So, this smoking ban............how many of you are for it, and how many against?

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

If you are against it - why are you?

Should have put that it's on the 6th floor so going up & down for a puff is probably a no goer for most of the members.

Maybe they could build a roof garden

Sorry PM; I wasn't leaving that band out intentionally. I am well aware of the problems it will cause the mental health teams, believe me.

i am totally for it, i just wish they would ban the sale of tobacco as well. Having watch my father die from lung cancer i cannot understand why anyone would want to smoke. I get personally offended if people smoke near me, i will tell people not to smoke around my DD and i will even do this in cafes and resturants - OUTSIDE. If they want to poison themselves then let them do it at home, i dont want to breath in their foul smelling disease ridden smoke thankyou very much.

as an ex-smoker I can't stand being in pubs where people smoke .. nor the smell of my skin, hair and clothes the next morning

its not nanny-state when the smokers are stopping non-smokers from enjoying pubs IMO

Obviously I fear for the safety of nurses but I also genuinely feel upset/angry for the patients having yet another right taken away. Atm we have a smoking room on the ward. Non-smokers are not subjected to passive smoking. Where's the problem?

Absolutely FOR. If people want to kill themselves they can do so at home. I see no reason why they should get special suicide rooms in hospitals, for example.
But really I am so glad because it means I can go out and not come home stinking of smoke. Bliss.

FOR - currently if I go out somewhere where smoking is allowed I have to allow at least 3 or 4 days afterwards to recover (hacking night coughs, wheezing etc) I don't care really if smokers want to damage their health, they've got to have grasped the risks by now, but I don't see why their crappy choices should impinge upon my health.

LEM
Would you also have all fast food joints closed down and prohibit the sale of alcohol and any rubbish food?
I empathise with your feelings as I watched my Mum die of liver cancer (non smoker and didn't drink, ate very healthy foods), it is an awful disease but we live in a democracy (apparently) so should at least have the opportunity to eat, drink and smoke what we like!

But Aloha sectioned patients are not there of there own free will. It's a bit different to a general hospital.

Unfortunately, it wasn't possible PM. I did see that the bingo hall at the elephant & castle has done that and is now supplying its members with portable electronic bingo cards so they can sit & puff.

So there are many people who want to go to a non smoking pub. That's fine, but why can't we have smoking pubs as well.

UCM

im a smoker (ok trying to quit) and im for it, people shouldnt have to put up with other peoples smoke if they dont want it. iv always smoked either nowhere near people or asked if they minded, i never smoked indoors/near my kids, its not fair they dont have a say. why should grown up strangers (who are very unlikely to challenge you without a law) have to put up with it either to be somewhere they have every right to be too???

Stacey, I agree, but isn't it YOUR choice to either go into a pub/bar that allows smoking or not?

I don't think people's workplaces should endanger their health.

Wisteria, if i choose to make myself fat by eating too many takeaways, it only directly effects me, of course there is the argument re the effects of obesity on the NHS and this is a good point. BUT, if i am in a cafe, sitting outside because it is a lovely day and someone decided to sit right next to me and smoke then it does directly affect me, it is unpleasant to say the least and i refuse to accept it. I get downright pissed off with smokers who think it is their RIGHT to smoke, it is their right, but they must do it in their own home where it doesnt affect anyone else.

but if you want to smoke and drink surely you could do that in your own home?

i dont know, i can see your point obviously smokers are entitled to a choice too. but us smokers are choosing to kill ourselves basically so why should anyone (may it even be the 18yo behind the bar who couldnt get a job anywhere else) have to put up with it harming them?

i dont know.......i can see your point but i personally think the legislation is a positive step!

I thought cells had been declared not to be public areas, and therefore smoking would be allowed in prisons? pesumably the same could be said for people detained with mental health problems?

I am for the ban in public spaces, because of it's effects on other people. But as part of our organisation we run a cafe / bar, which has been no smoking for a year. Now, suddenly by law we are required to put huge ugly notices all over the doors. That I do hate - makes the place all institutionalised. I have just asked our staff to put them all at toe level.

If you don't smoke and want to work in a bar, surely again, it's YOUR choice as to whether you apply for that job in the smoking bar.

Sadly lots of social clubs will close down and they are a lifeline for some people who have smoked for years and it may be the only pleasure they have left. I still think it's wrong to completely ban it this way.

i live in scotland and weve had the ban for ages now
is hardly affected anyones way of life, no-one complains any more, you all think its going to be a big deal but it wont be. therell be no hoo-ha

and as for "i dont smoke in the house in front of the children so they arent affected" well, tell them that in a few years time when you are lying in a hospital bed gasping for breath and coughing your lungs out all over them. ask them if they are affected then

So if people applied to work somewhere with asbestos floating about, that would be OK?

ucm, lots fo social clubs WONT close down. we all thought thats what would happen here but its hasnt. no-one bothers any more, they just go outside. big deal.

Going no-smoking voluntarily hasn't affected our trade at all.

Agree with NP. It seems to be a big deal, but it's not.

Smokers here just go outside, nobody minds.