Would You Be In Favor of a Statewide Public Smoking Ban? (Philadelphia: home, casino)

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by milledge44

another thing that kills me... is that everyone and there mothers is now is on the non smoking band wagon... which is totally fine...... but dont preach to me.. about how smoking is bad... when your shoveling double quarter pounders with cheese down your throat...
yes smoking is bad... i am not denying that... but obesity will be the number one killer in America in under 10 years....

If someone else sitting near me is eating a quarter pounder with cheese, it will not make me fat or clog my arteries. If someone near me is smoking, it will make me cough. And if exposed to it long enough, it could give me cancer.

If you can find a way for people to smoke without emitting fumes into others' breathing space, then smoke all you want for all I care.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by SirenSong71

I want to scream when I see a mom in her car smoking, windows shut, a 'baby a board' sign in her window (like that's gonna help) and two little ones in the back seat. Did she ask them if they would like cancer for their 21st birthday?

I think not!! You wanna kill yourself, fine, but your kids are innocent bystanders. Why kill your kids, too??

People who smoke around their kids should have their kids taken off of them, in my opinion. Same goes with women who smoke while pregnant.....it should be outlawed.

[CosmicWizard]

MrKrabs wrote:

People who smoke around their kids should have their kids taken off of them, in my opinion.

How about some time in the slammer too, or maybe community service picking up butts at busy intersections where the smokaholic idiots unthinkingly toss their butts out the window.

[SirenSong71]

Originally Posted by NewAgeRedneck

SirenSong71 wrote:

Seems to me like Pennsy can learn a little from California

Learn from California...are you kidding! Pennsy likes to make its own mistakes, over and over and over again.

blessings....Franco

That made me laugh...over and over and over again...

[SirenSong71]

Originally Posted by NewAgeRedneck

MrKrabs wrote:

People who smoke around their kids should have their kids taken off of them, in my opinion.

How about some time in the slammer too?

It HAS to fall into the category of endangering the welfare of a minor, right?

This really ticked me off:
Before my son came home from Korea (he's adopted) I went Babies R Us to do some shopping for him. On the way out there was a VERY pregnant woman smoking a cigarette while talking on her cell out front. I couldn't believe it! I wanted to go over there and pull the cigarette out of her mouth. All I could do was stare in disbelief. After going through so much to have a baby and losing one myself, I wanted to shake her and ask her how she could be so selfish to her own baby...
I just don't understand how people can treat their kids that way...

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by SirenSong71

It HAS to fall into the category of endangering the welfare of a minor, right?

This really ticked me off:
Before my son came home from Korea (he's adopted) I went Babies R Us to do some shopping for him. On the way out there was a VERY pregnant woman smoking a cigarette while talking on her cell out front. I couldn't believe it! I wanted to go over there and pull the cigarette out of her mouth. All I could do was stare in disbelief. After going through so much to have a baby and losing one myself, I wanted to shake her and ask her how she could be so selfish to her own baby...
I just don't understand how people can treat their kids that way...

Not to sound like an apologist for smokers, but as a friend once said "You have no idea of the power of addiction". I say that as an ex-smoker. It is EXTREMELY hard to quit. I do think the OBs should be more adamant about smoking (or not smoking actually) and offer stop-smoking programs.

[Friendly_Guy]

Originally Posted by milledge44

ok.. it seems like i am the only one not in favor of this... and yes i do smoke...but before all you non smokers pass judgment... hear me out...

i do not smoke in my house and i do not smoke in my car... i can not stand the after smell of it...

but who is the state or government to tell me where or where i cant smoke???
i'm sorry but last time i checked.... this was the land of the free right???

and besides if they pass the ban... whats next...?? another prohibition? a children limit like china...??? i know these seem extreme... but they really are possible...
------<EDIT for brevity>------
and i'm sure.. i will be getting alot of hateful responses to this post...

Milledge44,

It's an emotional issue - but I won't jump in your $#!t either.

On Feb 20, 2000, My dad died of Lung cancer. I was at his side. He smoked for 58 years, but watching this man die this way was still terrible. I would not wish it on anyone.

A couple of years later, my 54 year old cousin, who never smoked a day in his life, but worked in an office in Carlisle PA where people smoked regularly, also died of lung cancer. He left a wife and 3 children.

Some things need to be regulated. Tobacco is a dangerous drug. It is physically addictive. It costs taxpayers billions of dollars annually in insurance rate hikes and skyrocketing health care costs.

