1. Alice in Wonderland

    Alice in Wonderland New Member

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    Smoking.

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Alice in Wonderland, Apr 1, 2007.

    What are your views on smoking? Do you think second hand smoke is really as harmful as suggested? Are you in a country where smoking has been banned from all public buildings?

    I'm a smoker but not a heavy one. I smoke about 10-20 a day sometimes not at all for weeks. It seems I can put a lid on my addiction (if I am addicted). I smoke more when I'm drinking or with friends who smoke too. I smoke roll ups because normal cigarettes taste and smell vile. Also it's cheaper. ^^ I don't think I could give up my habit all together because I live with a smoker and it's hard to quit when someone else is there blowing smoke all over the place! >.<
     
  2. je33ie

    je33ie New Member

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    I really don't like being around smokers blowing smoke in my face. And it's even worse when someone leaves their burning cigarette in the ashtray then goes away and does something else! It's horrible!

    Smoking's been banned from pubs and clubs just recently here in Australia and it's just wonderful! I can actually go out at night and come home without my whole house ending up smelling like smoke!
     
  3. Frost

    Frost Active Member

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    Doesn't bother me anymore, but Id never smoke.
     
  4. Domoviye

    Domoviye New Member

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    Don't smoke and don't want to. But as long as the smoker isn't rude and blowing it in my face, I'm fine with it.
    And here in Ontario, all public buildings are smoke free, unless its owned by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Since the CBC is a government agency and the media, they're special.
     
  5. wordwizard

    wordwizard New Member

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    Im not a fan of smoking. I grew up in a house full of smokers and it defiently turned me away from it. As a smoker you cant smell the smoke left onyour clothes and furniture-even your hair stinks. So as much as I hate to say it....you may smell. hahaha I dont mind me being in a smoking area, but it bothers me having my child around it because ya never know how it can affect them.....
     
  6. Lizzy

    Lizzy New Member

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    I am a former smoker and I still crave cigarettes but I went to a bar the other night and smelled like a walking cigarette after. It made me wonder why I ever smoked in the first place. Yet, I still crave one once in a while.

    Hmm
     
  7. Revolution

    Revolution New Member

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    I don't smoke, but the people I work with all smoke on either a social basis or a regular basis. So, sometimes I get five blessed minutes of peace and quiet while they're all out having cigarettes.

    Whenever I do anything with my best friend we have to take periodic smoke breaks. I don't really mind it, but I don't exactly like it when we have to stop so he can smoke before we go into buildings.

    The only time smoking really bothers me is when I'm interested in a girl. When the ladies break out the tobacco that's a deal breaker for me.
     
  8. Ferret

    Ferret New Member

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    The parts of your soul you refuse to recognize.
    Whether or not it's healthy, the Government should not be banning something that, in the end, amounts to a personal choice. When did the role of government change? The congress was supposed to be in charge of lending states money, now they decide health issues that effect everyone-crap. Frankly, thanks but no thanks, Big Brother.


    In the US cigarettes are highly taxed so you don't buy them, thus negative for the industry, but they subsidize tobacco farmers. Why? The government makes more off taxes than the company.
     
  9. Frost

    Frost Active Member

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    Noble ideal's, but is it therefore wrong that alcohol companies can make money by destroying lives via alcoholism?
    Theres so many examples you cant take the same example with, and to be honest, I find it pretty immature in my eyes. If you don't dig smoking, that's cool, but dont go out and try and press your moralistic ideal's on people who are smoking.
     
  10. HeinleinFan

    HeinleinFan Banned

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    I think I agree with Ferret: It ain't the job of the government to regulate a personal choice to the extent that it does. Now, I will agree that smoking inside government buildings is fine to ban; the government has direct control of those buildings. Likewise, smoking in hospitals or in schools could be dangerous, so I'm okay with prohibiting it. Otherwise I do not think the federal government should bother. If a local or state government wants to, I would have less of an issue with the law because local and state governments are more easily swayed by the local voters' opinions.

    Disclaimer: I'm from California and I personally despise the ashy, dirty smell of it. BUT I respect the rights of others. Kind of one of those "I will never agree with your words, sir, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it" situations. I won't smoke, but I'll be darned if I'll encourage my representative to ban it in public spaces; if I do, they might get ideas - like trying to legislate away all danger from the universe.

