There’s a bit of a discussion happening on one of the forums I frequent about smokers and the changes in laws relating to smoking in public places.
A smoker made the following statement …
Well I almost abandoned this thread a couple of pages ago –the shrill voice of the high moral ground was deafening! but hey as a smoker I had to say something– all the stuff about how much the smokers cost the community-
Been very quiet about how much boozers cost the community havnt we!
Smokers dont drive up the wrong side of the freeway and wipe out innocent people because they have had a few too many fags–they dont get involved in brawls and general destructive behaviour because they’ve been smoking
all day -and how about the health effects of years of grog? and as for
smell…well there is nothing-nothing -to beat the stench of a bar, the stink of someone reeking of booze, the smell of last nights boozeup in a room,not to mention the cute way party animals tend to trash their accomodation
and dump the patio funiture in the pool while they’re off their faces,
So while we are into lack of tolerance how about a vote for the Health
We Will Save You From Yourselves people to ban public drinking as well!!!
Why single out the smokers to be the objects of hatred and portrayed as
spawn of Satan or whatever, if we ban smokers lets be fair and ban drinkers..
This argument really annoys me. My response…
While I agree that drinking it much more accepted than it probably should be, there’s a simple problem that smokers using your argument always skip over.
I have never had someone drinking outdoors at a cafe cause me discomfort or pain.
I have often had someone smoking outdoors at a cafe cause me discomfort and pain.
Yes, people drink and drive – and yes, it is a bad thing – but it does not affect me every day like smokers do.
I can’t catch a train, I can’t sit outside at the local food court and eat lunch, I can’t enjoy a cafe, I can’t sit in a pub, I can’t go to a sporting match, I can’t even walk down the street without someone causing me to cough and splutter by their putrid cigarette smoke invading my personal space. You almost never get the same problem with alcohol (I know it can happen, but it usually doesn’t).
So don’t try and cry foul … smoking is a disgusting habit that causes grief to everyone around the smoker, and does so far more frequently and broadly than people abusing alcohol do.
Feel free to enjoy your cigarettes alone, well away from me, but don’t you dare bring them anywhere near where I’ll have to endure them, and that includes quite a distance downwind.
Either quit, or don’t smoke in public.
… some comments about hotels were made, and I followed up with the following post:
This last week I was staying at the Hilton in Adelaide (not my choice – it’s currently the only hotel we’re allowed to stay in while there for work) … I got back to the room after dinner on Tuesday night to find that the people across the hall (foreign tourists I think) were not only smoking very heavily, but they had opened their door to air the room out a bit.
The whole hallway was filled with smoke – quite hazy, and of course, my room stank too. This was a non-smoking floor, so it really annoyed me.
I called the duty manager, who was quite quick to come up and insist they stop smoking, he offered to move them to a smoking floor (they declined, but promised to stop). They did offer to move me to another room too, but it was late, I was tired, and I really wasn’t up to moving, so I just had to put up with it.
The number of times I’ve had to put up with smokers at hotels – the stench stays long after they’ve gone.
Funnily enough, I don’t tend to ever notice a stench of alcohol anywhere, even though many people drink heavily in their hotel rooms. It’s really not the same.
I have no problems with smokers who truely are thoughtful of those around them – who go to the trouble of ensuring they don’t smoke near others – I respect that. However, in general I find a lot of smokers to be arrogant and quite thoughtless about who their habits affect – and then they have the gall to complain about vilification.
In summary – I don’t care if people smoke … but don’t you dare smoke anywhere where I have to deal with your exhaust or your stench !!. I’m really sick of having to put up with this invasion on my privacy and the indignation of smokers who perpetrate such acts.
Well, I can understand your dislike for cigarette smoke, but I believe that banning the entire thing is a bit too extreme. Certainly there are pricks out there who will smoke right next to somebody, but there are also other reserved individuals who smokes alone, or with some buddies to relieve stress.
Of course, the people who smoked in a non-smoking hotel floor was at fault, and they are ignorant pricks for doing so, however, I don’t believe smoking while walking down a sidewalk is that severe an action. A sidewalk is public, and it is certainly a legal place to smoke. We smoke on the sidewalks because most of us follow the law and NOT smoke in a smoking prohibited area. To us, it’s the same thing as walking down the street while listening to music.
