Smoking Laws

Your personal opinion. Are laws too strict or too relaxed involving smoking.
Such as, no smoking in restaurants, desigated smoking areas, things like that.

 

I think I can safely say that the smoking laws in California are just perfect. It's strict and just as flexible for the smokers. What's even better is that most people obey these laws--perhaps because they know better than to smoke in restricted areas due to the fines--and it's rather rare that these laws are broken. I think I only see one person breaking these laws in a ten year period. =]

 

I wish they were strict here, I hate dying from over peoples habits. It's only against the law to smoke in public places, doesn't mean they can't smoke near the place.​

 

Personally, I wish they were enforced where I live. I mean, we're not supposed to smoke within like 50 feet of college building entrances, yet I see it all the time, even with cops right next to them. I don't feel like getting lung cancer because someone else is getting away with breaking the law.

Now if I had my way, no one would be smoking anyway, but that's just me. I mean, it has no long-term benefit whatsoever, is incredibly expensive after a few years, and causes addiction and death. How is it good?

 

They're not strict enough here. We have laws and signs posted that say not to smoke within 30 feet of some of the college buildings, and people will light up right by the doors. What's sad is one of the buildings had a child development lab, so parents and their preschoolers get to puff the stuff on their way in.

One of the parents wrote an angry letter that I happily published in the school paper, but it didn't seem to do anything.

 

It's kinda annoying when a guy blows smoke like at a bus station here.

They should enforce that rule a lot more here, as well as the rule of not littering cigarettes as well.

 

Definitely. You can't walk down any street in America without seeing at least 100 cigarette butts. Frankly, it's disgusting. Technically, it's still littering, and you can get fined I think up to $500+ (where I live, anyways), but when even the cops do it, you know it's getting out of hand. I mean, my god, that's what they invented trash cans and ashtrays for, people! /rant

 

I think that no matter how much we enforce said laws, people are still going to break them. I see people smoking all the time and then just throw the butts on the ground. Littering is a good way to get fined. Plus, all smoking does is slowly kill you. I don't understand how inhaling death can relax someone.

 

In illinois you can't smoke within 3 yards of a business or public building or you can get fined. Most bars can't have smokers either if I remember correctly. So the government well at least the illinois is going mad with power

people need to quit being hypocondriacs and stay out of smoker's business. Smokers ahve to smoke illegally in bars now just so bars can have good business

 

I have an extreme dislike for smoking in general, I find it repulsive. I've been subjected to secondhand smoke from my father and have gotten sick from it, and I have no pity for people who are craving a cigarette. I normally like to adhere to the "to each one's own" policy, but smoking is one thing I just can't tolerate. I don't think people should be allowed to smoke in restaurants, which thankfully is illegal in New York state. Basically I don't find smoking acceptable at all, especially in areas with other people.

The cigarette butts are a problem too, littering is disgusting in general but add smoking to that and it's one of the most despicable things in my opinion.

 

well it would be nice if i could smoke in the club or a restaurant when i want to, but i can understand the laws and why they are the way they are. so yeah... :D

 

I'm content with the laws, because I hate the smell of smoke/what secondhand smoke can do to you. If you're planning on destroying your body with your addiction, fine, but don't drag others along with you.

 

The only thing I disagree on is not letting owners of places decide if they allow smoking or not, such as in bars and specialized restaurants. I can understand why not in a majority of restaurants and don't really care, but I think the right to have a 'smoking' bar versus a 'not smoking' bar should be up to the owners and that's the way it goes. In New York, they took out smoking from all bars and I think it's ridiculous, as instead the owners should have the right to say what their stance is on smoking and the other people should just deal. It's a business meant for entertainment and the owners can decide everything else but that apparently. Now smokers go out onto the streets and then nonsmokers gripe at them for also smoking on the sidewalks because it's dirtying up the air blah blah.

I don't like smoking, but the point to me is that if an owner of a bar smokes or doesn't care, and the workers don't care or smoke, then I don't see why the patrons who go can't either and it should just be labeled as a 'smoking' bar. Then nonsmokers can decide whether they go or not. On the same note that it's rude to smoke in a restaurant or public area where 'nonsmokers' are prevalent and kids are around, I think it's rude of non-smokers to go to smoking areas and tell those people to stop it because the nonsmokers want to lurk there. Other than that though, I think the smoking rules are fine here in New York and going to restaurants and public places is nicer now.

 

I don't really care for smoking laws now.
I've been smoking since the second semester of my sophomore year and I"m a freshman in college now. I wasn't a full on smoker, I could smoke a cigarette pretty quick, but I wasn't as addicted as other people. I could go weeks without a hit, my friends were amazed that I could make one pack last around a month. I grew up with cigarette smoke. If I had lung cancer, it'd probably be thanks more to the secondhand smoke than the actual firsthand smoke. But it never really bothered me. But I decided to quit last week, gave my last pack to my roommate. Now my only problem is, that it smells so much worse now. I don't remember it smelling this bad, but when I leave my dorm and pass the smoking area, I gag. I've started holding my breath when I pass someone with a cigarette. My roommate quit doing pills, so now he's smoking more cigarettes, which doesn't fare well for my nose.

Even though I do believe cigarettes should be illegalized, I'd think it'd be better if they had the same laws as the alcohol laws. Do it in the privacy of your home. Restaraunts and bars can decide whether to allow it or not, etc.

 

Smoking is horrible. But the government will never get rid of it entirely because they make money from smoking tax. The benefit of making the money from the taxes is more than the costs of eliminating the use of tabaco, and if it is outlawed there will be black market trading so the tabaco addicts can get their fix. Tabaco is worse than Marajuiana in terms of fatlaities in percentages. Yet as long as some government members are too corrrupt to truly fix this problem - they allow it to continue.:sideways::B|::unsure:

 

The current laws are too strict, I agree with the others that say business owners should be allowed to make their own rules on smoking, since it affects deeply the revenue of most restraunts. Pubs in th UK are now only allowed to let people smoke in outside open areas, and its so depressing to see 40 year old guys, with pints, in the rain desperately trying to light one cigarette while their friends out of the rain make jokes.

 

I'm all for freedom and rights, but not when it impinges on others' rights. If I walk down the street, I don't want to have cigarette smoke in my face. If I go into town, the gutters are littered with butts. Smokers are killing themselves, but also degrading the environment for others. They should be stopped for their own good and for the good of society.

If cigarettes were to be introduced now with all their cons, they would be made illegal in a week. It is because the cigarette companies are so big that we cannot get rid of them now. Also, they are integrated into society. The government is doing its best to change the public perception of smoking to a negative one, so that smoking can be annihilated that way. It's a valiant effort to make.

You can look at a 40-year-old man trying to light up in the rain and feel sorry for him because the government has forced him into the rain. I look at him and feel sorry for him because he's driven by his addiction, having to get a hit even if it means getting soaked. That's what the government is fighting against.