    Oh, wait. They already do. *Sigh*
     
  11. Torana

    Torana Contributor Contributor

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    Well I think smoking is a disgusting and filthy habit and I am glad that it has been banned from the pubs and so forth as so many people would suffer from the second hand smoke.
    YES second hand smoke is worse than the smoke that the smoker breathes in as the chemicals are not filtered.
    I am a reformed smoker and I don't go out and say to people that they should do this and do that, it is there choice they can do what they want with their bodies. I used to smoke quite a bit 10 to 15 a day, now that i have quit i have more energy and so forth.
    The only tme I go off about smokers is when they are around my kids or any kids to be honest, especially when people smoke in cars with kids, THAT'S WRONG!!!!!!!
    You choose to smoke, kids don't so why should they suffer from the ignorance of others, I have never smoked near kids and never near my kids, when around non smokers I always walked away so they weren't breathing in my smoke. I never liked it so why would I do it to them. But is a relief I was able to quit finally. But I had some help from an old friend who linked me to a great website that gave me a lot of info. Unfortunately I lost the link and no longer speak tot hat person but hey I did it after around 6 to 10 years so I am sure others can too.
     
  12. Alice in Wonderland

    Alice in Wonderland New Member

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    I doubt the smokiung ban will effect me much. I guess I won't go out to pubs or clubs as much because I'm such a light weight drinker that I need a cigarette to calm down my drinking pace. xD It's either puking in the toilet or something that, if I do get it, they would have found a cure for by then anyway. =D

    ~edit~
    I agree with Torana that smoking around kids is a no no. I will however smoke outside whther there are kids present or not, just not blowing it in their faces! I think that outside is the least likely place I am to smoke unless I'm somewhere where I'm not allowed. Then I'll go outside.

    I'm a responsible smoker. ^^
     
  13. wordwizard

    wordwizard New Member

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    i think its your choce to smoke but the reason why the govt is banning it in public places is because they realize now that it affects other people around you-not just you. So they are protecting the health of many people. In my opinion its the right thing to do.
     
  14. Evelyn

    Evelyn New Member

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    I'm allergic to tobacco smoke, and it literally makes me sick (itchy eyes and nose, headache, nausea, one time my throat even started to swell shut...). My mom gets terrible migraines and violent vomiting spells whenever she's exposed to it, and there was some childhood trauma for me associated with that.

    So I'm really glad when the government steps in to protect me (and my mother) from a smoker's right to make me physically ill.


    On the other hand, as long as I don't have to breathe the poisonous chemicals given off by burning tobacco, I don't mind at all if someone else smokes.* No one smokes in my house or my car; but my guests who smoke are given a chair, an ashtray (in the form of the metal lid to some lost jar), and the freedom of the outdoors.

    (Please bear in mind that this analogy should only be taken so far, but to me it's kind of like relieving oneself: it doesn't really matter to me how or whether you do so; but I really don't want to see the activity involved, or the evidence thereof.)
    (Although with smoking, it's only the smell that I object to - I told you the analogy only goes so far :)

    Just my (okay, maybe not-so-humble) opinons,

    - Evelyn


    *Okay, I do mind it when someone that I like smokes, but only in that they are endangering the health and shortening the life of someone that I like. But I don't much care for my friends criticizing my own bad habits, so I try not to criticize theirs :)
     
  15. nickyc

    nickyc New Member

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    I'm a filthy smoker. Not exactly proud of it, but damned if I won't enjoy my god-given right to do what I want to do, as so far as others aren't effected by it.
     
  16. Crazy Ivan

    Crazy Ivan New Member

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    If you obey the last nine words of that statement, you shouldn't really smoke at all.
     
  17. Cashews

    Cashews New Member

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    QUICK! somebody call the EPA! Oh wait, someone already did and they came up with a bull**** report about second-hand smoke based on flat-out INCORRECT data while ignoring a whole pile of other data. PLEASE don't be fooled by that crap. It just isn't true. Second-hand smoke is bothersome, smelly, and i really don't like it. Yes, it does increase the chances of getting lung cancer and other diseases but at such a minimal amount it will hardly affect anyone. The odds when you aren't around second hand smoke are 10:1000000. The odds when you are around second-hand smoke OFTEN are 12:1000000. Please don't perpetuate this crap any longer.
     
