Smoking Ban in Public - Yes or No?

[Conor]

I'm a smoker, think I would rather the government banned smoking completely than limited where you could smoke.

Like others I've spent a fair amount of time inn the west coast of the US, but there is the climate loophole to remember. its pleasant enough ouside to go out for a cigarette, or you go to one of the 'openair' pubs which simply have a hole in the ceiling.

Banning smoking in all pubs and restaurants would simply mean that people go onto the street to smoke, hence offending innocent passers-by with their smoke/litter. The best way in my opinion is to let the market decide, if there is a market for non smoking pubs then there will be more of them (there are a few successful ones here in Cambridge), if some pubs etc invest more in effective non smoking areas then they should expect more business....if that is really what people want.

Personally I will sit in the non-smoking area if the group has non-smokers (as long as they don't mind me popping out in between courses), but I won't go to a non-smoking pub if there is a smoking alternative (I just don't enjoy beer and nicoteine craving as a combination).

[peter k]

Resturants yes, Pubs no. Impossible to enforce and bar staff would be too scared to say anything incase they get assaulted(verbally of phisically), which is more than likely. Christ, even the bar staff have a fag at the bar most of the time.

Peter

[Phoenix]

In Thailand the Government has banned smoking in air-condiditioned restaurants and enforced it by threatening to imprison the Managers of anywhere that didn't implement the law. People can still smoke in non-aircon establishments if they wish giving a choice of establishments for all.

[LesleySS]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (peter k @ Mar. 29 2004,13:45)]Resturants yes, Pubs no. Impossible to enforce and bar staff would be too scared to say anything incase they get assaulted(verbally of phisically), which is more than likely. Christ, even the bar staff have a fag at the bar most of the time.

Peter

Agree - didn't a bouncer in New York get stabbed to death during the first week of their smoking ban as he tried to stop someone lighting up ?

I smoke and I like a cigarette when I'm in the pub (sorry but I do).  I don't think it would solve anything to have hoards of smokers huddled on street corners outside pubs.  More realistic solution is to have options - pubs which are non smoking throughout and others which are not.  I can guarantee my non-smoking friends would still go to the smoking pubs - most of them call themselves non-smokers but are quick enough to nick my fags on a night out!

I agree it's horrible to stink of smoke if you're an ex or non smoker but I don't think a total ban in pubs and restaurants is the way forward.  Proper ventilation/smoking filters can really make a world of difference.  Much safer than making people stand on the streets.

[Steve S]

<font color='#000080'>ban it in pubs &amp; restaurants but have some part set aside for the people who feel the need to reduce their lives.

My best mate used to be a charge nurse on a ward in our local community hospital which had it's fair share of end stage smokers having to be wheeled off the wards and disconnected from their oxygen supply so they could choke their way through a fag, maybe a ban could have saved some of those poor sod's.

Safe diving,
Steve.

[SCUBA Chick]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (exnavyboy @ Mar. 29 2004,13:23)]Ban in all public places. If people want to smoke then that's their choice which I fully respect. My objection is to public places where a no-smoking section is 2 feet from a smoking section. Because there's a sign smoke won't cross the boundary??

I have to agree with you on this one....as a non-smoker I have no choice but to breathe in the smoke. I met a friend from work last week for a quick meal at a pub. We sat in the non-smoking section where the food was served and I still went home stinking of fags...so providing non-smoking 'sections' within places just doesn't work...

Just my view though....don't slate me for it!!!

Scubachick &nbsp;

[Mark-B]

My Thought is,
Ban it in all indoor establisments, whatever they are, I would rather have all the smokers outside in the (fresh ?) air, at least there is a better chance of their exhaled rubbish dispersing rather than stinking up all our clothes, and having to breath in that god awful taste inside a closed enviroment, yes a bit more rubbish outside but certainly not as bad or long lasting as the chewing gum stuck eveywhere left by the idiot gum chewers, the average pavement is covered in the stuff.


Thats my View
Mark.

[DIVE BUDDHA]

i certainly hope they bring the same kind of ban in the uk no more smoking in public GREAT !!!!!i can go out and have a meal without some stuck up t*at lightin up a cigar at the side of you what a momentous day for the non-smokers

[Helen F H]

<font color='#000080'>I have asthma from my dad smoking throughout my mums pregnancy and young life. &nbsp;Yes i know i cant prove it, but no-one else in my family has it, and cigarette smoke is the main trigger. &nbsp;
One of the reasons i dont like to drink when im on a diving holiday is that the smoke can make me wheeze, and if i wheeze you aint gonna get me anywhere near the water.

At my old uni there was a sign on the wall -

Please dont leave your fag ends on the pavement - the birds are getting cancer. &nbsp;

[Wacker]

<font color='#0000FF'>Ban it in enclosed areas let the smokers go out in the fresh air or there own homes.
wack