Ban Public Smoking
 

Currently there is talk in NC or maybe just Charlotte to ban smoking in public places, i.e. restaurants and bars. I am all for it. :)

If your city or state were to propose this ban, would you vote YAY or NAY? YAY would be to ban public smoking and NAY would be to let them smoke.

My vote: YAY!!!:cool:

Coming from a state that has already baned public smoking (CA)..I am so for it everywhere else.

NYC has a banned smoking policy and I love it! :D

CT4:
It's just Char/Meck right now, but YES! I'm for it...
I'll be able to go to a restaurant and take my baby and not worry about secondhand smoke...
I don't care what smokers do in their own home (and actually, I know of smokers that won't even smoke in their home)...but keep it out of my area!

I would definitely vote YAY! I believe 2 or 3 suburbs surrounding Chicago have already banned public smoking.

My vote : YAY

I don't smoke and don't feel like I should have to breath second hand smoke.

Thanks!! That's what I thought but after sitting in 10 degree weather waiting for my car to warm up, my brain was still on ice. :eek:

I wish I could ban the smokers in my family!!! :mad: :o :eek:

We have that policy in Florida and I love it. The cig-heads raised a big stink (pun intended) about it at first. But I love it. I hated going to restaraunts, sitting in the non-smoking section and still smelling the smoke.

Smoking bans play into civility IMO
 

California, of course, is in the vanguard of public smoking bans. I strongly favor it because it's not a private matter. What they do within their four walls isn't my concern.

MamaTrap and my father smoked when I was growing up. I have severe allergies and breathing problems because of secondhand smoke.

Soror, glad you posted this - I was getting ready to. I voted YES and it is wonderful to go into a restaurant and not have to deal with the smoke. Some establishments have said it would hurt their business, but I've not seen any statistics. There have been some that have also said they would not follow the law. I think it's been just over a year or so since Florida has complied with this law.

That policy is already in effect in Syracuse and I LOVE it. It's so nice to go out to a club and not have to worry about smelling like stank smoke. It was bad enough that we had to deal with stank smelling people.:o My vote is YAY!!

YAY!

This law is in effect for restaurants in my town and all the neighboring towns. It's been that way for so long that I was actually surprised the last time I walked into a restaurant in Chicago and was asked "Smoking or non?"

As a smoker, and living in a city that has already banned public smoking. I can honestly say that I am indifferent.

I don't mind going outside to smoke...even in the freezing cold. I never smoke indoors at home. The only place I would smoke inside is at another smokers place and only with their permission.

I think I'm okay with this is because I never used to be a smoker. I only started when I went to university. So, I know how non-smokers feel and I try my best not to offend them.

NAY

I'm very much against this ban for private business. Government building, yes...but not private businesses. If you don't want to be around the smoke, don't go. When the business starts losing customers, I would hope it'd go ahead and ban smoking anyway. But the truth is that private businesses are NOT public areas.

I'm not a smoker and I'd prefer not to be around it. If I get too uncomfortable (I'm an ex-smoker and sometimes it gets to me), I will not hesitate to walk out.

As a smoker, I vote yay. I very seldom sit in the smoking area when I go out to eat. I am a considerate smoker and I go out of my way to not expose others. Now if you come to my house I will not smoke while you are there, but you will still be exposed to the fact that it is a smoker's house.

That is very thoughtful of you!Although I hope that one day you are smoke-free;) Now if I could get my momma to see that,lol. :D

My state recently passed a public smoking ban which I voted yes for. I hate to be around cigarette smoke, especially when I'm out eating.

CIAA will be a mess in Charlotte if I can't put fire to the weed (tobacco that is).

I smoke when i'm having drinks. Frankly, I can't stand to drink without smoking.

I respect folks rights but suggest there should always be a smoking section. I don't like to smoke in the general public but if I opt to light up after having paid my money then so what.

NAY.

I think that there should be more of a line of demarcation between smoking and non-smoking sections, and govt buildings should be smoke free (sometimes people who need to go in them are on oxygen - O2 + smoking = explosion) but to force private businesses, especially bars, into it is terrible.

Everyone (around here) always says "I would support a smoke free bar" but it ends up that they are the people who go out 2.5 times in a year.

I agree with this.

One of the pubs on my old campus became smoke free. As soon as that happened the patronage went waaaaaaaay down. It used to be that this pub was always packed that if you weren't there at 5pm, then you either weren't getting in or you would be waiting for a few hours to get in. Now, they have to have all ages nights and those of age HAVE to wear a wrist band to be served because no one is going to this pub anymore.
Also, because of the no smoking ban, another bar was turned into a coffee house, because no one was going there anymore.

The school voted for this, but now no one is using the bars. This just shows that the vast majority of patrons at these bars were smokers.

btb87 correct me if I'm wrong
 

I may be wrong about this, but I think that in Florida, smoking is only banned in establishments that serve food. So you can still smoke in nightclubs as long as a certain percentage of their revenue doesn't come from food service. So like, you can smoke at a club down in Ybor, but you can't at Hooters.

as a person with Asthma I would Yay a ban on smoking in Akron and Cleveland. Maybe then my mother would stop smoking!!!!

I can see both sides of the issue (I am a smoker) but I never smoked in restaurants (yuck!), I feel choked when people were smoking and I was eating.

I never smoke around people who are not smokers (most of my friends)

I also understand the arugement of public vs. private.

I will go with the indifferent crowd....

