# It should be ilegal to smoke on the street. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 5, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434 "2011-01-05T01:07:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/21 "2011-01-05T02:28:13Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > cars exist because people are too lazy to walk. Don’t be silly, unless you are Steve Austin you aren’t going to be running anywhere at 60 mph. Cars are (obviously) much faster and can carry more than a human can. _That’s_ why they exist. > [@Squink](#): > > Cigarettes are tools, which calm the agitated smoker. It’s called “addiction” and “getting your fix”. Let’s not be euphemistic here. > [@Squink](#): > > They don’t smell nearly as bad as auto exhaust, except to anti-smoking zealots. Cigarette smoke burns my throat, cigar and pipe smoke nauseates me and has been known to cause vomiting in high enough concentration. Automobile fumes aren’t nearly as harsh. And smoking killed most of my immediate family, so yes I’m a bit of a “zealot”. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/22 "2011-01-05T03:09:29Z")
> [@ecco477](#): > > Non-smokers are always such incredible whiners. Really, is it that traumatic for you to smell smoke? What do you do when you pass by a factory, or a sewer grate, or heaven forbid…a massive diesel engine? There’s just something about the smell of cigarette tobacco smoke that bugs the hell out of me. I’m not allergic to it as pipe and some cigar tobacco doesn’t bother me at all but the cheap tobacco used in cigarettes really gets my goat for reasons I don’t quite understand. The only time I truly find the smell unbearable is when I have a headache. When I’ve got a headache and I have to be around a person reeking of smoke it gets my stomach to churning. All that said, I do think its unfair to chastise people for smoking outdoors. We (society) have driven them outdoors and that should be enough. I don’t like bad smells either but it seems rather silly to legislate against them. So far as having your hair and clothing smell like tobacco as outlined in the OP goes I just don’t buy it. The only time clothes and hair takes on the tobacco smell is when you spend some time with people smoking in an enclosed space. Walking by a bunch of people on your way somewhere isn’t going to make you reek of tobacco. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/23 "2011-01-05T03:32:00Z")
> [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > edited title: It should be illegal to smoke on the street. > People should be free to walk the street without having to avoid offensive odors that are created purely for somebody else’s pleasure. Sez who? > [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Smoking smells. When people walk on the street they cannot avoid having to smell a person’s smoke. If a person who is smoking is walking in front of another person, the other person cannot avoid getting the smell of smoke in her clothes and hair. What about cars, garbage cans and homeless people? > [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > While not all smokers litter, enough do that cigarette butts are one of the most common forms of litter. Enforce the laws on the books. > [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Smoking on the street is worse than smoking in bars or restaurants. People can choose to only go to non-smoking restaurants, but they do not have a meaningful choice about using the streets. See cars, trash cans and homeless people. > [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Smoking on the street should be outlawed. No, it shouldn’t be. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/24 "2011-01-05T03:47:47Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > We (society) have driven them outdoors and that should be enough. Agree. I’m very glad we no longer have smoking in a lot of indoor places like restaurants. Non-smokers like me pretty much got what we wanted. War’s over. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/25 "2011-01-05T04:11:02Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And smoking killed most of my immediate family, so yes I’m a bit of a “zealot”. Smokers of the world are not responsible for your family’s weak genes. Your zealotry is unwarranted and unappreciated, as is your ridiculous claim that addiction alone accounts for smoking behavior. You want it to be bad, so it must be bad, just like the Republicans wanted Saddam to be bad, so he must have been bad. Get your reasoning abilities out of the gutter, **DT** , you know better than that. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/26 "2011-01-05T04:14:47Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Smokers of the world are not responsible for your family’s weak genes. Mocking the dead, how charming. > [@Squink](#): > > Your zealotry is unwarranted and unappreciated, as is your ridiculous claim that addiction alone accounts for smoking behavior. It does. Remove the addiction and the incidence of smoking would drop to near zero. > [@Squink](#): > > You want it to be bad, so it must be bad, just like the Republicans wanted Saddam to be bad, so he must have been bad. Get your reasoning abilities out of the gutter, **DT** , you know better than that. What in the world are you babbling about? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/27 "2011-01-05T04:26:09Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > A law like this might work in Canada, England, **France** Bolding mine. You might want to go back and reread what you wrote here… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/28 "2011-01-05T04:40:37Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And smoking killed most of my immediate family, so yes I’m a bit of a “zealot”. Alcoholism has killed a number of my family members – including my favorite aunt. (And she was sober at the time, sadly) And yet, I’m not in favor of Prohibition. The answer isn’t to “ban” cigarettes – people already know they’re bad for them. Yet they smoke anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/29 "2011-01-05T04:44:36Z")
Bhutan is so far the only country in the world to have outlawed all tobacco products. I have no problem with doing that. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/30 "2011-01-05T07:33:08Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > A law like this might work in Canada, England, France, Italy, China, Australia, Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, etc,… but not in the United States. If it were illegal to smoke on the streets in Italy almost everyone would be locked up. It is illegal to litter, even cigarette butts..yeah that’s going to stop.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/31 "2011-01-05T07:55:07Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Alcoholism has killed a number of my family members – including my favorite aunt. (And she was sober at the time, sadly) And yet, I’m not in favor of Prohibition. > The answer isn’t to “ban” cigarettes – people already know they’re bad for them. Yet they smoke anyways. I never said anything about whether or not I support the idea of banning them (I don’t because it wont work). I was criticizing the attempt to compare cars and tobacco, and then **Squink** started mocking my dead family members and trying to pretend that tobacco is harmless. ---
