smoking debate

[bribones]

5 news last night binge drinking is in the limelight as well

[Chris_Hughes]

As far as I am concerned nothing mitigates the right of a smoker to smoke in a public place.

The reality is that less than 30% of the public smoke tobacco and yet that minority are allowed to inflict the unpleasant by-product of their habit on persons who do not wish to inhale their second hand smoke.

Smoking should be prohibited at any place where the public has access to, or where food is served. So smoking would only be allowed on private premises where the owner/proprietor allows it, that is private clubs but NOT public houses (pubs) and following on from the above it should be prohibited in the street.

In fact, I do not think the treasury has explored the limitations of the price elasticity of the demand for tobacco (or alcohol for that matter). I would certainly increase the duty on these products further to raise more revenue for the treasury and reduce the burden of income tax and NI. Also the costs of the retailer licenses for these products should be increased.

I would also legislate to make current illegal recreational drugs legal and raise additional revenue from licensing their manufacture/production and retailing and of course raise a duty on their sale.

Many years ago I used to be a very heavy chain smoker, that was at a time when the majority of the public smoked tobacco, I chose to stop smoking to improve my health and not because of any undue pressure from work colleagues, friends or relatives. Subsequently my father and his brother (my uncle) died prematurely due to lung cancer caused by smoking cigarettes.

I am not going to tell you smokers to pack it in, in fact I would like you all to smoke more (but only in designated enclosed areas when the legislation is in place) the additional revenue raised will ease my income tax and NI burden. On the same note please drink more alcohol as well.

An interesting observation here with smoking is that the addicted always seem to be in denial of the facts in front of them. It\'s like the alcoholic, drug addict or excessive gambler, they do not see the problem themselves and continue without regard for those who have to pick up the pieces afterwards. If you are a keen fisherman and want to continue your passion into old age, then stop smoking now cause if you don\'t, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, leg amputation etc will sure enough stop you fishing.

[bribones]

I am not going to tell you smokers to pack it in, in fact I would like you all to smoke more (but only in designated enclosed areas when the legislation is in place) the additional revenue raised will ease my income tax and NI burden. On the same note please drink more alcohol as well.

glad to see youve put some thought for others into this lol

after reading all that i wonder isnt that why we got rid of hitler ?
i smoke becouse i have a right to smoke , the same rights i might add as a non smoker.. prohibited in the street ? ok well lets also ban cars as well ,im not gonna rant on here but youve got the same one sided view as your accusing smokers of having ergo the non smokers view,i dont smoke in restaraunts even if theres a smoking area ,same when im out ill ask do you mind ,in other words im considerate to others how many non smokers can say they have the same attitude towards smokers ,its not a crime its not a sin if someone doesnt like it they can always move to a smoke free zone as is there right to do so

typing stopped brain overload lost the thread back later


[Edited on 2/12/2004 by bribones]

[gag1]

Well put Bri. Agree with you 100%. Find it hard to comprehend that Chris would advocate banning smoking and yet make so-called soft drugs legal !!!!!!!!!!. In my line of work, we are trained to recognise if employees etc,etc, may possibly be under the influence of drugs and at one of our training sessions we were briefed by a member of the drug squad. This guy told us that he attended an incident where a guy was running along a well-known main street in the north east under the impression that he was being chased by a giant carrot !. the kid was off his head having smoked ONE joint of cannabis. Try telling the parents of those kids who have died after taking ONE ecstacy tablet that the drug should be legalised. Ill stick to ciggies Chris and stand by the comments I made to Mand in an earlier post,

cheers.
gag1

[mark]

as has been said elsewhere in this thread, there\'s a lot of things athat are antisocial in public, so lets go the whole hog, ban drink as well, ban eating burgers in the street, all antisocial and offensive to some.

Then when thats done lets tackle the really offensive issues of social menance.... ginger people can go first, followed by people who chew gum and gob it out in the street, stupid trousers, old people that smell the list is endless!

[sless]

what boils my pizz is seeing parents smoking in the car with a baby or toddler in the back
i could strangle them

poor kids eh

[john.frain]

well they might as well ban it, not just newcastle but the whole country. they seem to want to ban everything this day an age. Think its just the do-gooders making a job for themselves.

forget about the foxes lets get the fags out hahahaahaah

my employer has decided to ban smoking from the whole of its premises as of next year, some of the folk who enter our premises you ask, can you please refrain from smoking they will kindly oblige by sticking it in your eye.........

next thing they will be telling us what time to gan to bed.....


hahaahahahaahahahahahah

[TC]

ALL Council buildings have been \"no smoking\" areas for years.........with the exception of the \"Members Suite\".......That\'s the area of the Town Hall where Coucillors can go and relax before and after all the \"exhausting\" meetings they have to attend.
A tad annoying that employees have to clock out and go outside to have a smoke, whilst the \"employers\" can sit on nice leather Chesterfields, have a cuppa (or something stronger) and stay nice & warm whilst THEY have a fag.

