Should smoking be more/less regulated?

[Eschbach]

Go ahead and kill yourself if you like - that is your right. You don't have the right to pollute my air - I have the right to breathe clean air. This includes outdoor places. Smokers believe that their rights are being taken away when they are not allowed to smoke in a bar or restaurant. That's just ignorant. Your smoke poisons the surrounding air - why should you have the right to poison others? At least you have a filter to breathe your smoke through.

[Deleted]

I just wish smokers would be considerate and not smoke right in front of doorways.

I really don't understand why young people still smoke, even after knowing how incredibly bad the stuff is for you.

most young people dont care about health risks.
i dont understand how they stand the smell of it, it stinks so bad, makes your breath smell and your clothes, it just generally makes you repulsive.

[RüneRS]

Caffeine is somewhat valid here, but alcohol is actually nowhere near as addictive as nicotine, not even in the same category.

Its bad for your health and can harm other people around you aswell (alcohol destroyed a lot of lives and reputations)
I'm not for banning the little pleasures in life like tabac or alcohol or caffeïne or weed or ... au contraire, they should criminalize it less

[Adam Jensen]

I wouldn't make it illegal, but I'd certainly be in favor of treating it with a heavier hand. As someone who's been to harbors around the country and see the sheets of cigarette butts(among other trash) that build up in them it's simply disgusting. Keep it in your home, your car, or some other private or dedicated smoking area.

That's another thing that pisses me off, that smokers can't ever be bothered to throw their butts away properly.

[Snow White]

I just wish smokers would be considerate and not smoke right in front of doorways.

I really don't understand why young people still smoke, even after knowing how incredibly bad the stuff is for you.

Because it's "cool", and it makes you look "tough". People who smoke are sheep. The ONLY reason they started smoking is because they thought it was cool. Now they're hooked.

[Pert]

Go ahead and kill yourself if you like - that is your right. You don't have the right to pollute my air - I have the right to breathe clean air. This includes outdoor places. Smokers believe that their rights are being taken away when they are not allowed to smoke in a bar or restaurant. That's just ignorant. Your smoke poisons the surrounding air - why should you have the right to poison others? At least you have a filter to breathe your smoke through.

Regarding your second (indoor) point: It's not "your" air unless it's your restaurant. If you don't like it, patronize a different establishment.

[Deleted]

Personally I voted for "Yes, smoking should be outlawed entirely." The libertarian approach (destroy yourself with whatever you want) doesn't work, we don't live in a free society anyway and this would definitaly help everyone, both active and passive smokers. Plus your smoking affects others (passive).

Realisticly, smoking should be restricted as much as possible, definitely in all public indoor areas (everywhere but people's homes) and I personally would disallow smoking on crowded streets aswell.
This probably isn't that much of a problem in newly built cities in America for example but in Europe many capital and other important cities were built centuries ago, their streets are small and crowded, you simply have to go with the crowd at its speed. It's not great when a group of people in front of you smokes.

[skyclops]

Caffeine is somewhat valid here, but alcohol is actually nowhere near as addictive as nicotine, not even in the same category.

alcoholics?

[Pert]

Personally I voted for "Yes, smoking should be outlawed entirely." The libertarian approach (destroy yourself with whatever you want) doesn't work, we don't live in a free society anyway and this would definitaly help everyone, both active and passive smokers. Plus your smoking affects others (passive).

Because prohibition went so well.

[Tnep]

Because it's "cool", and it makes you look "tough". People who smoke are sheep. The ONLY reason they started smoking is because they thought it was cool. Now they're hooked.

This is completely false. I started smoking because I enjoyed menthol cigarettes, not because of what you mentioned, since I'm already those things without smoking.

[Deleted]

Personally I voted for "Yes, smoking should be outlawed entirely." The libertarian approach (destroy yourself with whatever you want) doesn't work, we don't live in a free society anyway and this would definitaly help everyone, both active and passive smokers. Plus your smoking affects others (passive).

