Smoking in Public

[Expertise]

My "butts" or Aprils butt .... can you say dilemma.

For that matter, is it even mine to choose?

Quite a little quandry I have here.

 

[April]

My dear Expertise. You must make the choice to stop smoking for your self. Not for anybody else. If you do it for you, then you stand a better chance of successfully quitting. To make decisions based on other's opinions and feelings all too often leads to resentment, and dislike of the one you "did it for."

"Butt" then, I suppose you were only kidding, weren't you.

 

[Expertise]

Yes I was cutie. But thank you for your concern.

Like I said I used to enjoy it (smoking) now its just a pain in the ass.

I have passed the height of my yearly smoking cycle (the summer) I always slow down a LOT in the fall winter and spring. Not real fond of coughing up a lung while playing hockey and trips outside for a "puff" in February are not particularly tropical. In addition the freakin things are over $5 a pack here now. It may be time to ditch em.

 

[dancinvixen]

I must throw my lot in with Xander here. I am an extremely polite smoker. I do not smoke around other people unless they have already taken out a pack of cigarettes, I do not flip my cigarettes out the car window, that's what the ashtray is for, and yes, I get sick a lot from standing in really bad weather to be away from people who don't smoke. I once made the mistake of going a bit to far around non smokers, so now I am a little bit more careful <accidentally swallowed the smoke to keep it from a child>. I am sorry for those of you who are non smokers, and feel the need to harass the smokers. Whether you non smokers realize it, there are so many reasons why giving up smoking is difficult if not almost impossible. Some people use it as a way to control their weight-as smoking severely decreases the appetite, some have just been smoking for too long, but I applaud any of you non smokers who at one point did smoke and quit successfully. Smoking is just like alcoholism, we cannot do it without full support, and if we honestly don't want to quit, it will be very hard to make us quit.

 

[Xander]

You know, Vixen is right. Nicotine is an addiction, and is thus very difficult to get rid of.
I for one do not have any desire to quit. I enjoy it too much and that's my choice. Not one anybody else should make for me. (Though non-smokers do tend to show it down my throat, against my will. C'mon people read my expression, I don't care if you think it's bad for me to smoke. I KNOW THAT.)

 

[Weird Harold]

The workplace, movie theaters, malls, and restaurants are not public places - they are private property. If their owners have chosen to make the area nonsmoking and that is their right, they can receive more money by making the smokers not smoke than they can by making the nonsmokers deal with the smoke.

At least in Oregon, where they passed "The Indoor Clean Air Act" a decade or so ago, your statement is not true. Any place other than a private residence where more than ten people congregate, it is illegal to smoke indoors.

That means that even if you own your own company, you can't smoke in your office if you employ more than ten people, or have more than ten customers who enter your building.

The law varies in all states and smaller jurisdictions, but theatres ARE public places, and it's illegal to smoke in them in most jurisdictions. It's a misdemeanor to smoke in the non-smoking section of a restaurant, or in the case of California and Oregon, in a restaurant, period.

The idea of a theater for smokers is great in theory, but the very first anti smoking laws specifically addressed theaters and restaurants. Not only is it a misdemeanor for the smoker, but it's a misdemeanor for the owner to not enforce the law.

 

[Laurel]

My dad smoked throughout my whole childhood. He'd drop me off at grade school, and my classmates would make fun of me because I reeked of cigarette smoke. They would tease me, calling me "smoker". I had what I thought was a near-constant cold (turned out to be allergies from the smoke) up until I got old enough to take protective measures (as much as I could, anyway - my clothes still smelled like smoke just from being in a closet in the same house as my smoking father). I was called into the counselor's office in sixth grade because my eyes were so red from riding to school with my dad smoking - they thought I was stoned (at sixth grade!). To my naive little sixth grade self, it was unbelievably embarrassing - I was mortified.

Yes, it's your right to smoke. But I hope that those of you on this thread with children are smart enough to put your children's health and well-being ahead of your own little habit. Unlike your coworkers or friends, your kids have nowhere to hide when you light up. To sit and smoke - increasing your kid's chance of lung problems, causing them allergies, causing them embarrassment by making THEM smell like smoke - and then lecture about your "rights" is incredibly selfish and cruel.

