My city just started a smoking ban in public buildings

[Poiuyt]

All the bars are still fighting it, bringing up lawsuits and all. It was started because of a binding referendum. It's been in effect for about a month but my non-smoker friends and I are just starting to gear up to going back to the nightlife. I know it will take more than a couple of us going out once a week to help the bars, restaurants and clubs, but it's a start. I wish there was more that I could do to help them.

I just bring this up in light of Peter Jennings. I think the ban is a good thing. Second hand smoke can be just as harmful as first hand. People who work in these bars are not given the choice of going outside.

Forgive me for a rambling post.

[WCGreen]

1. Tell me about it.....

I can't go anywhere because of smoking....

I have a serious lung problem, not smoking related btw, and I can't go into 90% of the restaurants in Cleveland

[Droopy]

2. I just quit smoking on 7/21/05

I have to work around smokers for a short period of time everyday, but even that is barely tolerable to me. The smell of cigarettes and the second hand smoke drives me up the wall. I guess this is karmic justice for all those times I subjected non-smokers to my smoke.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. That's my son's birthday...

I wish he'd give it up.

Congrats on quitting! Every cigarette you don't smoke means less $ in the pockets of the rethugs! :yourock:

[Floogeldy]

6. Your son was born 18 days ago and already smokes?

:o

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. LOL

18 years ago, actually...

[Droopy]

8. If your son wants to quit

I'd highly recommend the drug Wellbutrin. It makes the cravings much less intense and more manageable. I smoked for 16 years and probably tried to quit 100 times. I've had a much easier go of it with that drug and it does not contain nicotine. Your son can get it through his family doctor and it costs me $17 for a month supply after my insurance has covered their part.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. He's not interested in quitting

He says he's not hooked. I'm pretty sure he's doing it to push my buttons. I'm hoping he'll come to his senses soon...

[Floogeldy]

3. Are you saying that Jennings was killed by second-hand smoke?

?

[Poiuyt]

10. No

It's just that Peter Jennings dying today made me think about how nice it is to have a smoking ban in my city and how we need to patronize the establishments better.

I must be tired.

[napi21]

4. You have every right to your own opinion, and should support

the bars, restaurants and clubs you prefer. Please take a moment to think about all the complaints here on DU about the pharmacists who refused to dispense BC pills before you say the people who work in a bar that allows smoking don't hae a choice. Of course they do. There are many companies I would never work for, for a lot of different reasons.

They recently adopted a smoking ban in all public buildings here as well. They made an exception for places where people under 21 aren't allowed. I don't like it, but I don't frequest bars etc. anymore either.

I think everyone needs to remember the quote "They came after the blacks and I wasn't black so I didn't care, they came after the jews and I wasn't a jew so didn't care...they came after me and there was no one left to care about me.

[MissMarple]

7. Babykins....You sound like you would defend Typhoid Mary.

Pastor Martin Niemoller's comments:

First the Nazis came…
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

This is a lot different than keeping smoke (not the smokers) from public spaces.

And people can still smoke. And we don't put them in concentration camps and gas them.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. You struck a chord with me, MissMarple!

Keeping smokers (when they are smoking btw) out of public places is just the ticket!

And we certainly do NOT execute the smokers...they are doing that to themselves without any help from the non-smokers...


Second-hand smoke is a Class A carcinogen...people who don't want to be exposed to this should not have to endure it under any circumstances!

Of course smokers have rights...but their rights end where my lungs begin...


:nuke:

[MissMarple]

16. We certainly agree!

:bounce:

I used to smoke. Needlepoint is a good thing.

[napi21]

19. Babykins???? Where did that come from?

You have the right to dislike smoking, and a whole lot of other things too! I just don't want you inflicting on me your preferences the same as I don't want the RW fundies inflicting their demands on me!

What makes you any differenet than they are? They're saying we are evil because we believe everyone should have the rights to live their own life as they see they should. Now you're telling me I can't go anywhere where you are without harmning you?

You know, I detest what the RW and Shrub has done to my country, but I'm starting to think I don't like what you are doing either.

Many years ago, I was the idiot when I said, okay, I understand you don't like smoking, so I won't smoke wround you, but you weren't happy with that, you have to have it all!

I hope you have a long happy life, but don't visit me. My house is the only place I can do what I want to do now, and I guess you want to take that away too.

[MissMarple]

20. Well, perhaps I should have said sweetheart.

And no one has said you are evil. You can smoke and you won't go to a gulag. And while you call it a preference, it is actually a health issue. And many in the general public don't want to have to live with a smoker's effluent. It isn't healthy, and for some, it can be deadly.

You can smoke. I used to smoke. I also understand that smoking is offensive to many quite regular people. I didn't smoke around them. It is a courtesy and a responsibility. People used to ask if it was OK to light up. Now some are offended if someone says no.

Smoking is a personal behavior that is offensive to many. Sometimes I go to a cigar bar, and I don't smoke cigars, I may or may not have a puff or two, but I don't go there to smoke. It's a social thing. Smoking places are fine by me, but, for smokers to dominate the public spaces...that is not fair. And many people don't go to bars and many restaurants because of the smoke. It is nasty. And, you are in a shrinking minority. It's like driving, it is not a right. Voting is a right. It is not a civil liberty to smoke wherever you please. It's like peeing in the park. There are places for that.

Now, take up needlepoint or ...something. :)

And I said babykins...because you sound so young. How about some nuggies. (Peace)

[Poiuyt]

9. I obviously didn't word my message very well

ALL the bars and restaurants in my city are now smoke free. What I meant was that before the ban, the people who worked in the bars were subjected to second hand smoke and couldn't get away from it (unless they quit their jobs). Now they have a much nicer, safer atmosphere.

[burrowowl]

11. We must also

check out said buildings: for the volatiles they give off from new materials and old (i.e. asbestoes, etc.); mold from too tightly sealed buildings (problem with some new vinyl stuccos that don't 'breathe'; radon (and this is in your home especially if your home is on granite, kills as many people as smoking); and while we are at it: the Navahos living in homes built with a mixture of uranium tailings; the people in Iraq and elsewhere who have been exposed to Depleted Uranium; the workers exposed to beryllium to make such things as golf clubs; mercury from power plants; etc.
And remember Pukes and many Dims don't give a damn!
Smoking is a problem, but sometimes I wonder if it isn't a stalking horse (easily identifiable) to take attention off of other problems.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. I do not think that the organizations that fight smoking in public

places would say that the problem of smoking is a stalking horse...

You might want to investigate the groups ASH (action on smoking and health) and Americans for Non-Smokers Rights...these two are out there trying to spread the word on the dangers of smoking, and on how the tobacco companies are trying to subvert the many laws on the books.

[burrowowl]

17. As are

former makers of asbestos, stucco that overseals, volatiles from insulation, ashame from particulates given off by diesel fuel, etc.
Smoking is an easy and rightful target, but other targets are ignored.
Did you kow that air was better filtered in airlines (at a cost) when smoking was allowed? Now, there are problems with flying: not enough oxygen renewal, too much ozone, etc in airplanes that give people problems. Banning smoking was cheap, got them out of really proving air.
Ban smoking in airplanes, but make them gie you the required oxygen renwal without too much ozone (which by the way is O3).

[Borgnine]

18. Good news.

I hate being self-righteous about anything and I don't care if people smoke, but second-hand smoke is one of my biggest pet peeves.