Realisticly, smoking should be restricted as much as possible, definitely in all public indoor areas (everywhere but people's homes) and I personally would disallow smoking on crowded streets aswell.
This probably isn't that much of a problem in newly built cities in America for example but in Europe many capital and other important cities were built centuries ago, their streets are small and crowded, you simply have to go with the crowd at its speed. It's not great when a group of people in front of you smokes.

yup, its terrible when you're stuck in a crowded street behind someone thats smoking, theres no where else you can go and you're stuck behind them having to breath their smoke. lucky where i live the streets are not crowded so i can just walk round people that smoke, but when i was in london it happened a lot on the crowded streets.

[Purlina]

alcoholics?

Just because it's not as addictive doesn't mean one can not become addicted

[Jdman]

Local law here says we cant have smoking and alcohol served in the same bar unless tabacco purchases are 51% of the money they make.

Works out really well for me, theres a local cigar bar down the road where I can get a smoke and a beer for a pretty good price because they cant make more on beer than they do on cigars. Everyone down there is always super nice and everyone is always enjoying themselves, I feel its more a relaxing setting than a normal bar.

I guess where I was going with this is yes everyone wants cigarettes to go away, mostly because of their increadibly addictive qualities, but laws like these end up negatively affecting things like cigars which can be moderated much more easily. Everyone down there knows the risks of being in a second hand enviroment and smoking in general, everyone there has a choice.

Smoking is bad for you, whether its cigarettes, cigars, hookah, or pipe smoke, but I like to sit down sometimes and just relax have a cigar and have a beer to go with it. I feel having it all contained in one location that doesnt offer anything else is adequate enough for someone to be able to make a choice to go there or not.

Anyway my point is you should be able to have a bar with cigars (at the least) if its clearly advertised as a smoking place, a place you can easily avoid if you dont want second hand.

[Deleted]

alcoholics?

I think the point is that smoking is a mix of chemical and psychological addiction, whereas drinking is way more skewed towards just psychological addiction. I'm not defending alcohol in this though, I think it's also unhealthy, detrimental to lot's of people and generally a bit of a pain when someone cannot do it responsibly (basically the same as smoking).

[Purlina]

This is completely false. I started smoking because I enjoyed menthol cigarettes, not because of what you mentioned, since I'm already those things without smoking.

How did you know you would enjoy them before you started... :O

There has to be a reason to start smoking in the first place.

[Deleted]

Because prohibition went so well.

I am not American but from what I know you prohibited alcohol because it "leads to poverty" or something like that. That's fairly stupid, alcohol isn't dangerous if moderated. Cigarettes are.

[RüneRS]

No, "we" wouldn't. Alcohol and caffeine don't slowly kill everyone around you while you consume them. Alcohol has other associated risks, sure, but those can be prevented by being responsible in your usage of it, and using it yourself doesn't force its side-effects onto everyone else near you like smoking does.

Your acting like every smoker is a potential killer, ok it is bad for you health and you shouldn't do it around children or indoor public places. But there's like a million other things to be afraid from then from secondhand smoke, like being run over by a car or spontanious combustion or a piano falling on your head.

Or being abducted by a serial killer
or crashing with a plane
or ...

[Jasyn]

Personally I voted for "Yes, smoking should be outlawed entirely." The libertarian approach (destroy yourself with whatever you want) doesn't work, we don't live in a free society anyway and this would definitaly help everyone, both active and passive smokers. Plus your smoking affects others (passive).

This makes Darwin cry.

However, the rest of us want to be away from smoking in order to live, so I guess survival of the fittest still works in some ways.

[warrician]

OBVIOUSLY, any regulation is terrible for the economy. so you can choose: better economy or fresh air...

[Sunseeker]

That's another thing that pisses me off, that smokers can't ever be bothered to throw their butts away properly.

This applies to all forms of trash, but there seems to be a surplus of cigarette butts even when people drink soda as often as many people smoke.