California has done it again.

I think this no smoking in public areas is ridiculous.

"People have the right to breathe clean air."

People also have the right to smoke.

California needs to just make buying and smoking cigarettes illegal. Prohibit the whole damn thing.

If people have a right to breathe clean air then California better do away with that pesky public transportation system too. No more bus riding in public areas and on public streets.

I know we've discussed this issue a few months back, but seeing this on the news yesterday infuriated me.

As an ex-smoker, I say smokers should have no rights. Unless they are puffing herb.

Public transportation helps air quality to an extent. What are you talking about?

Yeah, I don't get your logic, Hegel... if more people used public transportation, then there'd be less single-driver Hummers locking up the freeways.

I think he means people should get off their lazy asses and walk or bike wherever they need to go. Maybe, just a wild guess though.

+1.

I don't smoke and am a single driver in an SUV. I think it balances out.


+1

with the public transportation I am referring to the countless times I have been standing on a street corner and a bus comes by and shoots massive amounts of diesel exhaust into my face. That's never happened to me from a Hummer. That's I guess the comparison to smoking I was making, not whether or not public transportation would be better for the environment in general. Probably not the best analogy.

I am an "ex-smoker" too. I just think that Califiornia is treading on some dangerous waters. Logically speaking, especially based on the negative health outcomes as well as how it affects other people, alcohol and drinking should be done away with too. Per year, I would guess more people are killed in alcohol related situations(car accidents, domestic violence, etc.) than from cancer that is linked to smoking, let alone from second-hand smoking.

Yeah, but people who chose to breathe clean air aren't disturbing those who chose to smoke.

If you choose to smoke, you are distrubing my right to breathe clean air.

Does this apply to perfume as well?

No, you don't. You have the privelege to smoke, as long as it does not infringe upon someone else's rights. Smoking in public damages a public good, impeding others' property rights. Prohibition is thus warranted.

I'm guessing this will be the last sensible sentiment issued in this discussion. (I wholeheartedly agree with you, NOTHINGFACE, but I've been through this shredder before. I'll tune in to read the entertaining responses, however.)

Queue flame war. And . . . begin.

I completely agree with you. The smoking ban is a load of crap. I can't believe people don't realize what an infringementon our rights it is to tell people they can't smoke in public. I'm not a smoker (usually), hate breathing in other people's smoke and hate smelling like smoke when I come home from a bar, but don't see how it's ok to just ban it. Lots of stuff smells bad when you pass it. Banning something because people don't like to smell it isn't a good reason.

I think it is brilliant.

I'm a former smoker and every time now I have to stand behind someone on the street whose cigarette smoke is blowing back into my face I want to scream. Then I remember I was once that person doing the same thing and how it must've sucked for the people around me.

I can't STAND the smell of cigarette smoke since I quit. Plus being pregnant now it's even more nasty to me and harmful to the baby.

Secondhand smoke is just as dangerous to a person as being the smoker.

I agree with overuse of perfume as well...

But one battle at a time.

How about banning something because it causes shortness of breath, illness, and death in both the people that choose to use it, and in people that are only exposed to it because others choose to use it.

And, I haven't read up or heard of any kind of documented health hazards involved with perfume use or second hand damages...

If Montreal of all places is legislating against smoking in public places, it must be bad for you.

It's really that simple.

I'm a smoker. How about venting all the anger towards the tobacco companies instead of the smoker. I know we choose to smoke in the first place, but the majority of smokers would love to not smoke but find it so hard to give up, i do anyway.

I agree with hegel's point with public transportation. Every time i get back form a trip to London, i end up having to blow my nose and the crap that comes out is black. Damn buses.

We have two non-smoking pubs in town yet they still have vending machines to buy cigarettes. Money, money, money.

true if i'm standing right next to you, blowing smoke in your face. not so true if i'm standing fifty feet away from you. or across the street. or if i go out of my way to blow smoke away from you. or if i go to a cigar bar.
and the people who choose to breath clean air are disturbing those who choose to smoke, by outlawing smoking in public places. it's not as if the fact that you can smoke outside means there are no places you can go to enjoy clean air. but if you seek clean air on a busy public street in say, los angeles, you're looking in the wrong place.
i guess this is one of those few issues where i lean libertarian. if there is really such an overwhelmig demand for non-smoking bars, why aren't there tons of non-smoking bars in towns that haven't outlawed smoking in public places? in lawrence, kansas, where i currently reside, every single bar allowed smoking until the city council outlawed all indoor smoking. if there was such a demand, you would think at least one enterprising businessman would have figured it out.
and i'm sorry, but those who argue that smoking is somehow more harmful than drinking just aren't being intellectually honest. by every measure, alcohol kills way more people. a drunk driver crashing into you interferes with your rights way more than standing next to a smoker ever could. nicotine doesn't increase violent behavior, but booze is involved in more than half of all violent crimes. nobody slips ghb into cigarettes. a bunch of angry smokers have never caused a riot after their team gets knocked out of the final four.
in this country, we have a right to do stupid things that harm our health, and even have the potential to harm the health of others (see: drinking at bars). i just don't think it's the gov'ment's job to save us from ourselves.

Drunk driving in public places is also prohibitted.

Next...

What I want to know is who the hell designates "smoking areas" that are located right at the main entrances to office buildings and elsewhere? If the point is to give smokers their own place to enjoy their breaks, why subject everyone to have to walk through that area to get in or out of the building?

I have no problem if you want to smoke. That's your decision. But be considerate to those who make the opposite choice.

oh, it's prohibited, so it never happens. problem solved. it's not as if the fact that alcohol is primarily consumed in bars away from people's homes will always inevitably lead to drunk driving. since these prohibitions are so mind-blowingly effective, why not just outlaw smoking next to non-smokers?

In a public area (i.e. where a public good is being harmend), yes, and that is exactly what's being done.

before the half-smoking ban went into effect in chicago, i knew of a handful of bars that prohibited smoking. and whenever i was at one, it was pretty crowded. it wasn't very many. chicago is a bigger town than lawrence. it happens, though.

but what if you're in a public area surrounded by people who also smoke and don't care if you smoke? aren't smokers part of the public?
the point is you can't just judge a law by what it says on paper. our law currently allows drinking, which in practice harms way more people than smoking ever could. if you're really so serious about protecting public health, join the prohibition party, you'll save more lives. otherwise, it just looks to me like the legislation of preference.

also, show me the evidence that you're harmed by me smoking a cigarette ten feet away from you outside.