Smoking...

A member of the government has today announced that smoking should be banned in public places...

Do you agree with this sentiment, or is the freedom to smoke an overriding factor within today's society?

--Matt

Apparantly even smokers dont want to be able to smoke in public according to govenment research. This is because not being able to smoke in public will help them quit.

You can argue that it's an infringement of people's liberty, but it is either way, and I come down on the side of it being banned, because people who have made a concious decision not to smoke are having something harmful imposed upon them, whereas smokers are being asked to do without something harmful.
What are the figures for passive smoking? I've heard its something like 50% (so a non-smoker who lives with someone who does 'smokes' around half teh number a day they do) Anyone know if that's true or just folk gibberish?

It's true. You're three times more likely to get cancer if you live with someone who smokes and five times if you live with two people who smoke.

This and the dirtyness and nastyness of smoking force me to say that there is more to be said in favour of the civil liberty of not being put at extended risk than there is for the civil liberty to continue a drug addiction.

Alcohol harms few people, creates a lot of jobs and is acceptable in moderation. Even in excess, only a small number of people vandalise or cause problems. Compare this to the number of smokers literally smoking themselves to death and I think there is a genuine case for banning smoking in public places - if only for the health of non-smoking staff!

--Matt

I'm gonna get me some of these.


http://www.fakefags.co.uk/

Are you allowed to walk down the street hitting people?? NO
Are you allowed to walk down the street throwing asbestos dust at people?? NO
Are you allowed to walk down the street blowing poisonous, carcinogen rich gas at people?? YES

See the strangeness of that?

of course there'll be a big stink about it like there always is and smoking in public will not be banned. Just look at california, less smokers but a really big problem when they tried to ban it.

I think its weird that im the only person who said that smoking in public places shouldnt be banned, when i absolutely hate fags and would never want to smoke ever. I dont really know why it shouldnt be banned. Maybe its coz im scared that if that addiction is taken away from everyone, then they'll be more people wanting to be hooked on something else, such as alcohol, which means more alcohol sales, which means there is the possibility of the demand being too high and alcohol running out which makes it harder to get, or much more expensive. Actually thatspretty unlikely.

Maybe i would just miss that smell in every pub in the UK, and my clothes stinking after just one hour in there.

Actually id like to change my vote.

I absolutely love the 'Smoking makes you look hard' sticker you could buy to put on your packet of fags.

Classic humour!

I know a girl at uni who only buys the fags with "Smoking harms your unborn baby" ones. That way she clams they don't affect her, its a nice theory, but not quite right.

She's borrowed that from a commedian- American bloke I think, can't remember his name. He did a fairly famous sketch about smoking a few years back which included a bit about how blokes should go for the 'low birth weight babies' and 'harms your unborn baby' packets, and girls for the 'causes impotency' ones. It also included the lines:

'Any smokers out there? Any non-smokers out there? Right. I've got news for you, something you might not realise....NON SMOKERS DIE! They die too.... alll the time...'

or something along those lines (no-one sue me, please). He then dies of pancreatic cancer...

Gotta love smokers for their drug addictions that cause me harm and make asthma suffers worse and contribute towrads general unhealthiness. Godbless those that smoke during pregnancy and give their children drug addictions before they're even old enough to start school.

Bastards.

Bill Hicks is the name of that man, funny if he didn't mean it.

Ah, Bill Hicks. That was the bolokey. Was listening to some of his stuff on the wars on Iraq the other day, funny, if utterly and completely cringy.