Is this thread from, like, a time machine or something? Smoking has been banned in all workplaces in California since 1995. As far as I’m aware it’s no longer a controversial issue here.
I’m not in California. The ban here in Wisconsin is exactly 1 week old.
Nobody’s is forcing them to work there. Just as no one is forcing customers to visit a certain establishment. Business transactions, including terms of employment employment, should be a voluntary agreement between consenting adults.
There’s restaurant in town I won’t patronize, because one of the waitresses has nauseatingly bad teeth. They’re so black and disgusting and cavity-filled that it ruins any possible enjoyment of my meal after I see her smile. Should I petition the government to initiate force on my behalf to outlaw nasty teeth? Or should I just not go there?
I just don’t go there. The world doesn’t revolve around me, and it’s wrong to use government force to violate the rights of another to run his private business as he sees fit.
I’d feel the same way if every restaurant had nasty-toothed waitresses.
If the restaurants aren’t mine, then I have no right whatsoever to set their. policies.
In 15 years it won’t be a controversial issue there either – I predict.
Yes.
No. If the intent were saving lives tobacco would now be a controlled substance, at the minimum not available out of vending machines or from people at convenience stores.
A business owner that chooses to cater to smokers. There is always a demand for places that allow smoking, doubly so because they are all gone.
They can be, but as they are a one-time purchase less refills there will necessarily be fewer sales, thus less tax revenue. You don’t really think the states would declare “mission accomplished” and reduce their budget by the amount of tax revenue lost, do you? No way. They’ll pass it on to you, and you’ll kick and scream about how the state is jacking your taxes, something that smokers have been saying for years without even a trace of sympathy. You can be sure that the sentiment will be reciprocated.
And the smoking “rights” movement is about corporate puppets who are cooperating with their own murder-for-profit.
And screw “market forces”. “Let the weak perish” is a morally bankrupt position.
Garbage. We don’t live in a society where most people can just walk away from their jobs. Being an employee doesn’t give your employer the moral right to abuse or kill you.
On the contrary, making sure that private matters are conducted in a civilized fashion is an important function of government. Private business owners don’t have the right to poison or cripple or kill their employees and customers, which is exactly the sort of thing they do (and historically have done) without that evil government butting in.
Nonsense. That wouldn’t work, as Prohibition and the War on Drugs demonstrates. Slowly restricting tobacco, making it more awkward and expensive to get and more socially unacceptable - that’s working.
Where did I mention smokers rights? The OP specifically says there is no right to smoke.
Flavored and clove cigarettes have been made illegal in the U.S… Show me that the ban isn’t working.
Also, why do you think the government has learned any lessons at all from prohibition?
Like I said. It’s not about saving lives. It’s about humiliating what are essentially drug addicts into quitting. Which doesn’t work. And by the way, punishing them financially for their addiction while simultaneously benefiting from it by using that money to shore up their increasingly tight budgets.
It’s all about money. It’s always been about money. They know people either cannot or will not quit and they’re riding that financial gravy train for all it’s worth. Health? If they cared about health they wouldn’t be attacking only smoking and drinking. And that’s coming, too, once they figure out how to tax fat people for their special crime. Now THAT will be a financial windfall.
I do know for a fact that laws preventing cigarette smoking here in Iowa apply to all businesses with the exception of casinos which the state draws a hefty amount of tax money from. Are the lives and health of the casino workers worth less than employees of other businesses? Smells of pure hypocrisy from where I sit.
The problem with laws that for lack of a better phrase, pick on smokers, is the fact that most smokers don’t like their habit.
Ask any smoker, and he/she would probably say something like “OH I would quit if it could.” Or “I wish I never started.” Smokers pretty much know that smoking isn’t a good thing but they are hooked and can’t give it up. It must be a very difficult habit to break.
Look at this compared to drinking. Alcohol cause tons of issues, but you will find people that LIKE to drink. Compare this to cigarette smokers who would be more apt to say, “I"m hooked.”
No certainly if you’d look you’d find some people that like to smoke but this makes it easy to pass antismoking laws or higher taxes because the target group isn’t putting up much opposition, because they want to quit.