Colorado’s Guv just signed a pretty stout public smoking ban ordinance into law the other day…it got me wondering.
We’ve come from a society where smoking was something EVERYBODY did (even cartoon characters) to the point where it’s getting illegal to smoke OUTSIDE.
I don’t see a big crowd of smoking protesters, but I DO still see a lot of smokers (usually huddling in the cold, in the only area near the building they’re allowed to smoke.
Is smoking a doomed pastime? Or am I just not hanging out in the right places?
(Incidently, I find it interesting that the government went knocking on the Tobacco Industry’s door, requiested a CRAZY amount of money, and Big Tobacco said, ‘sure’, and wronte the check. I’m not sure if that means they KNEW they didn’t have a legal leg to stand on, or if they’ve got enough money that the payout was a relative pittance.)
I wouldn’t shed a single tear if smoking tobacco went the way of the passenger pigeon. I have absolutely no problem with banning smoking in public. Madison passed an anti-smoking ordinance a while back that makes smoking in bars illegal, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I enjoy the whining of the bar owners who complain that the smoking ban will kill their businesses. If the only thing your bar has going for ir is that people can smoke there, well, that’s kind of a shitty business model. Although I do think they should amend the ordinance to allow the two existing cigar bars to continue to allow cigars. But as long as it’s legal to smoke in one’s own home (which of course it should be), then smoking will persist in the US.
Yes. The smoking lounge at DIA is exempted, as are tobacco shops, casino floors (which I assume means that customers can smoke but not employees, unless they’re allowed to smoke on the floor), businesses with less than five(?) employees, and family-style businesses such as farms (so if you want to set your barn on fire, feel free).
I don’t have much disagreement with it, even though I smoke. I would have been pleased if another proposed exemption had gone through: bars with less than 25% of income from food. But oh well, either I’ll quit smoking or I’ll deal with it.
I’m pretty happy about any type of new ban on smoking. I also get giddy when I find out that taxes have been raised on cigarettes. I’m tired of finding cigarettes all over the street, watching the ashes bounce up as someone throws a butt out of their car, smelling smoke on someone while I’m trying to eat a meal or while sitting beside me on the train, and any number of other reasons.
Smokers always say that they are the good one. They are considerate and never litter and they don’t smoke in the direct vicinity of others…yadda yadda yadda. I’ve never met one of these considerate smokers.
Is smoking a doomed pastime? I hope so but I highly doubt it.
First, i hate smoking, think it’s a vile, disgusting habit, and intensely dislike smoky environments. I also love visiting places where smoking isn’t allowed in bars, because it’s so great to be able to sit and have some drinks with friends without going home stinking of someone else’s cigarettes.
On the other hand, i have some sympathy for smokers, people who want to indulge in a legal habit, and who are being pushed into an ever-smaller circle of places where they can do it.
Still, i have trouble thinking of any other indulgence that so adversely affects people who are not engaged in it. Hell, i even know smokers who complain when they get home after a night out and find their hair and clothes reeking of smoke.
I support smoking bans. Recently, I’ve been getting really, really tired of smokers and their habit they seem to need to share with everyone. That there are way more inconsiderate smokers than considerate ones hardens my opinion more and more each day.
I’ll never understand smoking bans in places like bars. Drinking and smoking have been hand in hand for a long time. There is no reason why the state has to tell people when and where they can and can’t smoke in a private run business that can allow or not allow smoking on their own.
Bars are great places to meet with friends but I can’t stand stupid drunk people being loud and driving home drunk. Because of this I’ll avoid bars these days. I’m not going to go out and try to pass laws to ban people from drinking in bars.
Now, if the state paid healthcare for its people, then I think the state has every right to make it harder for people to engage in something that can hurt your health.
Well, I go to bars in the first place to drink and smoke, so when I can’t smoke in a bar I foresee myself not going to bars. I can’t be the only one who feels like this–so the bars will lose business.
I don’t understand why they did this, though, as there are plenty of bars in Denver (I don’t know about the rest of Colorado) that don’t allow smoking, so why don’t the people who hate cigarette smoke go there? Why not let the owners of the bar decide if they want to put up with the smell and the mess for the sake of some business? I could see why they might decide either way and think they should be free to do so.
I’ve met at least half a dozen or so, that I know of. The thing is, the considerate smokers won’t draw attention to themselves, while the rude smokers are all too obvious.
I don’t know about Denver, but either there are no non-smoking bars in Fort Worth or I haven’t heard of any. I’d like to go to a couple of live music venues, but they allow smoking. There were a couple of video arcades around, but they allowed smoking. In both instances, I’ve noticed the lack of a “No Smoking” sign, observed the ashtrays settled around the place, and retreated. It’s not a matter of putting up with smoke for me…it’s a question of whether I really, REALLY want to go to the ER and get a breathing treatment.
The utter ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces due in the UK next year has pissed me off a fair deal. Considering that pubs are by nature dens of vice, it seems absurd to disallow a major vice on the premises while it is still a legal drug. I can’t see why it should be illegal to have a venue which is clearly labelled as smoker-friendly, employ tolerant staff, and let the consumer make the choice. For all its vile drawbacks, smoking is a unique activity with its own unique pleasures. I can’t bear people who wear strong perfume, smell of sweat, or incessantly jabber on (calm down, please, have a cigarette…) but I wouldn’t expect to legislate against them.
When California’s public smoking bans went into place, all smokers I knew were having fits. “what? I can’t smoke at the table at Lyon’s anymore, well that SUCKS!” I have a hard time now remembering the positive aspect of smoking at the table in restaurants.
