Smoking vent

[deeaa*]

I dunno how many of you smoke...I don't, at the moment, but have and certainly will be smoking again soone or later. The very least when I'm at retirement age and kids left home, I'll certainly be smoking and drinking as much as I can handle.

Really annoying these new ever-escalating bans on smoking in various places. The newest is it's forbidden to smoke in cars unless all occupants are full age and consenting. OK, that makes sense, who would smoke in a car with kids inside, but still, why pass a rule on such a petty thing? Next thing I know, they'll be banning smoking in public places besides bars.

It's a double-edged sword; of course it's good to ban smoking in many a place, but it's an infrigment of my personal freedom if I'm told not to smoke somewhere, or anything else similar to that. If I want to smoke or walk around naked in town or get drunk or kill myself with whatever I choose it's nobodys business as long as I'm not dragging anybody else along. Sheesh!

Ok, enough venting...

[Trailer Park Casanova]

We don't smoke.
But I believe the bans started here in California.

We figured when the ban went into effect it'll trigger and open the door to other bans too.

Yep,, now it's illegal to sell or cook with certain frying oils.

Candy and some foods are banned from school, and certain fried food is banned too.
Our kids are no longer allowed to bring any snacks to school, this is a school law now for fear they may bring banned food.

It's going to keep going, more things will be banned and like most social cancers, it starts right here in Calif and spreads around the world.

It think what is also banned is political talk in the Fret forum.. so I digress.

[Kazz]

Personally I like the ban on smoking in restaurants.....even when I did smoke...I didnt want to smell smoke when I was eating.

[Kodiak3D]

It's a narrow line between protecting the health of others and crushing the personal freedoms of those who do smoke. I don't smoke, but I believe in your right to do so.

[deeaa*]

Personally I like the ban on smoking in restaurants.....even when I did smoke...I didnt want to smell smoke when I was eating.

Yeah, sure, me too...they have these glass/whatever 'boxes' for like 8-10 people max, or separate rooms, for those who want to smoke. Most often smoking on the terrace is allowed, if they didn't want to build those smoking booths inside.

But that's a far cry from banning smoking in your own car...on the city streets...etc.

But yeah I guess it's getting into politics. It is however not entirely off topic, as at least for my kind of music basically all the gigs take place in bars. And also there it's a double-edge whether it's a good thing or not to have these bans...at least in many bars it's damned difficult to get people inside to listen, then, everybody's on the terrace which is packed ultra-full and it's all dead inside where you can't smoke...

[sumitomo]

I smoked for 32 years,stopped here and there,but knew I would more than likely always smoke.Three years ago a tumor was found on my right kidney,it was removed (no cancer) but it is common for smokers to develop tumors in kidneys,lungs,livers ect as these are filters.I havent smoked in three years (miracle) and feel better than when I was thirty.I'm not against smoking but I will say think it through.Sumi

[Monkus]

I'm on a plan to stop smoking. I've realised its a terrible addiction and I need to stop. While I've always been an occasional smoker, I always feel better when I dont. Things taste, smell and look better. I passed through the airport in Kingston Jamaica recently, and felt the need for a cig. There is this horrible glass box in the middle of the airport that smells awful, so I didn't. I also believe in my right to smoke. The rebel in me cringes at those who tell me I cant in the privacy of my own home, that's where its getting to, not here in the Caribbean but at my apt in Houston, I can't smoke while the service ladies are cleaning the apt. In some places, cigarettes are banned but you can smoke cigars...go figure.

[bigG]

Here's my 2 cents:

This is how "smart" I am! I quit for 10 years (1994 - 2004)...and started again! I know why I started again, it was my choice, and I make no excuses. I currently have no plans of quitting again, but, I know that should I decide to, I can do it. I know exactly how I did it in 1994, and I know it will work for me again, if I so choose.

I never smoke when I'm away from my apartment (which is rare anyway, due to my anxiety disorder), so I don't infringe on anyone's "rights". I'm a "self-contained" smoker! : flick my Bic...baby!

[sunvalleylaw]

Tough one. I am not at all in favor of smoking, and feel intruded upon when someone is smoking anywhere near a door I need to go through, etc. My Dad always explained the balance between individual rights and the rights of others as follows: "A person's right to swing his fist ends at the other person's face". That sort of analysis used to be pretty straight forward when we did not know as much about how interconnected things are, and how seemingly passive type side effects of an action can affect others. It is a tougher question now. My Dad (who is a judge) also used to say, the more people there are and the closer they are together/more often they interact, the more law you need (to govern those interactions). When I was a kid, one of the ladies that drove us to school as part of our car pool used to fill up that Cadillac with kids, and light up her Benson and Hedges 100 and stink the whole place up. Maybe there shouldn't have to be a law, but . . .

This conversation could get into political lines very quickly. I have tried to keep my thoughts more philosophical about regulation of rights and an example. Please lets stay civil and away from politics as much as possible so we can have this conversation.

[Ro3b]

Eh. I love a good cigar every now and then, but I don't really miss being able to light up in every bar and restaurant. It's become more of a solitary pleasure, usually with my third cup of coffee and the Sunday paper, or maybe during a long meditative walk. If I really want to smoke around others, there are still enough cigar bars around. I'd feel differently if I were addicted, of course.

[deeaa*]

I smoked starting around 14 years of age until about 20, when I first quit it for a year or so. I had been into two packs a day, felt it was too much. Then I again smoked until 25 or so, again quit for a year...but I smoked less.

