Smoking bans in public places

Here's a post I've been meaning to make for a while. It's also been a while since we've had a good debate. Ohio has somewhat recently passed a law banning smoking indoors in public places. Many states have similar laws.

I think this is a fantastic law (it's not often I can say that). I mean, it's easy to say 'if you don't like it, leave', but what gives you the right to shit in somebody else's lungs? As I see it, it's an issue of comfort and health.

I am a non-smoker so I may be a little biased, but I'm also a libertarian, generally dislike government, and support many rights which would not personally benefit me.

I'm a non-smoker, and absolutely hate second hand smoke from cigarettes, but I think banning smoking in public places is wrong. If someone wants to make a restaurant non-smoking, then they should be allowed. However, why should they be forced to make their store/bar/whatever non-smoking?

Another example that recently came up, is the university on my hometown is going to be enforcing a smoking ban next school year. This means you can't have any form of smoke tobacco on campus, or else you get a ticket. I can definitely understand not allowing people to smoke inside the building, and maybe even outside where people walk between classes, but this ban includes even the parking lots and in your own car. You won't be able to go to your car to smoke, you would have to leave campus entirely. Just kind of seems like it's infringing on peoples rights. If people want to smoke and kill themselves, they should be able to do it, no matter how stupid it is... I guess?

But I'll be honest, I love that I can go into a poker room anywhere in the US and never have to smell cigarette smoke.

Being a nonsmoker and being allergic to smoke I had to give the Law in Washington banning smoking in public places the "slow clap that gets faster".

I fucking hate when someone is smoking near me, because it smells like shit. However, I firmly believe he or she has every right to smoke in public, and I also believe it should be 100% up to the business as to whether they will allow smoking or not. It is not the job of our legislators to decide what I do with my business or my body.

That said the dangers of second hand smoke have been grossly overstated and based upon bad misleading data and so I do not particularly worry about that aspect.

Also, I'm not anti-tobacco, as I smoke hookah regularly in my own home.

The casinos fucked the bars/restaurants in Vegas when I was there with this law.

Some good friends of mine lost their jobs because of it.

Oh I totally love the law, just think the entire US should ban smoking. It's a filthy disgusting habit.

Owners discretion.

A similar law was recently passed in UK and as a non-smoker it has made pubs and clubs so much nicer to go in and I don't have to come home stinking. Also I think it's much better for the staff. Smokers would probs disagree but whatever I also think it should be banned.

Indoor smoking in public places has been banned in Norway since 2004. A bit of an uproar in the beginning but now everyone seem okay with it. Me, I love it.

Fucking smokers!

i think that it should be up to the private business'. i personally hate second hand smoke like everyone else, but i also think it would be hugely hypocritical of me to say that we should ban smoking in public places. i mean if you call yourself a libertarian, my feeling is you should be applying the method or theory or w/e you want to call it of having little to no govt, you should be applying it to all areas and not picking and choosing which ones necessarily convenience you.

[quote="BankItDrew"]

First I want to say that I believe in the philosophy that your right to swing your fist ends where my chin begins. People DO have the right to not breathe cigarette smoke if they don't want to. And they exercise that right by not going to an establishment that permits smoking. Simple.

I fully agree that it should be up to the business to decide whether they want smoking allowed inside or not. I don't see why they would, smokers are used to standing outside and smoking. But in any case I'm not fine with the government telling a business "YOU can't let YOUR customers smoke inside of a store YOU own on land YOU paid for." That's fundamentally against the spirit of our constitution and the concept of "individual liberty". The government needs to stop being my babysitter, protecting me from the evils of the world.

From the skeptics magazine webpage:

World Health Organization published a study in 1998 that concluded: "Our results indicate no association between childhood exposure to ETS [environmental tobacco smoke/ Second Hand Smoke] and lung cancer risk." The WHO study also noted that there was only "weak evidence" for a risk of lung cancer from spousal or workplace ETS.

Fact: The study found a Relative Risk (RR) for spousal exposure of 1.16, with a Confidence Interval (CI) of .93 - 1.44. In layman's terms, that means

• Exposure to the ETS from a spouse increases the risk of getting lung cancer by 16%. • Where you'd normally find 100 cases of lung cancer, you'd find 116.

• The 1.16 number is not statistically significant.

Same site, doing the math provided by the Bullshit TV show:

here is a 25% higher risk of dying of lung cancer from being regularly exposed to passive smoke. For those regularly exposed to ETS, the death rate from lung cancer is 1 in 80,000. For those not exposed, it is 1 in 100,000. Looked at another way: For every million people exposed to ETS, there will be 12.5 deaths from lung cancer; for every million people not exposed to ETS, there will be 10 deaths due to lung cancer. This is statistically of no significance.

as a former smoker I think the law is terrible, but it worked out for me because it was right when I was quitting.

as euph says if people actually cared that much there would be a huge market for non smoking bars, there isn't. I have always found that whatever the % of smokers is (I think ~20%?) it goes up well over 50 when you start asking people who hang out in bars. Drinking 6+ beers isn't healthy either.

As for restaurants, they were all heading non smoking anyway so it's kinda a non issue to me.

Either way, vote with your feet. If the club stinks don't go, and feel free to call them and tell them why.

About the only thing I miss about smoking is getting outside more often.

well the good news for smokers is now they all get to congregate outside, so its an easy to pick up the opposite sex, or the same sex if thats how you are.

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Smoking bans in public places