It\'s not the \"clocking out\" bit that employees find offensive......until about a year ago, we had a \"smoking room\". Then, it was decided to close it.......because people were using it to go and have a cigarette in ????????

[Chris_Hughes]

The problem is that a minority of smokers will adhere to some kind of code of respect for those who do not want to be breathing smoke and will refrain from smoking in restaurants etc. But totally non smoking restaurants and pubs are as rare as chicken teeth. So us fresh air junkies have no choice but to endure the smoke emitted by the inconsiderate majority of smokers. This is the whole thing of denial in smokers, the majority do not see the problem and the distress they cause others or couldn\'t care less.

I\'ll stand by the legalisation and licensing of recreational drugs. Nobody makes anybody take them it is the individuals choice. but by controlling them, their purity will be guaranteed (no cutting with Ajax etc.) and control taken out of the hands of the criminals that currently handle the market and production.

Quoting Brian:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
after reading all that i wonder isnt that why we got rid of hitler ?
i smoke becouse i have a right to smoke , the same rights i might add as a non smoker..
prohibited in the street ? ok well lets also ban cars as well ..................
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian, I think we got rid of Hitler for reasons other than smoking, although, he was a non smoker and detested tobacco smoke, he was also a vegetarian. Can anybody here honestly say that they are totally self reliant and do not rely on cars/vans/buses etc to get to the local shops for their groceries and cigarettes (if they indulge in the weed). Banning smoking in public enclose spaces is the thin end of the wedge, the final outcome will be no lit cigarettes in any public place.

Brian, don\'t take this to seriously, relax, chill out, have a cigarette, in fact buy a pack of 20, ..... kerrching that\'s another few quid in the treasury.

[mark]

...totally non smoking restaurants and pubs are as rare as chicken teeth. .

the economics of that tell us that we might not be that big a minority!

[alan]

Could\'nt get my head round this..................
I was in the Metro Centre the other day and its a none smoking complex now,what I could\'nt understand is you are allowed to smoke in the open plan cafe that runs up the middle of the walkways,thought it was a one off until I walked back the same way and quite a few people were having a smoke,I also heard you are allowed to smoke at the in store cafe\'s not sure which ones though............

[michaeldevlin]

totally agree with chris hughes , as for the comment why should smokers always have to move , well it is them that is polluting the air . although a non smoker my self , my mother had a third of a lung out last year caused by smoking thankfully she is ok at the moment . why do you do this to yourselves and others ?

[gag1]

Its called freedom of choice Michael. I choose to smoke,other people dont. It doesnt give non-smokers more rights than I have.

cheers.
gag1

[bribones]

chris lol im chilled this is a debate is it not ?re hitler i meant just that his ideas about controling the world are similar to el tonys new ideas (dictator)

one point your all missing here is that if they do ban smoking and put prices up is the rise in crime related imports and illigal trade also the extra strain on sources policing this thing the law has much better things to do than arresting some poor bloke standing at the bus stop/factory gate having a cig ,,devlin my point about the smoker having to move is a valid one as a smoker has the same rights as a non smoker its about choice not wether its right or wrong as mark pointed out what next alcahol ?then where people with ginger hair lol ,i might be in favour of that one lmao,like tony says the people deciding on this are sitting on there butts chewing a nice fat cigar

[Edited on 3/12/2004 by bribones]

[mark]

Ok we are an easy target. But as for air pollution....do you drive a car?? who puts more pollution out car drivers or smokers. who his more to blame for the Asthma epidemic, smokers of car drivers.

when it comes to noxious carcinogens, your average car exhaust spews out more carcinogenic material than smokers ever will. We are an easy target and no-one has really looked at all the other reasons why cancer is so prevalent, the air we breathe is fully loaded with nasties, but smokers bear the brunt of the blame.

We live out in the wilds, so fresh air is more plentiful, luckily, and there has been a similar debate with parents at school. I will often have a fag as I walk down to school to pick the bairns up, and in that debate down there was lambasted for smoking but someone who drives a big gas guzzling 4x4 to pick their kids up when they live only a quarter of a mile from the school