**Author:** ![ecco477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b2d939/32.png) [@ecco477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecco477)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/32 "2011-01-05T11:32:22Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Of course it would work in the United States, you would simply declare smokers to be terrorists. Little Shites, I mean Shiites… ---
**Author:** ![ecco477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b2d939/32.png) [@ecco477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecco477)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/33 "2011-01-05T11:36:15Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Bhutan is so far the only country in the world to have outlawed all tobacco products. I have no problem with doing that. Can I outlaw bicycling? I HATE THEM! They ride in the street like they’re cars, they never use hand signals, they swerve in front and around you wrecklessly, need I go on? They are aweful and cause accidents all the time. I’ve seen three since I’ve moved to Florida. They are dangerous and shouldn’t be on the street. Please? Can I outlaw them too? Pretty please? ---
**Author:** ![ecco477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b2d939/32.png) [@ecco477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecco477)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/34 "2011-01-05T11:40:52Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > Sez who? > > What about cars, garbage cans and homeless people? > > Enforce the laws on the books. > > See cars, trash cans and homeless people. > > No, it shouldn’t be. > > Slee agreed, unless they are going to outlaw bicyclists, excessive perfume wearers, and people that still own a Brothers P-touch, then maybe… ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/35 "2011-01-05T13:15:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > …, as I don’t think the feds have the constitutional authority to do so. Why not? Don’t cigarettes move in interstate commerce? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/36 "2011-01-05T13:17:13Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Agree. I’m very glad we no longer have smoking in a lot of indoor places like restaurants. Non-smokers like me pretty much got what we wanted. War’s over. On another note it’s kind of strange to me how this has changed many smoker’s habits in their own home. A lot of younger smokers I know (my sister included) won’t smoke in their own homes. They go outside to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/37 "2011-01-05T13:25:46Z")
Pardon my skepticism, but I’m not sure the OP really wants to ban smoking “on the street”. His proposal is often framed as a mocking one by smokers who oppose indoor smoking bans (I’ve seen it mentioned on this board). The “point” is evidently to reinforce the idea that our air is so dirty already that smokers’ fumes don’t make much of a difference. Indoors of course, secondhand smoke builds up to noxious levels so the argument is foolish. Outdoors, there’s enough ventilation so that there’s not a problem, with the exception of when smokers congregate outside buildings so that you have a run a gauntlet of smoke to get in (or pass by). There are already laws in some places that address this. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/38 "2011-01-05T13:43:01Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > There’s just something about the smell of cigarette tobacco smoke that bugs the hell out of me. I’m not allergic to it as pipe and some cigar tobacco doesn’t bother me at all but the cheap tobacco used in cigarettes really gets my goat for reasons I don’t quite understand. The only time I truly find the smell unbearable is when I have a headache. When I’ve got a headache and I have to be around a person reeking of smoke it gets my stomach to churning. > > All that said, I do think its unfair to chastise people for smoking outdoors. We (society) have driven them outdoors and that should be enough. I don’t like bad smells either but it seems rather silly to legislate against them. So far as having your hair and clothing smell like tobacco as outlined in the OP goes I just don’t buy it. The only time clothes and hair takes on the tobacco smell is when you spend some time with people smoking in an enclosed space. Walking by a bunch of people on your way somewhere isn’t going to make you reek of tobacco. This is entirely my experience and my view - it’s not the tobacco smoke that bugs me, it’s something else in the cigarettes that sets off every allergy I have. Even being in close proximity with a heavy smoker who is not smoking but reeks of it can set it off. Pipe tobacco, roll-your-own, cigars - nada (although cigars are nasty for other reasons). Having chased smokers out of offices, restaurants and bars, I’m quite happy to let them smoke in peace outside provided they dispose of the butts properly. Littering is still littering. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/39 "2011-01-05T14:37:43Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > A law like this might work in Canada, England, France, Italy, China, Australia, Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, etc,… but not in the United States. History suggets otherwise. The US led the charge on anti-smoking laws by several years. Minnesota in 1975, San Luis Obispo, California in 1990, then the state of California in 1998, followed by New York. Only in 2004 did Ireland follow suit, followed by Norway. The UK in 2007, India in 2009. Nepal in 2010. > **[Smoking ban](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_ban)** > > Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor workplaces and buildings open to the public such as restaurants, bars, office buildings, schools, retail stores, hospitals, libraries, transport facilities, and government buildings, in addition to public transport vehicles such as aircraft, buses, watercraft, a... I’d submit that a law like this is most likely to happen first in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/40 "2011-01-05T14:39:19Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Squink… and trying to pretend that tobacco is harmless. That is not true. Your zealotry blinds you to everything but harm. Your antitobacco crusade is an unjustifiable attempt to impinge your opinions on the lives other others. What’s next for you, outlawing atheism, or religion? That’s the mindset you’ve put on display here, and it’s not pretty. Show me a city where tobacco smoke has turned the skies brown DT. Cars do that routinely, and they smell. Your nose has just become accustomed to that perfume. If you tried, you could get used to cigarette smoke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434.md?page=3)