Smoking Ban: First Weekend Reactions

[SunDeck]

Oh well I don't smoke anyway, so it doesn't really effect me one way or another. I just don't like the idea of the government forcing business owners to do something because the business owners that wanted it were afraid to do it on their own. And I probably shouldn't take this any further on this website for I don't want to risk breaking the rules.

It doesn't matter if you don't smoke, this does effect you. Especially when you consider that the lower the income and education level, the lower the likelihood of a person having health insurance...and the higher the likelihood of them being a smoker. I pay health insurance premiums, rather high ones, to subsidize the costs of those smokers who end up in the hospital with illnesses related to smoking.

So, while I am also uncomfortable with government forcing the issue, I can see the public good in a smoking ban. The spillover costs of all that smoking are coming right out of my pocket.

[flyer85]

It doesn't matter if you don't smoke, this does effect you. Especially when you consider that the lower the income and education level, the lower the likelihood of a person having health insurance...and the higher the likelihood of them being a smoker. I pay health insurance premiums, rather high ones, to subsidize the costs of those smokers who end up in the hospital with illnesses related to smoking.

Then isn't the answer to make smoking of tobacco illegal?

[zombielady]

I don't get it... I haven't been to a restaurant in Ohio that allowed smoking in YEARS... But now, more families are going to restaurants because of the smoking ban in bars? That doesn't make sense to me. People need to get out more, and develop a world view on their own, instead of letting CNN and the Nightly News develop it for them....

[zombielady]

I pay health insurance premiums, rather high ones, to subsidize the costs of those smokers who end up in the hospital with illnesses related to smoking.

No, you are paying rather high health insurance premiums because that's how insurance companies make their money...

[SunDeck]

Then isn't the answer to make smoking of tobacco illegal?

Communist!

Seriously, I think smoking kills people. But it's also a huge, huge business and it has a long history in this country...and in humankind. Banning it won't work, just like it doesn't prevent people from smoking weed. I'd rather tax the heck out of it to pay for the spillover in the hope that we become collectively wiser over time (and that it will just fade away eventually).
And of course, there is the Asian market for RJR, so it probably won't hurt business here.

[zombie-a-go-go]

Then isn't the answer to make smoking of tobacco illegal?

Never happen thanks to sin tax income and the power of the tobacco lobby.

[zombie-a-go-go]

Okay so the restaurant owners that want the ban don't want the smokers smoking in there building but they do want their business. It's not fair if that smoker can go to a restaurant that allows smoking and spend his money. But when it comes down to it that restaurant owner is going to choose the money over clean air. So they get the government to force the other restaurants to do what they wouldn't even do themselves on their own.

So now you've got restaurants collecting money to pay the smoking fines. Why couldn't the restaurant owners who wanted the ban collect money to pay for the loss of business from smokers going to other restaurants? Wouldn't clean air be worth it to the non-smoking patrons?

Oh well I don't smoke anyway, so it doesn't really effect me one way or another. I just don't like the idea of the government forcing business owners to do something because the business owners that wanted it were afraid to do it on their own. And I probably shouldn't take this any further on this website for I don't want to risk breaking the rules.

I guess the Invisible Hand has failed us again, eh?

[registerthis]

Glad to see a law was passed so you wouldn't get your favorite clothes dirty.

yep.

And the air is cleaner, my eyes don't water, my nose doesn't run, my sinuses don't become congested, and my hair and clothes don't reek.

And the only price to pay was that the smokers have to take their cancer sticks outside?

Cry me a river.

[OldRightHander]

What do you go to a restaurant for anyway, to eat or smoke? My mother complained vehemently about the ban and I asked her that question. Maybe it's because I don't smoke, but I never understook why people absolutely must have that cigarette at the restaurant table. Don't they have enough self control to just do without one for that few minutes before the meal arrives?

[SunDeck]

Don't they have enough self control to just do without one for that few minutes before the meal arrives?

In a word, no.
My wife hasn't smoked for nearly twenty years and she says the urge to smoke after a meal can still be nearly unbearable.

[Matt700wlw]

I haven's smoked a cigarette in over 2 months....as against the ban as I still am (based on the principle of it), I have to admit....it's kind of nice. The bar I usually hang out at has been non-smoking since the end of February, which is when I quit, and that has helped me.

However, I have been to other bars, in which smoking was still allowed...

Now I think they flat out stink....(the smoke, not the bars)

[pedro]

I can't wait for Portland to enact a smoking ban.

[Sea Ray]

I love it. Take the simplest example that probably everyone on this board has done: a meal at Frisch's. Due to their target market, they could never ban smoking as a company policy but they weren't equipped to deal with it either. There are no barriers to separate the smokering area from the non smoking area and actually it was hard to tell the difference. There are generally a lot of kids eating there as well. Taking smoking out of that setting greatly improves an otherwise unworkable situation.

[Ltlabner]

yep.

And the air is cleaner, my eyes don't water, my nose doesn't run, my sinuses don't become congested, and my hair and clothes don't reek.

And the only price to pay was that the smokers have to take their cancer sticks outside?

Cry me a river.

Hey, as long as you are happy and taken care of.

[SunDeck]

I can't wait for Portland to enact a smoking ban.

Portland doesn't have a smoking ban? Color me totally surprised by that.