Then I smoked - not terribly much but daily - until I was almost 35, after which I've smoked only when I'm not home during day, i.e. occasionally on lunch, evening outings, bbq, whatever...and evening when all the others are asleep.

But now I've quit entirely for a while.

[deeaa*]

And yeah...I know of the cancer scare etc...but...

The thing is I know four people with cancer, and none have ever smoked.
My granddad has smoked since he was eighteen - and like a chimney too - and he's still kicking at 90. Sure, his lungs are shot but he also worked for the railroad with carbolic tar that is known to destroy lungs. But still alive!

My other granddad lived till 95 and he'd smoked from his twenties to his sixties.

Then also...I lost my closest childhood friend in a motorcycle accident when he was 28. The guy next door, sportsman, very fit and never smoked or drank - just keeled over dead when mowing his lawn, just over 30.

My point is...sure, I know smoking is bad, but then again, there's so many other things that can kill you anyhow. And I for sure don't want to live to be too old. I'm only 38 so I have lots to look forward to, but...well my parents are 70 and it's beginning to look like living for them is more suffering than enjoying it...it's hard to watch.

I've seen how it is, living, when you get too old...it's just not worth it I think. I just wish I have enough strength in me to off myself before I get bedridden or too weak to enjoy simple things in life. I've seen too many of my relatives or other old people just get crazy with dementia or otherwise bedridden, and still live for years and years, getting more and more angry and depressed...that's terrible. That's why, when I get old, I plan to start drinking and smoking heavily and go try to sail over the Atlantic on a small sailboat alone and do stuff like that...either enjoy it to the max or die trying.

I sure don't want to die in a hospital bed. And since I don't believe in any gods or supernatural things, I don't mind dying either, if the alternative is a sad existence for the sake of existence.

Dang, did I just add religion to the thread already verging on being banned for political content, LOL...forget about that last part. It's just a statement I don't care either way what people choose to believe in or don't.

[hubberjub***]

Laws like the one about smoking in cars with children aren't meant for rational human beings. It doesn't take a lot of common sense to figure that one out but we've all seen people smoking in a car full of children with the windows rolled up. These laws are put into place for idiots such as that.

[sumitomo]

[QUOTE=hubberjub]Laws like the one about smoking in cars with children aren't meant for rational human beings.

This brought back a memory,I work on cars and freon costs,so some flight by night companies have made some after market freon with butane/hexane ect.and you guessed it kaboom! LOL! Sumi

[wingsdad]

The prophecy of Orwell is coming to be: Big Brother's watching.

End political statement, lest risking banishment from home.

[peachhead***]

It's a narrow line between protecting the health of others and crushing the personal freedoms of those who do smoke. I don't smoke, but I believe in your right to do so.

Yep.
I don't smoke but have been known to enjoy some copenhagen now and again. So, if you don't blow your smoke in my face, I won't spit on your shoes. Deal?

Seriously, it reminds me of seat belts. Sure, I believe in seat belts; I wear mine religiously, but why is it necessary to make it against the law not to wear it? In a public place, ok, maybe it's in the public interest to regulate smoking. But in my own car?

Pooh on California anyways.

[wingsdad]

Pooh on California anyways.

Hey...I'm her in Cali since 92 and I can't believe there's so many lawyers per capita.:

Favorite bumper sticker here: 'Hit Me. I need the Money."

[piebaldpython***]

I don't smoke, drink, etc. Never smoked and stopped drinking after I downed a 6-pack of Colt Malt Liquor (I'm white btw ) and tossed my tuna casserole dinner all over a park when I was 19.

That said....if you wanna smoke, drink, whatever, go right ahead.....so long as it doesn't interfere with anyone's right to not have to suffer any consequences from what you're doing.

As to seatbelts and helmets while on a motorcycle.......go right on ahead......but if you're in an accident and you didn't have it on......then that FACT alone should severely cut into what you can recover. And I'll leave it like that without any further comment. :

[deeaa*]

I don't smoke, drink, etc. Never smoked and stopped drinking after I downed a 6-pack of Colt Malt Liquor (I'm white btw ) and tossed my tuna casserole dinner all over a park when I was 19.

That said....if you wanna smoke, drink, whatever, go right ahead.....so long as it doesn't interfere with anyone's right to not have to suffer any consequences from what you're doing.

As to seatbelts and helmets while on a motorcycle.......go right on ahead......but if you're in an accident and you didn't have it on......then that FACT alone should severely cut into what you can recover. And I'll leave it like that without any further comment. :

Seatbelts, helmets, yeah...I even wear a helmet when bicycling and I make sure everyone in my car always wears 'em. A motorcycle I'd never drive and I've said I'd buy my son a damned AK-47 rather than a moped or anything motorized 2-wheel. Seen so many bad accidents on 'em.

Drinking...if I got a dollar for every time I've tossed my cookies or suffered horrible pains due to drinking I'd have a nice stash of money by now...but it's worth it. Been jailed due to passing out cold in town when too drunk and woken up in very strange places, taken to hospital for having drunk too much and hurt myself, banged my head open or something...but hell, it's worth it. It's no nice being properly pissed now and then :-) and you amass all these warning stories to tell to yer students at school - don't do it like the teacher's dunnit, kids!

These days it only happens maybe once a month that I get any more drunk than maybe like 4-5 beers...but still, sometimes it's good to just drink for a few days straight with friends like there's no tomorrow.