  18. wordwizard

    wordwizard New Member

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    where do you get your facts from cashews? I think there are a lot of tests they still havent done or have done and are withholding?? i dunno. I just think it causes much more health problems like copd and who knows what else. Besdies if it is smelly and bothersome and there is a chance of cancers caused by second hand smoke~as slight as it is...why not have it banned? because its a pain in the butt for the smokers.....well we deal with the smoke ,they can now deal with the ban.
     
  19. Cashews

    Cashews New Member

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    Lots of things cause people to die. Anything can kill anyone, smoking just happens to be addictive. Banning smoking out of nowhere isn't going to stop anyone from doing it. You can't just ban everything that bothers you. People have to put up with a lot of things that they don't like, but as soon as someone makes up some "health issues" that could affect other people, all of a sudden everyone's an activist trying to save the world from lung cancer. It's just an excuse. If the EPA filed a report about the health risks to other people because of gay sex, people would probably try to ban gay people too. Hell, some people already are, which is the case with smoking as well.
     
  20. Frost

    Frost Active Member

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    Stop imposing your self-righteous morals on other people.
     
  21. Torana

    Torana Contributor Contributor

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    ok well no banning isn't going to stop people from doing it but it does make for a nicer environment at the pubs. I have had a lot of people say to me that yeah it is a hassle and a half cause they have to get up and move but as they have all said, you don't end up with you eyes feeling like sandpaper at the end of the night from walking through a smokey hazed room all night.

    and Frost I apologise if my previous comments agravated you in any way, it was not my intensions at all.

    ~Torana
     
  22. Vivienne Crow

    Vivienne Crow New Member

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    Torana do not appologise to him, you have a right to voice your opinion and anything that harms children in anyway shape or form is wrong in my opinion.

    I hate smoking and I tend to not converse with people who do smoke, which may make me a snob so be it. I would rather keep my life smoke-free and clean aired thank you very much. Smokers have the right to choose to smoke, but they do not have the right or the choice to whether I enhale that smoke. I dont smoke, so I do not want to be around smoke. This ban is a great idea and I love it. Especially when they placed covers over the cigarettes that are sold over conters. I was working as a casheer at a local IGA when they inforced the new bans. Anyone accociated with selling cigarettes had to have new training for it and all of our packets of smokes were covered with grey shelving except for 1mx1msquared. That was all we were allowed to show. And we aren't allowed to show specials on smokes either. And in the next two years it will be that you arent allowed to have any smokes on display at all. It actually really cuts back on what people buy. If they can't see it they normally dont' ask for it.

    Like alot of people have said before me this new ban is an excellent idea and is looking out for those people who want to stay healthy and not poison their bodies with numerous toxins that have been PROVEN time and again to cause cancer. I've been living with my boyfriend and his parents for six months now...they are both chain smokers and smoke in the house and the car [no windows open because of the temperature] and I think it's digusting and totally rude to smoke around people who DONOT want to smoke themselves. The least they could do is do it outside. I can't count the amount of headaches, neausa spells, stomach aches and itchy eyes I have had over the past six months because of the fact that the entire house is just one big smoke cloud!! It's disgusting and I hate it.

    People go to pubs, cafes, restaurants, outdoor eating venues to have fun, socialize and enjoy some good food and drinks...they do not go there to feel like they are on the inside of a chimney at Winter time. If you choose to smoke fine, but do it some where else.

    xxFrostyxx
     
  23. Heather Louise

    Heather Louise Contributor Contributor

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    i personally like the smell of people smoking. i don't smoke myself as i cannot satnd the taste, but i liked it when i was going with this lad and he smelled of smoke. it was a really comforting smell to me, lol.
    Heather
     
  24. wordwizard

    wordwizard New Member

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    I grew up in a house chalk full of smokers. Now my sister has COPD, my uncle has recently died of lung cancer which caused a tumor in his brain(he was a chain smoker and smoked till the day he died) and now my other uncle has the EXACT same condition. It pretty much is a death sentence. I will never be a smoker, nor will I ever let my children smoke or be around smoking. When you loose people from smoking you understand the severity of it. Smoking is not a joke, and the ban is a step in the right direction.
     
  25. Torana

    Torana Contributor Contributor

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    well I have an uncle who has been diagnosed with emphysema and has angina attacks all the time and he still smokes. I don't get that at all, wouldn't you give up if it meant you were going to gain more time on this planet with your family????
     

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