That’s what i always thought about weed. Until - at the age of forty-eight - I sniffed an exceedingly familiar odor while walking through an parking garage in Boulder, with Mrs. SMV. "Wait, is that weed?
"Yes, that’s marijuana.
" Ohhh… "
It was then I realized I’d been smelling it for decades. And I also solved the mystery of why there were so many skunks around, even in a big city. :smack:
Yes, well, you could have been smelling skunk weed. 
We have moved, and are staying with the in-laws until we can get into our new place.
Thursday, if not sooner. I just hope the effects (congested sinuses, sore throat, burning eyes) wear off quickly.
As a Libertarian, all the smoking restrictions bug me in theory, but I am very grateful for them.
Bus stops are bad for non-smokers. The bus shelter could be constructed entirely of “NO SMOKING!” signs, but when one person lights up it gives permission for all the others to do so. When the bus comes they all take one last large puff and throw their butts on the ground before getting on.
Yeah, I know-You never do this. No smoker on the SDMB ever does this.
I love that this thread keeps getting bumped. Nice reminder of when I quit.
Since smoking in public places like restaurants and other public buildings is illegal in Chicagoland, I have no problem with smokers. What used to really irritate me was going out to a club and having to breath secondhand smoke. It would stink up my clothes and hair, too, so it naturally produced resentment.
Not sure about weight loss surgery, but I had an uncle who had bad emphysema from smoking his whole life. He took a trip from Arkansas to Florida to to get a new lung. They tested him there for nicotine and he failed, so no new lung for him. He ended up killing himself not long after, presumably because not being able to breathe all day every day was torture, and he had no more hope of improvement.
Apparently the smoker hate is rampant and deep enough that it looks like this thread will never die.
Though I guess there could be a new angle on this subject with the pot issue.
I’m a non-smoker and I really like it that there are so many places I can go where I don’t have to put up with that. I also like it that a hotel room I’m in is unlikely to smell of smoke.
I don’t believe that I hate smokers, but on the inside (I hope it’s not obvious) I do judge them for it, at least a little. And that’s with some understanding of the addiction. I guess I basically look at them as addicts, feel a little sorry for them, and wonder if there going to “trample” my rights.
Most smokers I know don’t do that anymore- they’re careful to smoke outside and not obviously litter. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because they know they’re on thin ice with everyone else. Many non-smokers remember how smokers used to be, so very brazen, “asking” for permission knowing that they could hardly be refused, blowing smoke in people’s faces, etc.
There is still an essential rudeness in it. It can’t be done without smoking up the place, even outdoors. They can’t smell it, so they don’t know, but everyone else can. Lots of smokers (or one HUGELY rude smoker who chainsmokes all around town) is leaving cigarette butts all around and throwing lit buts out of cars all the time.
So non-smokers don’t want to give an inch to smokers, because they’re sure smokers will try to take a mile.
That’s why I think non-smokers are so skeptical of vaping.
I don’t hate smokers themselves, but I can say that I really don’t like being around smoke anymore.
It’s kind of funny how say… 20 years ago, it was just part of the background- smoke in bars, smokers outside buildings, etc…
But now, it’s very uncommon- it’s about like being around older cars and trucks and the noticeably pungent unburned gasoline in the exhaust- something we never used to notice, but now we do.
Public transit in general is rife with asshole behaviors- w.r.t smoking- it’s people who smoke like crazy at the stops, and who then get on the bus/train and stink it up. Or if it’s rainy, they’ll cluster under the small amounts of sheltered area… and smoke, despite a bunch of others grimacing and scowling because they are stuck with this smoking asshole or standing in the rain.
They hurt their kids and pets. For kids it is hard to speak up, but pets really can’t escape the danger to themselves. When I see someone smoking with a caged bird being forced to breathe the smoke, I feel deeply angry.
I don’t care. I’m an adult using a legal product, and if you don’t like that, read my first sentence again.
But wouldn’t it be better if you were addicted to something that didn’t directly effect the health of others?
Knowing someone smokes gives me a general negative impression of them, probably about on the level of their having a faded Bush Cheney 2004 bumper sticker on their pickup. But I’ve had some friends who smoked and since they generally refrained from doing so around me when we were indoors, I had no problem with them.
[sarcasm] Yeah, my life is totally better now because I’ve quit smoking cigarettes and started shooting up heroin again, and it’s because shooting up heroin doesn’t directly affect the health of others! [/sarcasm]
So that’s a no.
Those were your two choices?
Yeah, that’s exactly why all those nonsmoking laws were passed.
So, yeah, it’s legal, in some places.
And it’s not in others.
And non-smokers might care more about smokers, except that they suspect that many smokers, like you, really just don’t care about them.
No they wouldn’t. They care more about breathing clean air than my right to smoke, and I can’t even say they are wrong to do so. Sadly, there’s no compromise possible on this issue that I can see.
Right to smoke?
He was addicted to love, until the health department got on his case. 