That being said, I have smoking friends and they're all very courteous about their habit. They don't smoke in my house - they voluntarily go out to the patio. When we go out in public together, they don't smoke while I'm eating. When they light up, they blow it away from me. And I'm fine with that. I'm a firm believer in individual rights. I would never outlaw smoking - I even think helmet laws are questionable. I'm pro-marijuana legalization. What you want to put in your body is your business.

However, your rights end where mine begin. There's a reason I don't smoke - it irritates my throat and eyes, it gives me hives, it makes my lungs hurt. Your "right" to smoke does not cancel out my "right" to not be physically ill. I'll respect your right to smoke if you can do your best to do it without causing me harm. Is that so much to ask? And please please please think of your children. I wish my dad had.

 

[Never]

Ahhh, all rights are based on the same idea.
"Your right to swing your fist ends were my nose begins."

 

[Samuari]

I used to smoke all the time, but I found one of those Kidde personal sized fire extinguishers at Walmart a few years ago. Them suckers are great, you just carry it around in a big tote and when you start smokin get a lil CO2 burst. Stops the smokin and gets ya all nipply in the process. I highly recommend it.

Go Muffie! This theard needed some laughs! I know both sides. I smoked for 25 years, and haven't for 10. Quiting was the hardest thing that I have ever done. There are still times when I'm arround a smoker that I want just one drag.
I saw my kids go from having two or three upper-respotory infections a year to none. A kid that we thought was astmatic, ran cross-country (she had been alergic to tobaco smoke).
I didn't quit for them, but they certinlly keep me from starting back! Every smoker that I know (that has smoked for more than 5 years) has tried to quit. It does become a chore, and who needs another.

 

[Naked Hunny]

My one year old daughter has severe asthma. Now i never had a problem with cigarette smokers because both my parents are heavy smokers. My father now smokes outside at all times because of the dangers for my daughter. My mother smokes outside when my daughter is at her home. I wont ask for much more but the other day my sister came to visit and asked me if I had an ashtray. Its not that i dont own an ashtray i just dont like people smoking in my home when my daughter is here so I told her that we dont smoke in my home if she needs a cigarette that badly she can go outside. She got all pissed at me and left!! Yet she wonders why both of her kids have asthma as well!! Her children have it from the heavy cigarette smoke that is always in her home my daughter has it as a result of several bouts with RSV!! God bless her little heart!!

 

[Samuari]

You're a good mom, Hun

Keep protecting your kid, she deserves it and so do you!

 

[Mortto56]

"Smoke Smoke Smoke!"

Smoke Smoke Smoke that Cigarette!

Puff Puff Puff,and if you smoke yourself to death:

Tell Saint Peter at the Golden Gate, that you just hates to make him wait:

But you gotta have another Cigarette!
----------------------------------

Yes I smoke,but I do respect people around me that don't.
What I get pissed at is,the goverment putting all these extra taxes on me because I smoke.
The tax in Michigan is around .75¢ per pack.
Cigarettes here are among the highest price of any state.

I think they should put a .75¢ tax on Ice Cream Cones too.
That way I and people who smoke would'nt be paying all the extra taxes ourselves.

"Gotta have a cigarette,Gotta have a cigarette,Gotta have a cigarette!"

 

[Cheyenne]

I can relate to all of you who were sick as kids from your parents' smoking. My family also had heavy smokers, and I was always sick as a kid. Even trips to the hospital with pneumonia- all upper respitory related. The lasting after effects are allergies and sinus infections/bronchitis several times a year. Smoke is the number 1 trigger for me. I still have a hard time visiting my parents' house due to the smoke- can only stay a few hours at a time, less during the times of the year when windows are closed and there is no fresh air at all.

For all you parents out there, please don't do this to your kids.

 

[teresafannin]

Good for you, Hunny. I never let people smoke around my son,even me. I quit when he was 3 years old because he came out of my room with a cigarette in his mouth & a llighter in his hand. I almost had a stroke. Quitting was so hard, I had never realized how addicting tobacco is. I feel so much better, have way less colds & smell better. My sister doesn't let anyone smoke in her home, they can go out on the porch, but her little girl is much healthier because of it. We have an anti-smoking ordinance here in FW, I haven't seen any decrease in business at any of the stores or restaurants in my area. I am lucky in that most of the smokers I know are very polite when out in public.