# Smoking and governments. GRRRR **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 27, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305 "2004-09-27T15:04:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305/41 "2004-09-28T14:53:25Z")
> [@One And Only Wanderers](#): > > Culturally speaking, I can’t see a carpet ban working in the UK. In my opinion the government that brought in such a law would be voted out poste haste and the law repealed. That’s what a lot of Irish people said a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305/42 "2004-09-28T14:58:48Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > That’s what a lot of Irish people said a few years ago. Is there any information pertaining to the percentage of non-smokers to smokers in the UK and in Ireland. I would suppose that a high enough percentage of smokers would reduce the likelihood of a smoking ban law passing, but I don’t know where to look for such information. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305/43 "2004-09-28T15:04:51Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Will you be the sort of person who will report things like the smokers’ shed at my wife’s office, that got reported because it had more than 50% walls intact and therefore violated the law (even though it violated no non-smoker’s rights)? Nope, I wouldn’t report something like that. I’m sure after the ban passes there will be a few assholes who will “stand up for their rights” and smoke in my local bar. It will be up to the bar manager to tell them to go outside. If they don’t, I’ll have the complaint number on my cell phone. They wanted a vote, they’ll get a vote, and when smoking is banned, they’ll have to live with it. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305/44 "2004-09-28T15:21:37Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Smokers take longer breaks. First, they need to gather up all of their smoking buddys. Next, get outside. Then, and only then, do they believe their break begins when the get outside and light up the first one. > > Also, don’t forget their “bathroom” breaks when they step outside for a few drags. Asshole smokers do all the above. Then there’s the rest of us. I smoked for nine years, but limited my smoking to before work, during my lunch and afternoon breaks and after work. I am absolutely positive that I was not the solitary smoker in the world who could and did hold off until they were on their own time. Oh - and I never felt compelled to gather together a crowd of smokers to join me. I have an incredible ability to stand on my own for five minutes at a time without anything terrible happening to me. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305/45 "2004-09-28T15:42:27Z")
> [@One And Only Wanderers](#): > > Is there any information pertaining to the percentage of non-smokers to smokers in the UK and in Ireland. I would suppose that a high enough percentage of smokers would reduce the likelihood of a smoking ban law passing, but I don’t know where to look for such information. It’s 25% in Ireland or so nearly every report says. Of this percentage there is a fair amount who agree with the ban BTW. Politically it’s been a huge success for the Government. A large silent majority are very happy about it. Publican groups aren’t as you might expect but their protestations have fallen on deaf ears as one of the main issues was their complacency in implementing effective ventilation. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305/46 "2004-09-28T16:59:04Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > For example: here in Minnesota, the tobacco tax is .40/pack. So a heavy (2 packs/day) smoker pays 146.10 per year in tobacco taxes. Assuming they started around age 15, and smoked till age 75, that is **$8,766** lifetime tobacco tax payments. **That amount won’t even pay for a single day in the hospital!** :eek: What kind of hospital charges more than $8,766 per day? Does it have nurses [like her](http://66.70.71.71/images/nurse-d2.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305/47 "2004-09-28T21:16:10Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > We had a memo the other day about people smoking outside (ie, me and half the company, plus the inordinate amount of builders coming in and out of the building) leaving tab ends on the pavement outside. > Well, there used to be a little wall mounted cig bin, but they took it off because somebody had the great idea of plastering/rendering all around it, meaning it couldn’t be opened and emptied. What should we do with them then? What do you when you finish drinking a coke and you don’t have a trash can or recycle bin in the immediate area? Do you just toss the can on the ground? There’s a reason that smokers keep having their “right” to smoke in public eroded. Forcing everyone else to breathe their foul smoke, deal with their stinky butts & ashes and generally turning the world into their ash tray doesn’t win you a lot of friends. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305/48 "2004-09-29T00:40:17Z")
> [@Go You Big Red Fire Engine](#): > > You know what pisses me off about some smokers,… the ones who proceed to have their entitled lunch at work, but then later/earlier feel that they are also entitled to smoke breaks. :mad: I feel the same way about coffee drinkers and their extra bathroom breaks, as if they are somehow entitled to them. :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-governments-grrrr/266305.md?page=2)