of years ago about parents smoking in front of (or not) their children. IIRC, it said that you are still exhaling the carcinogenic stuff for (IIRC) 2 hours after your last cigarette.

When I was a baby, my mother used to breastfeed me while smoking. And I was coughing, so my dad took me from her arms and told her to stop smoking and barely THEN feed me.

 

[Llegmore]

I'm a non-smoker...

I also have severe asthma - if I did smoke (or even got a strong whiff of smoke) I could die. Because of this, I have to agree with the ban on smoking in public places, especially when children are nearby.

I don't think smoking should be banned all together. People should have the right to do what they want in their own homes.

It's still a very dangerous habit, and, I think, over-advertised.

 

[FishBlast]

I'm a non-smoker...

I also have severe asthma - if I did smoke (or even got a strong whiff of smoke) I could die. Because of this, I have to agree with the ban on smoking in public places, especially when children are nearby.

I don't think smoking should be banned all together. People should have the right to do what they want in their own homes.

It's still a very dangerous habit, and, I think, over-advertised.

I might have asthma too, which could explain my odd reaction to cigar smoke and alcohol. I cough at both, but when it comes to alcohol, I cannot breathe properly if I take only a sip, and it feels like my throat is burning. If I smell alc. I start coughing or sneezing sometimes.

I don't think it should be banned everywhere either, but in some places where there could be non-smokers that have absolutely no way of avoiding the smokes, such as in workplaces where employees work very close by, it should be banned.
Sure, I can deal with the bunch of smokers on the street, I go in the wind direction and avoid the smoke if I am behind them. If the wind blows from them towards me, I just pass them. But if I were forced to work in an office where someone just turned the whole place into a furnace... X_X I'd rather quit my job.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I am not a smoker, and since they banned smoking in pubs/bars I can come home at night and NOT smell like an ashtray.

If I eat in a restaurant I don't want to taste smoke with my meal either.

I am completely in favour of the ban here in the UK.

 

[hensonc4098]

Another in favour of the ban here.

It's been a good incentive for many people to quit too, with having to stand outside in the rain to have their fags. Since smoking related illnesses cost the NHS millions of pounds each year which could go towards other things, I fail to see how it is a bad thing.

 

[FishBlast]

Another in favour of the ban here.

It's been a good incentive for many people to quit too, with having to stand outside in the rain to have their fags. Since smoking related illnesses cost the NHS millions of pounds each year which could go towards other things, I fail to see how it is a bad thing.

I was expecting some smokers to start listing why they'd want to smoke anywhere they want. Odd it hasn't happened yet.
But it keeps making me wonder what people's reasons for smoking are.

Here's what I've gathered from family, friends and some people who I can't quite classify as friends yet.
- They did it out of curiosity and now they figured that stopping is too hard, so they throw in another cig and say "Whatever."
- They were influenced by friends (peer pressure), and now they regret it but they can't stop, it's like they would miss the feeling too much.
- They started due to having a lot of trouble they needed to get over with, figured it calms them down (in their mind at least, because outside, I do not see the difference, they seem just as stressed, although if they'd stop, there would be an extra stress added due to the need for nicotine). They cannot stop not even for a few hours in this case, this with my mother and aunt as examples, and possibly that woman that had to hide in the fridge room to smoke and got killed by that forklift.

Any other reasons and outcomes so far that I do not know of?

 

[ZoddyZod]

I am a chain smoker for 47 years and personally I think that with so much more serious crime going on in the country.... Who do they expect to police this petty issue?.... sometimes I think lawmakers shoot from the hip without considering all logistics associated......

In the UK it is the proprieters responsibility to ensure no smoking occurs on their premises. If any shop/pub/restaurant/office etc is found to have allowed it, it is them that will be hit with a fine.

On the whole it appears to have become self-policed. Probably because any non-smokers that encounter the law being broken might be inclined to report it....and if you operate a public premises that risk is too great to ignore.