AIBU to think banning smoking in public would be a good thing?

[MumOfTheNorth]

Interested to get the general consensus on this.

Cigarette smoke makes me feel really ill and I'm often in public situations where people are smoking near me. Sometimes I can't move away, for instance when I'm in a qué or the other day I was sitting outside in a restaurant and a person sat down and started smoking and the wind blew the smoke and ash onto me and my food.

Maybe this is really selfish but I don't want myself and my baby to be exposed to second hand smoke when we're out and about. AIBU?

Drinking in a public space is (with exceptions) banned by byelaws in some council areas. It could certainly be extended further.

Drinking can affect behaviour towards others, but there's no such thing as second hand drinking. In smoking, it is the act of smoking that leads to a direct effect on others. In drinking, the consumption of alcohol by person A does not in itself result automatically in consequences for person B.

Drinking can affect behaviour towards others, but there's no such thing as second hand drinking

Tell that to the people who die from a drunk driver smashing through their windscreen.

But presumably you like a glass of wine down the pub so you're going to deny this is an issue, is that about the gist of it?

In drinking, the consumption of alcohol by person A does not in itself result automatically in consequences for person B.

I can think of lots of examples where person B has suffered the consequences - fights, property damage, car accidents, rape - to name a few.

A poor woman out with her baby smelling smoke is not on the same page - or even the same book.

Yes I've been living in a country where there are exclusion zones in outdoor public areas.. it's great. I could sit outside a Cafe and not have to smell anyone else's smoke. I can't stand how the outdoors tables in the UK are all occcupied by people smokkng and right next to the door too. It's so unpleasant. Can't understand why the UK hasn't caught up with Aus or some US States on this.

It's not though, the discussion is about continuing to allow people to legally buy cigarettes and contribute to the countries finances but relegate them to staying at home.

No logical progression of thought about how this would affect the Highstreet or hospitality of course. The fact that most pubs, restaurants and cafes found ways to put in outdoor seating when the indoor smoking ban came in and have maintained those outdoor spaces shows that they rely on the customers who use the smoking areas.

A glass of wine down the pub will not be affected by bans on drinking in a public place, which never involve 'pubs', which, while short for 'public house', are actually a private establishment.

Death caused by a DUI driver are not 'second hand drinking'. As I suspect you know well, driving having consumed alcohol (although the UK even allows a little alcohol consumption pre-driving, higher than many European countries) is already illegal.

The problem with crime after consumption of alcohol happens after the consumption of alcohol, not automatically during it. Whether the person consumes it at home or at the pub or on a park bench, the effects on the person's behaviour can be the same. There is no direct automatic effect on other people from the person's alcohol consumption. The effects are potential and depend on the person's behaviour. Meanwhile, smoking cigarettes directly affects all others in proximity, who all inhale second-hand smoke. There is a different mechanism.

I think if we discovered alcohol now, it would be a banned substance. That doesn't make a difference to the fact that the direct effects of drinking it are very different to cigarette smoking.

So just to counter some points made...

• car pollution is bad which is why we are moving electric. I don't think anyone is pro car pollution but people need transport whereas no one needs to smoke
• your drinking doesn't directly effect someone else's health and if you're drunk enough to be dangerous it is illegal (e.g. being violent or drunk driving)
• your religious beliefs don't effect other's health and if you're a religious extremist trying to harm others that would be illegal

Smoking seems to be the only one where you are directly causing harm to others via second hand smoke and it's legal.

These things are not the direct effect of alcohol. They are the results of the aggressor's behaviour.

Rape?! Consuming alcohol does not make a man into a rapist. If he rapes after drinking alcohol, he would have raped without it.

Yanbu. Smokers should levitate to a height of 60 ft and smoke there if they need to. You own the air OP.

I don't like the control and erosion of civil liberties, so while I hate smoking, I'd protest to keep it.

I second banning drinking too. It kills just as many people as smoking both directly and indirectly. And is one of the major causes of cancer now that smoking is less popular.
While we are at it let’s get rid of sugar too.

@MumOfTheNorth ,

"car pollution is bad which is why we are moving electric".

Apologies, I couldn't work out if you think this is true.

Electric cars produce no exhaust emissions but, because they are heavier produce more particulate emissions than a similar ice car.

I'm a non smoker so don't have a particular skin in the game.
But, smokers were driven out of pubs 15 or so years ago, destined to smoke outside in the open air.
That was a reasonable compromise I thought? All the non smokers who campaigned for it were going to support their local pubs once they became smoke free.

But now we can't tolerate smokers even in the open air? When the non smokers aren't actually frequenting their local pubs after pushing the smokers out??

Come on.

@JockTamsonsBairns

Come now. You know that those who complain most vociferously about pub closures are those who go twice a year.

Whereas the smokers who go there weekly, or more...

I would support public smoking being much more restricted so inconsiderate smoking is curtailed.

No smoking streets, such as in busy city centres, near public transport except in specific places. Smoking only areas in pub gardens/parks away from other customers etc. I think it is ridiculous a smoker can light up in a garden and impact the enjoyment of someone eating just a couple of feet away.

I was a smoker until I got priced out. Now I’m a vaper and miss cigarettes. How about banning balaclavas? The teenage and younger idiots wearing them do so much damage to other people and properties daily around here. The police do fuck all in response.

We live in America and visited Europe this year with our young baby, and I absolutely do not understand how anyone can tolerate the amount of public smoking that you guys have over there.

it was bloody awful! In restaurants, bars, sidewalks, parks, ffs!!!

greece was THE WORST though, with Brits everywhere dangling a ciggy from their lips, INSIDE A RESTAURANT! Yes, it was open air, but F, the smoke travels. Hated every minute of it.

What a moronic argument.

You HAVE A CHOICE to smoke and drink.

Children DO NOT have a choice when it comes to inhaling cigg smoke, WHICH KILLS.

I am an occasional smoker and only smoke in my garden. It is my space and a very expensive space . Shall continue to relax in my space!!

Yanbu. I dislike the smell of cigarettes but since having a baby absolutely hate the stench of it and knowing if I can smell it, it’s in my baby’s lungs too. I don’t care if that makes me precious. I don’t want someone else’s filthy habit meaning my children suffer second hand smoke.

Yes. I love sitting outside cafes but they’re full of smokers. I wish they would ban it asap. It’s horrible.

Hardly anyone smokes anymore anyway. I’d rather it became compulsory for peopd to shower on the days they were travelling by public transport.

I'll settle for MNHQ successfully banning all the middle-of-night Korean spammers instead.

I second the poster making it illegal to not bathe before partaking of public transport, too.
At least when smoking was everywhere, one found it harder to realise how many people in this land dress okay, but do not bathe.!
Too many people out here with real bad "sit down" air. A smell that emits with the movement of a person's body suddenly meeting a seat.....that comes from bad toileting/ dirty undercrackers/ unwashed cratches ( Jamaican word) or a combination of all three.

Get a grip. It's outside, I swear people won't be happy until we are mindless drones, eating approved food and working until we die, joyless. As for banning sugar, do you understand biochemistry at all? It's people like you who have caused any enjoyable drink to be full of disgusting sweeteners.

Why do people think every choice we make has to be regulated by big brother, these people don't have inherent authority, we are all just animals trying to live on this earth. Probably the same type of idiot who doesn't mind if they are tracked and listened to at every opportunity because they don't have anything to hide.