Public Smoking Bans

[JeninCO 0]

But the thing is, you drinking has no affect on my health, unless you drink and drive.

Then why go into a bar when you know people are smoking? There should be little places where people are allowed to go if they smoke. But then again, the world has become a much less tolerant place. It's much easier to legislate than exercise a little free will.

[anonemouse 1]

Then why go into a bar when you know people are smoking?

Why should I be denied access to areas open to the public, just because I have asthma, something that is beyond my control? Like other people, I have no problem with places having closed-off smoking lounges, but I would like to go out and have fun with my friends and still be able to breathe (literally).

[JeninCO 0]

I want to get your opinions on something. How would you approach the topic of body odor with a smoker? I haven't had the experience of having a super-stinky smoking student in one of the classes I teach yet, but I know it is inevitable. When I was taking a class a few years ago, there was a super-stinky smoker it it. Even though I sat several rows away from her, I could still smell her the instant she walked in the room. I always felt so sorry for the people that sat around her. I don't want to inflict something like that on my own students. How would you guys approach the topic with someone like that? I wouldn't want to offend them, but I would have to think of myself and my other students.

I would take her aside and let her know she reeks. It's a tough call, because she might take offense and leave, but I would tell her. I've let people know they've had halitosis and body odor before, and at first they've gotten angry, but then they later told me they appreciated it.

[JeninCO 0]

Why should I be denied access to areas open to the public, just because I have asthma, something that is beyond my control? Like other people, I have no problem with places having closed-off smoking lounges, but I would like to go out and have fun with my friends and still be able to breathe (literally).

I think people should have the choice.

[bitteroldhag 0]

I have yet to see actual scientific proof by a neutral party that second hand smoke is bad for anyone. In fact, the original smoking experiment with dogs who smoked solidly showed no bad effects on the dogs. As a chain smoker, it's clear that this experiment was flawed since smoking does affect smokers with COPD and lung cancer. However, I have not seen a convincing study that shows that second hand smoke creates more problems in the general population which suffers from exhaust from cars as well as other irritants. I do not recommend smoking, but as a smoker, I'm getting pretty tired of the Gestapo tactics to keep us away from others. One of my former students lives in Taiwan and he said that a Swede there pointed out that people in the U.S. can't smoke in bars. Taiwan is more liberal that we are. I'm sort of tired of a few people deciding what all the people will do. If you don't like to be around smokers, go someplace else. Don't try to force your opinions on others. That's not true democracy. That Hitler's Germany. Clearly, I'm an unrepentant smoker.

[bitteroldhag 0]

Well, I had a spirited defense of smokers but it disappeared. Laurend, lighten up. Not everyone is perfect, least of all us fat people who smell. Didn't you know?

[Kat817 19]

I'm sort of tired of a few people deciding what all the people will do.

Here where I live, when the Governor recently signed into effect a smoking ban in all public buildings and business, it was said his office was inundated with letters and petitions supporting it. Far more support FOR the ban, than against it. It wasn't a few people deciding, it was the majority deciding.

Kat

[musicalmomma 1]

... but as a smoker, I'm getting pretty tired of the Gestapo tactics to keep us away from others...

I'm sort of tired of a few people deciding what all the people will do. If you don't like to be around smokers, go someplace else.

Don't try to force your opinions on others. That's not true democracy. That Hitler's Germany. Clearly, I'm an unrepentant smoker.

I don't want to keep smokers away from me...I want to keep their SMOKE away from me. My smoker friends don't smoke around me, I don't fart around them...it's a beautiful thing!

There are far more non smokers than smokers, so I don't think it's "the few" or a minority making this decision.

It's not my opion I'm defending, it's my health.

As far as non-partisan and unbiased studies regarding second hand smoke...that's just not true. There is just too many studies, proving the dangers of second hand smoke, to read in a lifetime...there's not one study (much less an unbiased study) I've ever seen substantiating the opposite. If you know of one, please post the link, so we can read it. That would be interesting.