I'm in Florida and I voted yes on the anti-smoking law. I hate going into a restaurant, sit in a non-smoking section that isn't too far away from the smoking section and then walk out of the restaurant smelling like I've been smoking. Plus, my throat gets really dry and scratchy and my voice is hoarse if I'm around smoke. I understand the whole private businesses shouldn't be regulated thing but I'm selfish. ;)

I'm hoping that they ban it in Atlanta (I know some counties around the area have begun to) since I'll be moving there shortly. Whenever I go out to a restaurant with my boyfriend in Atlanta, I long for a Florida restaurant that has smoke-free air!

Yay, I am from Cali and so smoking hasn't been an issue forever. I remember when I went to college in Louisiana and the lady at Denny's asked my mother and I did we want smoking or non-smoking. We were tripping! I also waited tables in Cali and you can smoke as long as there is not a traditional roof overhead. So alot of places have like places that are covered but not with the same roof as the other parts of the building. Smokers should have the option of a seperate location to smoke if theat business chooses to provide one. But for smokers - having to suck in your smoke is ridicoulus I wouldn't force you to digest my cholesterol!

You do have a point and I edit my above statement to say I think bars should be the exception. Let the bar owner decide and post whether it is a smoking bar or not.

Smoking and non-smoking sections do not work well especially in restaurants. But if an establishment is one or the other patrons can then choose if they want to frequent it or not. But at least people will have a choice.

I tried to think of a good parallel to draw. Leave it to a soror, you hit the nail on the head.

I vote YAY!! BAN SMOKING!!

I'd vote Yay. About a year ago, my county passed a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. In addition to the patrons of restaurants and bars, what about the workers? I think second hand smoke is more of a hazard to them.

In some cities in Cali smokers can't smoke within certain distances of buildings either. It's not enough to got RIGHT outsied the door to smoke because smoke travels inside windows, etc.

The cigarette tax and subsequent ban on smoking brought Cali from like 44th in the Nation in poor health to number 22.

I say VOTE YES!!!

Re: btb87 correct me if I'm wrong
 

Soror, you are correct.

"The ban on workplace smoking does not apply to private residences (unless they are providing commercial child care), retail tobacco shops, designated smoking rooms at motels and hotels, and stand alone bars (which serve only "customary bar snacks" and generate no more than 10% of gross revenue from food sales). Also exempted are membership association facilities, such as VFW halls, U.S. Customs lounges at international airports, outdoor patio sections of restaurants, smoking cessation programs, and medical or scientific research."

I see both sides of the coin too
 

I am an ex-smoker in a family of smokers (mom, dad and sister still smoke). Mr. 1228 is a non smoker. I do not allow smoking in my house (hmmm, maybe that is why my family never comes to visit me). :rolleyes:

I am cool with not smoking in restaurants, but I dunno about bars.

I will never forget the shock being in NC with my old college roommate and she fired up a Marlboro in a dept store...and it was totally legal :eek: I wasn't cool with that.

I am fine with not allowing smoking in malls, stores and some parts of restaurants, but I dunno about bars.

Smoking will never be outlawed in casinos though :)

i flipflop back and forth
 

although i don't smoke cigarettes. i work in several different night clubs and restaurants at night and i have seen a huge difference. Restaurants are not packed like they use to be. Wait staff has been laid off.

In the clubs, a cigarette and alcohol almost go hand and hand. Working as a bouncer, i spent alot of time chasing down people that step outside to take a cigaerette break and don't come back to pay the bill. It's crazy.

i hate when the smoke gets in my hair. But i hate when my boss calls me and tells me he does not need me at night because sales are down.

New York has become some what of a police state. no smoking in clubs and restaurants, no open containers on the street, they try to pull that no smoking in yoru car. i think that is too much.

Yay all the way!!!!!!!!!!

I say if ya wanna smoke, close up in an unventilated roomand do it to yourself. I like my air clean. :D

Since you try your best not to offend us, which I appreciate, could you and other smokers please not huddle around the entrance of building with the smoke? I hate going into a building and havng to pass a cloud of smoke. Smoking somewhere out in the open seems like it allows more ventilation. Thanks.

But, if the ban is on all pubs/clubc/bars, then there is no choice and the businesses will still have a clientele. ;)

Yahoo for Cali!!!! :D

i'm waiting for Cincy/OH to join Cali and NYC w/a real smoking ban. going out to eat and sitting in a "smoke-free" section means nothing when you're placed near a smoking section:rolleyes: there is a company in MN that wants it's employees to be completely smoke-free, at work, home, everywhere. i won't go that far but i would like to like to go to a casino, for exmple, at some point. right now, the ones i've been to were hazardous:eek:

It's like that here too. Starting january 1st, my school now demands that smokers have to stand 9 meters (about 27 feet) away from all entrances to the buldings, except those that have been designated smoking areas.
Right now the only smoking area (that I have found) is right outside the cafeteria.

Cigarette prices also just went up in Ontario.

But as a smoker, I really am indifferent as long as there is a spot for me to smoke. The place were I used to work offered a patio that was fenced in for all the smokers.
The only thing that pisses me off is when non-smokers hang out in the designated smoking area and complain that people are smoking (and yes I have heard people do this).

Restaurants have not suffered as much here, but some of the bars definitly have. The campus pub I mentioned did suffer. Even when the opened it up to all ages, the place was still dead, and they lost money on alcohol sales because most of the patrons in there were of course the ones who couldn't drink. The only bars that do really well are the ones that offer a designated smoking area. A few of the bars in Guelph have disappeared because of the no-smoking ban. It really does hurt some businesses.