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Original poster

Banning smoking outdoors?

404 replies

MrsMerryHenry · 03/10/2009 00:39

Did anyone else hear about this on R4 (PM programme) this evening? I can't find an article about it anywhere. Is this a serious proposal?

It does make me when smokers complain about infringement of civil liberties over this issue. I don't believe I have ever heard a smoker talk about non-smokers' civil liberties being infringed every time someone lights up. And non-smokers have been putting up with second-hand smoke for about as long as humans have walked the earth. So although a very small part of me feels a wee bit sorry for smokers, that they're being pushed into a corner, the rest of me goes "ROFLROFLROFL it's about time."

OP posts:
PoppyIsApain · 03/10/2009 14:18

Are the government forgetting that smoking is an addiction, i dont smoke but my mum does and she has attempted quitting several times and has not been successful, what a load of rubbish, i agree with not smoking in pubs and stuff and i dont think smokers should be able to smoke in cars and childrens parks, our freedom is seriously fading out!

mosschops30 · 03/10/2009 14:19

am now hiding pointless thread - have fun ladeez

TheCrackFox · 03/10/2009 14:19

I don't smoke but find it bizarre that people get so het up about it. If someone wants to kill themselves, slowly, then it really is their choice.

Disenchanted3 · 03/10/2009 14:22

I get 'het up' because I have to walk through town dodging peoples second hand smoke, I get het up because I can't just visit my Granny without knowing Im going to STINK when I leave, I get het up because people who are close to me, people who have seen the first hand effect of smoking

People who along with me watched my Grandad die, a slow, horrible death, watched his hairfall out from lung cancer treatment, watch his portable oxygen usage go up and up, watched him swell, watched him turn form pink to a horrid blue colour, who wept at his bedside, who sobbed at his funeral, who mourne him now....

go to his grave and light up a cig.

Fucking idiots.

rosieposey · 03/10/2009 14:25

Treeesa i'm not sure that just because people aren't able to smoke that it would benefit the economy. In this country as i'm sure you are aware, cigs, petrol and alcohol are really heavily taxed. Thats why Europe and the US are so much cheaper for that kind of thing and banning them would leave a huge hole in tax revenues at a time when we are already in record deficit record levels of debt.

Any incoming government would inevitably face the problem of reducing that defecit and there would be an even bigger public outcry if our education system and the NHS were affected.

Also People would not neccesarily go out and spend their money on something else that they have saved by not smoking and if they did it would not be as heavily taxed.

I find it impossible to see any hope in my lifetime at least where a government will ban buying cigarettes because there is just too much money at stake and the government is in the shit already as there is no money in the pot.

TheCrackFox · 03/10/2009 14:26

Yeah, but you walk past cars and they completely stink too. Buses especially.

most of my elderly relatives died from smoking related illnesses. Not pleasant but you have to die from something - usually equally horrible. They all knew it was bad for them but they didn't want to give up.

DrNortherner · 03/10/2009 14:27

Sorry about your Grandad disenchanted. I agree, it is an awful death to die.

Some people are fucking idiots I agree. But that is their choice for now. You can't make teh whole world think like you do.

Disenchanted3 · 03/10/2009 14:29

Yes because I chhose to go out and suck on a bus exhaust don't I??

Don't be bloody stupid,

the comparison between 'going out in to polution' and smioking are NOT the same.

I cannot be a hermit because of car fumes, I can choose not to riddle my body with all sorts of direct toxins through smoking.

'you have to die from something'

Yes but not something so self inflicted!

May as well become a junkie as I gotta die from something, right?

Disenchanted3 · 03/10/2009 14:31

I'm hiding this threa now because its too raw and close to home at the moment as you can tell,

my Gran is very ill with many things including emphasemia(sp?) but she will not quit smoking. Its very upsetting for me, upsetting that my mum is potentaiily (very likely) setting her self up for the same awful death she is watching her parents go through now and is traumatising her.

Yet she wont stop to prevent us going through the same because she will 'get fat' if she stops smoking.

violethill · 03/10/2009 14:38

Most smokers I see are fat and stuff big macs as well. Not totally surprising really - it's all various ways of abusing your body!

DrNortherner · 03/10/2009 14:52

Actually most of my mates who have the odd fag are gorgeous, do loads of exercise eat healthily but on ocassions have alcohol and the odd fag.