Heroin, cocaine, PCP, crack and others - all addictive and dangerous drugs, with one difference - people are not exposed to these publicly each day, and do not end up with the substances in their body just by walking down the street, going to work, going to a restaurant, a concert, a bar, or a store. Those drugs are all not only regulated, but illegal. (Recently, a popular over the counter nasal decongestant was also regulated because it is used to MAKE one of these drugs.) Someday, tobacco will be illegal too, or at least I hope it will be.

Many (most?) smokers are also exceptionally inconsiderate, believing it is their "RIGHT" to smoke in other's presence. It is beyond commonplace to see cigarette butts laying about on streets, in public buildings, in parks - and to see people flicking them out of their windows. These people are inconsiderate, and in my opinion, vile. You smoke 'em, you can keep em. Field strip them and put them in your trash.

This is not freedom. Freedom has always been based upon rules designed to protect the majority from the bad behavior of others. The United States would not even exist if it were not for a (newly established) government taking a stand against injustices. Our Government has failed to uphold the rights of the many by caving to pressure from lobbyists and multi-death corporations such as Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds. The tax collected on cigarettes has delayed the inevitable because the governments, state and federal, do not wish to lose this stream of income.

If smokers want to have their own restaurants and bars, let em have those places, because frequenting those places is optional ( but no one under age 18 allowed ). We non smokers can simply choose to avoid them. However, flying on a plane, movie theatres, government buildings, workplaces, etc, where smokers and non-smokers share the same space...those place need to be non-smoking. I'd even be in favor of all public outdoor parks being non smoking. Indoors or outdoors...tobacco smoke is stinky, smelly, obnoxious, cancer casuing poison! But let em have their bars and restaurants so they can ostracize themselves from the rest of society.

If this is the case, then the establishment is no longer a public place. Any applicable regulations that apply to private establishments must now be applied, such as a limit to the number of liquor licenses granted to private establishments. Any tax laws that apply to private establishments will now be applied to these establishments. Insurance changes, legal hours of operation; anything else that applies to a private establishment as opposed to a public establishment must now be enforced.

Now, as for employees in these places, there are laws requiring full disclosure about any hazardous substances being used in a place of employment. If people are hired without being notified, I believe that there would be grounds for legal action. Perhaps a large severance package would be in order for employees who will be subjected to these carcinogens in their place of employment. That would permit them the opportunity to find work elsewhere.

Also, there are laws concerning the release of dangerous particulates. Incinerators, coal burning stoves, etc, are required to use catalytic converters and other pollution reducing measures. These smoking establishments should also be required to install, at their own expense, pollution control systems that treats all exhaust from the newly sealed establishment.

Warning signs need to be posted, clearly, near the entrances / exits to these facilities, and zoning hearings should be held to determine if a community will accept a toxic waste generator.

Yes, much of this is written in jest, but the concepts are not. Smoking is an outdated, dangerous, and addictive product that should be controilled the same way any other dangerous street drug is controlled.

My two cents, YMMV...

[Chinolala]

I think it's very big government. Ideally business owners should be able to decide whether or not they allow smoking and then people can go to whichever type of establishment they choose and employees can work at either type of place. Illinois' ban is very strict. No smoking in any public places period. I think having non smoking establishments is a good thing, but I think making every bar, tavern, casino, restaurant, etc. non smoking is a bit overboard. At this point, the government should just make it illegal, but of course they won't due to the taxes.

[61scout80]

i'm a non smoking asthmatic and i feel smoking bans are absurd. we are in a FREE country. the business owners should have the choice, the employees do have a choice to work elsewhere.

even though smoking is a freedom i do not exercise i feel a smoking ban is as ridiculous as bans against gay marriage, laws against automobile customization, or other restrictions on things that are important to many Americans.

we are a free country, lets keep our freedoms.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by 61scout80

i'm a non smoking asthmatic and i feel smoking bans are absurd. we are in a FREE country. the business owners should have the choice, the employees do have a choice to work elsewhere.

even though smoking is a freedom i do not exercise i feel a smoking ban is as ridiculous as bans against gay marriage, laws against automobile customization, or other restrictions on things that are important to many Americans.

we are a free country, lets keep our freedoms.

And why should freedom to smoke trump the freedom to BREATHE? And don't tell me just to avoid places where people smoke....that is virtually impossible. If someone in traffic is smoking in the car in front of me, it wafts into my car....if I'm walking down the street, there are smokers blowing smoke around me....and how about kids who have no say in the matter and are forced into cars and homes with idiot parents spewing smoke into their lungs? How about the unborn babies whose moron mothers smoke...how many babies are born with health problems due to smoking pregnant women? Why should their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have to be interfered with because of someone elses filthy habit?