One more freedom gone.

i want to be in on the kissing and making up.

i honestly think whoever is paying the rent/lease/owns the property of a building (depending on what kind of building it is, an aparment building would be different than a restuarant) should decide whether smoking can happen in it, and we should all respect that decision, whatever it is. and ALL of us, smokers, non smokers, whatever, should learn to be nicer. me included.

 

Hey while we fight about the rights of smokers we lose interest in the fact that the US drops dirty bombs that will cause more loss of life in a shorter period and affect the births of children not yet born then second hand smoke or abortion could ever accomplish. It's smoke and mirrors. If you are watching the left hand you never know what the right hand is doing.

 

We smokers have determined that non-smokers bitching is hazardous to our health!!!!!!:hysterica :spliff:

 

interesting read . we've had a no smoking ban in place in scotland that makes it an offence to smoke within any building. quite funny as everone can be found freezing whilst smoking outside in winter. just an aside

there's always going to be a balance between the individual's freedoms against the public good. all the arguments put forth are really about where to draw that line. in this instance however I think it's fair to institute such a ban especially given that it is the smokers who are the one's who are taking on the additional risk as well as exposing other's to risk from their behaviour. actually, I'd go as far as to argue that tobacco should be banned. what's the differene between someone who is suicidal and judged to be mentally incompetant and someone who is going to kill themself from smoking?

 

Oh, many things, for instance, you can be a smoker and live till you're 70,80 or 90.

If you're suicidal, you'll probably die within a year or so.

There's your main difference.

You have to research your family backround, people aren't equal, for instance, my family has a long line of borderline alcoholics and smokers who lived full long lives.

 

^ i agree.

nicotine is a terrible drug. it has been proven to be more addictive than heroin and is actually even harder to kick the habit. it kills hundreds of thousands of people every year and pollutes the earth with toxic air and dirty butts, which are called butts for a reason. ironically, it's omitted from the government's drug scheduling, along with alcohol.

i never like to see institutions taking away freedoms, but in my opinion, cigarette smoking is not a freedom nor is it a right, particularly when it comes to doing such behavior in a public setting (e.g. restaurants). the acrid smoke makes everything it comes into contact with smell horrible and it irritates the eyes, nose, and throat of many people.

i think it should be banned in all public places. but, then again, i'm not a smoker. people who are addicted to it will obviously defend their habit to the death--no pun intended. i have no problem with those people sucking away on their cancer sticks in the privacy of their own home. but i shouldn't have to go down with them.

peace.

 

Go smell some flowers hippie.

 

I'm pretty much for these bans. Ban it crowded places, too. I was in NYC today and the thing that pretty much shits all over my nerves is the people smoking. I don't give a shit that it's been a product for a long time. Should it be legal to walk down the street while mixing chemicals to create hazardous fumes? Fuck no.

Business have already lost their right to refuse service on the basis of race. Now they're losing their right to have their customers gas everyone with their cancer sticks. It's the same now as it was then. It's public accommodation.

As for things like trans fats, ban them as well. If you think only rational, aware people suffer at the expense of these poisons, you're wrong. You see poor people all over without adequate money to afford good food for them and their children. You see obesity rise in epidemic proportions. It's not worth it for the snob who has to pay a little more to put something other than poison in the food he produces.

 

Go back to your damn hippie circle.

I do however agree on banning trans fats, it's not good to be fat, that's why I make fun of fatties all the time, even my fat friends, who I have like, one of, LOL.

 

Myself? A hippie? LMAO. Hardly.

 

This is a right you mourn the loss of? I am puzzled why you even frequent the HipForums, why not be member of some red neck sons of the confederacy board?

 

Please go back and read what I wrote. Consider the context.

 

Okay fine, an " environmental activist " or whatever you people call yourselves. It's all the same hippie bs.

 

It wasn't on the basis of environment. I have a whole other rant against people who'd insist it's their right to do whatever the fuck they want with their "property" or with the environment. Whatever stupid, annoying insults you could come up with have no effect on my position. I don't care that my position isn't the easy and sexy one.

 

hahaha isn't this a, um... hippie forum? "hip forums". yeah. calling someone a hippie really isn't insulting here

smelling flowers is better than smelling fumes.

 

Well said. The part of OH near were I live (the South Point, Ironton area on the Ohio river) is so sparsely populated that crowding is harly ever an issue anywhere.

And the area is so devoid of business (because of exessive regulation) that the new ban will do nothing but shut down even more businesses and bring poverty to new heights in southern OH. It's already one of the poorest areas in the nation. And WV, right across the river, has the same problems. It's the poorest state in the whole country.

 

I still prefer to see Hip as in Cool, instead of Tree Huggers United.

P.S. You're living on the North American Continent are you not? You do realise that every breath you take is not always mountain fresh right?

 

Really, I thought Alabama was the bottom of the barrel. Times sure have changed.

 

it doesn't get much more "mountain fresh" than talkeetna, alaska, buddy . this is where people come to get to those fresh mountains. but yeah, i know nowhere is completely safe. you'd probably be surprised how fuckin' health-conscious i am, though. i take 23 vitamins a day, i fast, i eat as natural as i possibly can, i don't drink anything but water, soymilk, and juice... i try to keep my body as clean as possible. that's my choice and my freedom just like smoking is everyone's choice and freedom. but i don't shove vitamins down people's throats in public so i expect smokers to be polite at least... but whatever. doesn't really matter too much, this is really just debate for the sake of debate.

i got here from hippy.com, so, y'know...

 

The last I checked, WV was on the bottom and MS was close but just above it, but it's been a while (like a few months) since I've seen the any records like that.