PoppyIsApain · 03/10/2009 14:54

I would be worried that if its banned in public, smokers are going to be more likely to smoke in there cars

Original poster
MrsMerryHenry · 03/10/2009 15:04

Mosschops: "You dont get smokers fighting and smacking health professional on a weekend!" - err, actually, alcohol is a relaxant, which means it makes you chilled out. It doesn't make anyone aggressive. One psychological consequence of this boozy chill-out is that some people feel so relaxed that they allow their inhibitions to be lowered so much that they become the aggressive, moronic twats they only wish they could be when not pumped full of alcohol - in other words, behaving like a dick when you're drunk is a choice. Have you noticed that it's almost exclusively certain groups of people (football fans, idiotic Brits) that behave that way? It's not about how much alcohol you've consumed and I don't think you'll find there's a different biochemical reaction going on in these morons' bodies when they imbibe a bit of booze compared to when the rest of us do. It's a choice.

Rosieposie - interesting about Spain; even though I think smoking is utterly vile I have always thought it would make more sense to have 'smoking' and 'non-smoking' bars. I always imagined there being a sort of rivalry between them, with each type of bar trying to make themselves cooler than the competition (one of my many idle flights of fancy!) I do feel that we tend to do things in a stifled, uncreative way in this country.

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wicked · 03/10/2009 15:09

Smoking is vile, and I am glad that it doesn't happen in pubs and restaurants now.

It is a shame that you now cannot really go outside in pubs (as you would like to with your children), and you also have to run the gauntlet of the smokers on the high street.

I don't think I was ever too bothered about a smoking ban in pubs. I just voted with my feet and didn't go, although I like that I can now go. I do worry about civil liberties.

The best thing would be that people just chose not to smoke and kids didn't get started. I wonder if the smoking ban has led to a reduction?

Original poster
MrsMerryHenry · 03/10/2009 15:11

Wicked, apparently there's been a massive drop in heart disease since bans were introduced worldwide.

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violethill · 03/10/2009 15:14

Yes, the smoking ban has led to a reduction in sales, which can only be a good thing, seeing the tobacco industry rake in less profit!

The answer, of course, is to have designated smoking places - I wouldn't mind at all if certain bars were 'smoking', with the majority being smoke-free, as most people don't want to be around smoke, indoors or out.

That way, me and my gorgeous mates, who also exercise and eat healthily could enjoy a drink in a pub garden, or walk into clubs etc without ending up smelling like fag ash lil

Original poster
MrsMerryHenry · 03/10/2009 15:16

Fag Ash Lil. What a delicious concept.

What I've never heard anyone do, is explain why non-smokers should be exposed to other people's fag smoke. Of course they avoid answering that question, because there is no justification for it.

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ScummyMummy · 03/10/2009 15:24

Is there much evidence of smoking outdoors affecting people's health in the same way that that smoking indoors does?

Original poster
MrsMerryHenry · 03/10/2009 15:28

I don't know about evidence, Scummy, it's more about the unpleasantness of it. Like, if you were sitting next to someone who had a really bad smelly wind problem, it would probably spoil your afternoon somewhat, wouldn't it?! Obviously flatulence is not a choice, but smoking is.

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DrNortherner · 03/10/2009 15:29

This is a pointless argument imo. YOu just can not ban a perfectly legal substance and make people only smoke in their homes. So, they would have to make it ilegal completley, which I don't think will ever happen.

Original poster
MrsMerryHenry · 03/10/2009 15:48

Whether you think the argument is pointless or not, DrNorthener, doesn't make it not worth examining the issues, does it?

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 03/10/2009 16:02

Only today I was in a pub thinking how wonderful it was not it no longer stank of stale smoke and I could breathe.

Personally, I think smoking should be banned completely.

ib · 03/10/2009 16:09

The day they ban the internal combustion engine and stop filthy cars poisoning our air I'll be happy to accept them banning smoking outside.

Until then, everyone should get a sense of proportion.

And no, I don't smoke. And I do drive.

Frrrightattendant · 03/10/2009 16:15

I haven't seen a single decent argument for sharing cigarette smoke with non smokers who don't wish to smoke, certainly not on this thread...anyone?

Smoking is sad.

it's laughable that the best thing people can come up with is that they will be 'forced to smoke around their children' if they're not allowed to go outside and poison their neighbours.

like there isn't the option just to NOT SMOKE???

Ridiculous. And utterly selfish.

Remotew · 03/10/2009 16:18

By going outside to smoke one is poisioning their neighbours? Evidence please?

Stop talking out of your backside.