[Carlene 12]

Well, I had a spirited defense of smokers but it disappeared. Laurend, lighten up. Not everyone is perfect, least of all us fat people who smell. Didn't you know?

Not all fat people smell bad - just those who don't practice good personal hygiene.

I grew up in an era when smoking was synonymous with glamor and sophistication. My mother never smoked a day in her life (and was predictably unglamorous and unsophisticated). She was an elementary grade school teacher and complained often about the kids who smelled of second-hand smoke. I thought she was being her typical grumpy self....until I stopped smoking and my daughter didn't. When I held her babies and nuzzled their sweet little heads, I found that their clothes and even their hair reeked of cigarette smoke. I never smelled it on myself or my own kids, or my house, car, etc all those years. But if you are a non-smoker, you can smell one a mile away.

[green 6]

Well, I am prepared to curb my smoking around non-smokers but as for not smelling of smoke, that is a little too much to ask for. I wear expensive (and subtle) perfume and I put up with smelling folks doused with the cheap stuff. I also put up with folks smelling like last night's curry dinner, of second-hand garlic, and of an alcoholic's hangover. I also put up with screaming babies and shrieking tots. This is life as we live it when we live among other people. People are pretty interesting to be around and that is why I love living in the city but you do have to take the bad with the good. That's life.

[musicalmomma 1]

Well, I am prepared to curb my smoking around non-smokers but as for not smelling of smoke, that is a little too much to ask for. I wear expensive (and subtle) perfume and I put up with smelling folks doused with the cheap stuff. I also put up with folks smelling like last night's curry dinner, of second-hand garlic, and of an alcoholic's hangover. I also put up with screaming babies and shrieking tots. This is life as we live it when we live among other people. People are pretty interesting to be around and that is why I love living in the city but you do have to take the bad with the good. That's life.

I think they were referring to Laurend's question about someone who has poor hygene on top of the smell of smoke...bad combo! I can deal with someone smelling like smoke...I think most people can...it's the B.O. that turns my stomache.

[Carlene 12]

Well, I am prepared to curb my smoking around non-smokers but as for not smelling of smoke, that is a little too much to ask for. I wear expensive (and subtle) perfume and I put up with smelling folks doused with the cheap stuff. I also put up with folks smelling like last night's curry dinner, of second-hand garlic, and of an alcoholic's hangover. I also put up with screaming babies and shrieking tots. This is life as we live it when we live among other people. People are pretty interesting to be around and that is why I love living in the city but you do have to take the bad with the good. That's life.

You're right....there is something about most everyone that will offend someone, at sometime. I think it's kind of sad to encounter toddlers that smell like cigarette butts, however.

And smokers will assure you that they don't smell - and their kids don't smell. I know....I used to do the same thing. But the truth is, they do.

My DIL was telling me about the new principal at her local junior high. No one likes the man, evidently, because he thinks he's running Alcatraz instead of a public school. Anyway, he gave a child in-school suspension because she came to school smelling like cigarette smoke. Her dad called the principal and explained that she had spent the weekend at her mom's (a smoker) and attended a family reunion, at the home of a smoker, but the child was not guilty of smoking. The principal said, "She still has to serve the suspension. Next time, wash her jacket before you send her to school."

That is the most extreme case of smoker-phobia I have ever heard of. I am sooooooo glad my daughter's child is not going there next year. Poor kid....she would be in ISS all year because her mom smokes in the house, in the car, and everywhere in between AND she shares clothes with her mom sometimes.

[green 6]

I know that smokers can and do smell of smoke. When I was at boarding school I would sometimes be allowed to spend the weekends home with my family. My father smoked cigars. He would drive me in on a Monday morning and I would be mortified because I would become suddenly aware that I stank of cigars and bacon grease! I didn't smell it until I entered into that sterile environment of nuns and schoolgirls and general teenage unhappiness.

[green 6]

Speaking of poor hygiene, there was a girl at that school who was known as Armpits Heather.......

[musicalmomma 1]

Speaking of poor hygiene, there was a girl at that school who was known as Armpits Heather.......

OMG!!! This made me bust out laughing!!!!!!!!!