To think public smoking should be banned

[CreamLampshade]

I live in London and am sick of constantly trying to avoid breathing in disgusting cigarette smoke or the weird sickly smell of vapes. There’s only so much you can swerve, speed past people or cross the road. I feel it’s very selfish to smoke in public spaces, especially crowded streets when people can’t avoid breathing it in. Why can’t people take responsibility for their own health - and others - and just give it up? It’s disgusting and really selfish.

It’s a shared space - that’s the whole point I am making. But clearly you can’t understand that.

Some people have unavoidably miserable lives that they can't change no matter how hard they try. Consider yourself lucky.

Oh gosh yes the plastic waste. I’m glad you raised that. It’s shocking the extent to which it just doesn’t seem to cross people’s minds.

Some factors can’t be changed, but many can, including decide not to ingest actual depressants - alcohol and nicotine - which are literally only going to make it worse?!

consider herself lucky for what?

Where I live, there is a large usage of nitrous oxide. They use those large canisters which are designed to use in whipped cream - ie cream chargers. Hippy Crack.

Seen drivers using them whilst driving with the canister between their legs and inhaling balloons using the NO canister. When they finish them, they throw them out of their car window. Good job I wasn't right behind a car and it was just me and the other car on the roundabout when they threw out the canister. It bounced off the kerb and managed to swerve to avoid it. Dread to think what damage it would have done to my car.
https://cdn-cfppm.nitrocdn.com/rYSUhdsYavBOmFpdBeGXSGimFvozFnNX/assets/static/optimized/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/80a3515b80cd636ba0ee209d0500d06e.Smartwhip-580g-cream-chargers-800x400.jpg

Me too! I kind of know what she means though - I live in a posh area and the only people who vape (I don't see anyone smoking) are the teenagers.

this is crazy! I think people think it’s not addictive but there was a programme on quite recently about people doing them all day and creating so much nerve damage they ended up in wheelchairs. Terrifying what people will do to themselves and the risks they put others through for a stupid temporary ‘high’.

I agree with this 110% OP. I've never felt the need to smoke, I used to enjoy drinking at university but I grew out of it after my master's and realised I don't need it to have fun

I don't even know what to say about this.

My family are very UMC.

We live in Jacobean Manor Houses, Georgian townhouses & a Lutyens houses.

We 98% like smoking.

Eh? What you gonna do?

If I 110% agreed with someone.

I'd have a look at my maths.

@CreamLampshade

My family are crying into their dirty privilege.

(86% ish).

No misery.

if you live in central London you’re basically smoking 20 a day from all the pollution

if i spend the day working in London, using the underground and buses, I blow my nose when I get home and it’s black

I used to smoke, now I vape. I drink, I am overweight, I drive a car, I take long showers, I wash clothing after one wear, I use strong perfume, I love plug in air fresheners, I use strong smelling fabric conditioner, I have two dogs etc etc.
My point is whatever I do will be pissing someone off somewhere (especially on mn) so I may as well carry on, I am sure OP will do things that infuriate other people but most of us don't stop and think about every tiny decision we make and how it will affect the wider population.
I don't like walking past smokers myself, it smells horrible but it's a couple of seconds inconvenience for me, I seriously doubt you can breathe in enough smoke from a cigarette outside to damage your health, if I was in London I would be much more concerned about traffic pollution.
I think an awful lot of threads on here are started by people with a complete fixation on a 'problem' and they wind themselves up about it until it's all they can see around them, I don't notice anything like the levels of hate for things done in everyday life in real life.....they just seem to get blown vastly out of proportion on here.

UMC?

Smokers already have to compromise by going outside.

love the entitlement that says smokers are "compromising".

No, children and adults inhaling second hand carcinogens from cigarette smoke never had the choice to be killed by the actions of others until science finally gave such irrefutable evidence that secondary smoking is a danger to health, that public action was taken and going outside was the pragmatic option.

Cigarettes would be illegal now, and never available for sale, but you can't put that genie back in the bottle quickly so hopefully the children being born now will benefit from the Bill to create the first ever smoke-free generation.

You do know smokers pay in to the NHS far more than they cost right? You should be grateful

NHS maybe but not the wider public finances. Smoking costs the UK about twice as much as it the tax brings in. I’m not even sure these figures take into account the poorer health of smokers’ children which would be an additional cost to the NHS and education systems.

https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2023/03/07/ending-smoking-could-free-up-gp-appointments/#:~:text=The%20cost%20of%20inaction,20.6bn%20in%20the%20UK.

I absolutely guarantee that if they were smell free that wouldn't be enough for the health police. They need to control what others put in their bodies

Absolutely correct. Some people need to work on their resilience. How they used to get on when people smoked on buses, in the cinema etc. I don't know

If you know.

You know.

I used to be an actuary. I did group health care.

We loved smokers.

They will largely die before that take much of their pension.

If there were quite a few long-term smokers in our group-plan, we'd give them a lower quote.

Because they're going to die sooner.

We pay huge amounts of tax. Extra tax.

And we won't be around to piss you off for long. Whilst financing the NHS.

You will be sorry when we're gone...

@CreamLampshade judgy fuck like you should surely want everyone to die as soon as possible.

Do you want all the people you hate to live forever?

I guarantee you don't.

Upper middle class

Not sure why your houses or class are relevant? Smoking is predominantly concentrated amongst lower income people nowadays. It is another means of health inequality between high and low income people. But obviously nobody thinks that means no UMC smoke

My Mum was born into landed gentry. She smoked for many years, though thankfully stopped when she and my Dad started TTC. It didn’t really matter what her social class was when she had a miserable, painful death from smoking related cancer.

You misunderstand me.

Smoking is now the preserve of the classes who don't give a fuck.

I think if you are UMC then you really cannot speak for the majority of smokers - who are of low SES status - and whether they give a fuck or not.

Class wars darling.

Middle class botherers. So strivy. So bossy.

Always caring.