I remember being in Reno a few years back for my 10th anniversary and being shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, to see all the people smoking in the buffet rooms. It was nasty.
I used to be able to smoke and eat at the same time. It was a necessity on a short break from work. Now, though, it’s really icky and I can’t believe that I used to enjoy it.
I think I’ve mentioned it before, but one of the few benefits of having had cancer is that if I cough (or just ask politely), the rest of my co-workers all immediately put their cigarettes out.
Anyway, my office is about 90% smokers (including all the managers), so I come home smelling of smoke pretty much no matter what. Still, my office has made an effort to limit the effect (both for the non-smokers and to keep the rest of the office clean), restricting smoking to one table near the balcony and buying a large air filter. I appreciate this, and I recognize that it affects a lot of people, so I don’t ask my co-workers to put out their smokes when I go over to the smoking area (it’s also our library area). Still, I wish they’d quit insisting on holding meetings meetings there. Few things are less pleasant than trying to read a report that’s been set down in the middle of four other people who are all huddled around it puffing away full blast.
I am a former smoker and I eventually gave up when I went to the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch a Test Match and discovered that you couldn’t smoke in your seat in an open air stadium. The designated smoking areas prevented you seeing the game while you smoked.
I was no fan of smoking even while I was a smoker and I think that smoking’s eventual demise will be no loss but I think that the way governments approach the problem is reprehensible. Not surprising, mind you, these are people taking no risks just sucking on the public teat.
Last year, after the latest round of anti-smoking legislation was introduced, I dropped in to a huge pub that is on my way home to have a bet on the football. Although the pub is huge it only has 2 bars, one large and one smaller. Because the legislation required at least 50% of the place to be smoke free they had been forced to make the larger bar smoke free. It was totally empty - thousands of square feet with tables and chairs and a 60 foot fully stocked bar - and not a soul in it. Everyone, smokers and non-smokers alike, were crammed into the smoking area.
The next step is to require pubs to limit smoking to 25% of the floor area. This poor bastard will have to remodel the place so that he has more bars so that he can make 75% of the place useless.
They banned smoking in all indoor places in Toronto a few years ago. It’s fantastic in that you don’t end up reeking of cigarettes when you get home. Many people I know have either quit or seriously cut back on their smoking because of it, it’s just too damn inconvenient (especially in Toronto in the winter!) to go outside every time you need a butt.
However, it’s incredibly annoying and disgusting to have to negotiate your way through crowds of smokers standing outside every bar/restaurant/club. At least when they smoked inside you could avoid them, now they are in your public space and you can’t.
To put a different spin on the anti-smoking campaign: I know a man whose doctor told him NOT to quit smoking. This man is a senior citizen, on a fixed income, taking a panoply of pharmaceuticals. When he was a kid he was institutionalized for epilepsy and basically spent 40 years in institutions, where people smoked constantly because there is nothing else to do. Now he is the sole caregiver of his wife, who has mental and physical health problems of her own.
The doctor felt (and I agree) that for this man to try to quit smoking would be incredibly stressful and difficult for him. His life is hard enough as it is, we do not need to add the additional stress of trying to crack this addiction on top of it. Cigarettes are among the only pleasures he gets out of life. It pisses me off that he has to spend an ever-growing portion of his tiny fixed income to feed a monkey that was put on his back through no choice of his own.
As others have said, I’m of two minds about this. I really like the non-smoking bars and restaurants. I couldn’t go out drinking, ever. Not because I was allergic but after an hour in the presence of all that smoke I’d completely loe my voice. Dunno why, it’s always happened. I also like smoke-fre ebowling alleys for the same reason.
I hate seeing cigarette butts everywhere. And I know lots of people who blithely say “What’s the big deal?” when they dump their cigarettes out.
But I don’t want to stop them. It’s none of my business what they do. And I think we’re going about it in stupid ways, anyway. Take for example, when the new 30 feet from any building law came into effect in NYS. We had a smoker’s hut outside the door, and nearly all the smokers would hang out in there, chat, and relax. Well, instead of moving the hut, they took it away. Now all the smokers are outside, with no place to go, dropping butts, and mad as hell. And I don’t really blame them. They could have moved the hut to the end of the drive.
I think one thing we non-smokers forget all the time is it’s an addiction. And just because people keep raising taxes or whatever doesn’t mean smokers will stop.
To reply to the question you asked, yeah, it does look like this sort of ban is the wave of the future. The number of places folks can openly smoke will grow less and less. The known health hazards of smoking to smokers are a big problem for those who would fight it, because non-smokers can rationalize bans as being “for their own good”. Also, the cheap tobacco used in most cigarettes smells nasty to a lot of people who don’t smoke. That being the case, there are few who are going to support the right to practice something they don’t do, which smells bad to them, and which they know is causing disease in the people who do it.
Personally I find it a bit silly, especially here in Baltimore, where the air quality is crap anyway, and where I hope these bans are delayed as long as possible. For full disclosure, I smoke about an ounce of pipe tobacco a year, which isn’t much, and about once a year, I’ll have a cigar.
Me too. You know what would be a good idea? Indoor smoking sections. With ashtrays. After all, outside, which is the only place I’m allowed to smoke, is not exactly replete with ashtrays.
To ban smoking in bars is ridiculous. If the government is truly concerned with the public health, it would be far more beneficial to institute a key drop on the way in and a breathalyzer test on the way out.
I’m all for banning smoking in publicly owned buildings. But if you own a building, or a business, I don’t understand why you can’t do the cost/benefit analysis and decide for yourself whether or not to allow smoking. If there’s really a market for smoke-free establishments (and I absolutely believe there is), then why not let the market meet it?