Are you a smoker? Does it bother you that 'smoker rights' are almost extinct? I realize that the affects of secondhand smoke are almost as bad as if the other person was a smoker themselves, but... why would non-smokers feel that smokers should quit?
by 
subtle
ANSWERS: 23
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1. No. 2. No. 3. We've known of the ill effects of smoking for many years. There was no need for anyone else to start smoking. They dug their own grave. Why should we have to sit in it?
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I don't think many non-smokers really care whether smokers smoke or not (unless it's someone they care about and they worry about their health) - they just don't want them to smoke near to them. I used to smoke and don't any more. I have mixed feelings about the smoking bans - I think that places should have the option of providing a seperate room closed off from the rest of the premises for smokers if they choose to. It's no use saving a load of non-smokers from lung cancer if a load of smokers then go and die from pneumonia!
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I am a smoker....and I prefer not to smoke in front of non-smokers...and not smoking at a restaurant for me is ok, really....i just go outside if i really need one...but the worst was when i was at school...at our dorms we would have to smoke 30 feet away from the building...rain or snow...and there wasn't a shelter or anything...so we bundled up if we wanted the cigarette.
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well for one thing it would help keep our medical costs down..especially in Canada where we have a social medical system...It would also allow people who research the damage done by smoking to move their energies into areas that are not caused by self-destructive behaviour. FYI I was a heavy smoker for many years. And do you realize that cigarette butts are now our #1 source of pollution/trash.
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I think people just need to grow some metaphorical balls, or maybe some real, literal balls. Seriously, one meal at McDonald's is worse than secondhand smoke.
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I have nothing against smokers and far be it from me to take anyone's rights away. What I do have something against is the rising costs of Health Care due to smoking-related illnesses. Costs that are passed along to non-smokers in the form of exhorbitant premiums. That's where my rights are being violated.
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Yes I am a smoker, and a bartender, what bugs me about the smoking bans is that the people that vote for the ban are the ones who don't go out to the bars anyway so WTF do they care? the legislature then passes it off as if they are saving the worker, Mean while the worker is losing 20-30% of their income. Thanks for the help Uncle Sam but no thanks. I'm still not getting any health issuance.
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I grew up with two parents who smoked so I know of which I speak. At that time the smoke never bothered me and I can remember the lovely smell of tobacco when my dad lite up in the car. However the man I married didn't like cigarette smoke so we had a smokeless enviroment. I felt much better. But my parents smoking came back to haunt me in later years. I now have to have oxygen nightly and I don't have the lung power I once had. Thank all you smokers out there for your inability to think past the fire at the end of your nose. Thank you for a life of bronchitis and COPD. Remember the other person once in a while and smoke at home.
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being an ex smoker I am soooo pissed of with the way they are being treated ...its a joke ...the amount of taxes each year they and the tobacco companies pay and ...not one red cent is being spent to help those who want to give it up ....no the hypocrite government loves collecting it hand over fist but won't give any back to them
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The hypocrisy of it all bothers me. One the one hand, cigarette products are legal in the US, yet everything is being done to deter or penalize consumers from using them. It seems quite simple that the government cares little about the ill effects of secondhand smoke. If it poses that great a health risk, why not ban the sale of cigarettes altogether? Answer: Banning cigarettes would create an underground market in which the government would receive no revenue. It's all political and smokers are literally paying the price.
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"I realize that the affects of secondhand smoke are almost as bad as if the other person was a smoker themselves, but... why would non-smokers feel that smokers should quit?" Um... well, your answer is right in your question. Who wants to inhale junk from a cigarette they're not even smoking? That being said, I am not some bleeding-heart little pink lunged goody two-shoes. I do recognize a person's right to smoke and don't mind if someone lights up around me, actually. However, it seems a little hypocritical for a smoker to fight so hard for their right to poison themself while completely DISREGARDING someone else's right to clean air. If you want respect, you have to give it... and that goes for both sides. Smokers should be given a warm sheltered designated smoking area so they are not uncomfortable and air quality is not compromised much for everyone else.
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I'm confused... 'smokers rights'?.. Smokers have the same rights under the constitution as anyone else.. just the privilege to kill others with second hand smoke is being limited. In Australia the government does a LOT to both deter and to assist people to quit. Australia does not have a user pay hospital system and sees the impact smoking related illnesses are having on the medical system. Its been proven that smoking kills.. we would call someone who has been told not not jump out of a moving car an idiot if he/she did it & would expect the taxpayer to pick up the tab for their care...
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I'm a quitter. Yes, it bothers me. Public bans on smoking in public places, okay. But the vehement anti-smoking views that give people the faulty belief that it is "in" to be rude to anybody who smokes is wrong. It is very easy to say that targeting "this" group of people is the right thing to do for (insert reason here). But the bottom line is someones personal rights are being trampled upon and it rarely works out that just the "other" guys rights gets infringed. Sooner or later this "mind your neighbors business" will turn around and bite everyone right square on the ass.
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As an ex-smoker, I am actually bothered by it now. When I smoked, I tried to be decent about it (staying away from people, not throwing my butts on the ground, etc). As a non smoker now, I notice that most smokers are really quite rude about smoking. I do feel that if a business wants to allow smoking, they should be allowed to, but I personally will not go there. As to non smokers wanting smokers to quit, I spent a week in the hospital because of liver issues related to years smoking and drinking. I know the pain it can create personally and have seen the pain it can create to loved ones. I want to live, so I quit both.
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I am a little bothered by the concept of "smokers rights". Where did they come from? Where did some special "smokers rights", separate from, say, drinkers rights, come from? Everybody has the right to do whatever they want - provided they do not harm other people. Smoke harms non-smokers, both in discomfort from the smoke and possible damage. We don't consider it an infringement of "drinkers rights" to ban drunk driving. I don't consider it a an infringement of smokers rights to say that, while you mas smoke as much as you want to, you keep you smoke away from me in public places.
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it does bother me, to be honest. much as i DO think smoking is disgusting and unhealthy, it's an addiction. it's not something people can just "stop doing." as for banning it in public... kinda unfair. smokers should still have places they can go. if it's ventilated and doesn't affect the non-smoking sections, who cares? that way, the smokers don't have to go outside, and the non-smokers don't have to deal with it. that said, anyone who thinks second hand smoke is "not that bad" is ignorant. i have asthma and chronic bronchitis which is, according to my doctor and respiratory specialist, a direct result of having lived in a smoke-filled environment most of my life. (until i could afford to move.)
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Answer removed in protest of AB staff's lack of action protecting the membership from the COAT gang and their skewing answers.
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I smoke a cigar every now and then, and I do feel for smokers! The smoking bans have never bothered me because I wouldn't smoke around another person. Even at home, I go out on my deck, out back, and shut the door. My family HATES smoke! But, I think the reason people are SO hardcore is, they think everyone can just quit, and that ain't the case! Most smokers were hooked when very young, and it IS one of the worst addictions. Also, with my family, it's the SMELL of cigarettes! I used to smoke in the house. After I quit, I came in one day, and the smell just FLOORED me! I couldn't believe it! And, it had permeated every bit of clothing in the house! Other than health reasons, I think most non-smokers just think it is a filthy habit. But, smokers should be allowed a little bit of leeway.
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its facism. non-smokers want EVERYONE to be like them, and thats pretty wrong. if someone wants to smoke than let them smoke. just dont do it around kids and not all the time. i smoke a pack a month.
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You can do what you like with your body. That is your business. Nevermind the fact that your loved ones have to watch you kill yourselves in a very slow, agonizing way. That's for another discussion. I, however, don't want to go into public and have to breathe it in. Bars - I consider that a different kind of environment and thing to ban smoking there is very stupid, but restaurants, grocery stores, businesses, I absolutely support the ban on smoking there.
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Some people just feel the need to but in to other peoples business regardless of whether they are welcome there or not. I try to do good myself - but I detest "do gooders", those who help you whether you want help or not.
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I'm not a smoker, but I think the right to breathe, which is necessary for life, trumps the right to smoke, which is not. I have asthma, and when someone smokes near me it makes it very likely that I will have a major asthmatic episode and might possibly cease breathing and living altogether. My mother had cancer in her pleural sac, and became extremely distressed whenever someone smoked around her, to the point where she almost ceased going out altogether for fear that someone would light up near her and kill her. I don't think that the many millions of people with lung disease or heart disease should have to stay home all the time for fear of the behavior of smokers. That is almost like being forced to stay home by gangs of roving armed thugs, only in this case, the weapon of choice is a cigarette.
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"I realize that the affects of secondhand smoke are almost as bad as if the other person was a smoker themselves, but... why would non-smokers feel that smokers should quit?" How would you feel if you got bronchitis or emphysema because of someone else smoking?
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