If you dislike the smoke SO much, you can always either walk pass the smoker to avoid the smoke, or stay further behind them. None of us are begging you to inhale our second hand, and what I’ve suggested is certainly a viable and easy solution to your problems.
Lastly, banning tobacco is NEVER going to happen. The tax revenue from smokers buying cigarettes is enormous, and the government will never cut it.
Now alcohol, as you so stubbornly try to protect, is a contributor to domestic violence, public brawls, and car accidents. Certainly it won’t bother YOU as an individual, but it is still very harmful towards the rest of the community. You can defend it all you like, but the facts are there, drinking can destroy people, hurt the people around them.
I have to agree All Partys in the world are wrong and right,
Smoking dose affect people with Cancer, Heart Desies and dose affect the air arround people but only indors smoking lets off 5.5 Grams of CO2 Per Cig that dissapates in a matter of Seconds outside and most contrys for your to smock out side now,
Then Car’s Bus’es Trains and taxis all emit large amounts of CO2 to the state it take close to 30 seconds for it to disapate
Alachol Hrm so not only do we have a drink driver we have poisen, braws(Police costing Taxes), Murders, Stabings, Rapes, Vandalisum, Sickness and Cancers(multi) oo and Smokers out side all the bars
All of these items are hevily Taxes Why do you think the governments like to look like there doing some thing but not acutly do some ting in the UK Smockers Cost £3 Bil yet give £8 Bil to NHS get they compailn about the cost notice they say smockers in sted of smocking causes ilnesses
Cars Kill more then smocking dose but they dont make it iliegal to go less then 2 miles in a car and Will People Please stop saying Smocking killed my ect when they die of Lung Cancer Sorry but Cancer is the smae thing Dead Cells not rotting down in the body that would happen if we had nothing that creates CO2 it just a way of our bodys not being able to cope with the age we are living to and the damage we put on to our bodys
I am a smocker and a Drinker and Driver yet i have pointed out every thing from all sides
“I have never had someone drinking outdoors at a cafe cause me discomfort or pain.
I have often had someone smoking outdoors at a cafe cause me discomfort and pain.” quoted someone in responese to a smoker.
i dont smoke, and i drink once or twice a week and binge evry fortnight or less. i think its a bit narrow minded to say tht smoking in public causes discomfort to you / people everyday at nearly every cafe etc…
but come on, everyday people are affectd by the drink. and im not talking about how they hve to move away frm a smoker , im talking about drunks causeing ‘their own discmofort’ to others i.e killing them in car crashes, brwals, destruction and all tht b/s drunks cause everyday. its a simple fact drinking casues more death thn smoking.
so you think tht public smoking should be banned because you cant sit outside at ur cafe or w/e when someone smokes and yet u find it acceptable for people to drink and get wasted and casue ‘discomfort’ on a far far greatr scale.
sure smoking is prety disgusting to some, but nice to others. but i think we all agree tht drunken losers who accout fot thousands of deaths each year and millions of dollars in destruction of property and people causes a little bit more ‘discomfort’
I believe that drinking is worse than smoking. I HAVE had someone drinking outdoors at a cafe cause me discomfort. YES drink driving effects me because I have been hit and hurt by a drunk driver!
The stench of smoke is not as bad a the foul odour of alcohol…it gives me creeps!
Intoxicated people do not have a control over their behaviour and tend to be irrational and nonsensical. Drinking can take away your morals and make you a monster. They become more aggressive, promiscuous and violent; the beast in a drunkard is let loose! People dont have control over themselves to stop drinking at a safe limit. Most of the crimes, especially at night are related to alcohol- drunk people commit crimes. I have seen men offering beer to their 12 and 13 year old kids…disgusting!
Smokers are way less destructive than drinkers. Not that smoking is good but it is nothing as bad compared to drinking!!!
smoking & drinking. a lot to say on both subjects. to say that drinking & driving “does not affect me every day like smokers do” is pretty funny because you’re actually affected by both. i understand people’s discust over smokers, and drunk drivers. does everyone realize that both groups of these people spew toxins into our lungs every day of every year? i don’t want to single out just smokers and drunk drivers. anyone who drives a car is guilty of filling our lungs with toxins. next time you’re walking down the street, sitting at a sidewalk cafe, or behind the well of a car, take note of how much exhaust is expelled from smokers and the many cars around you.
basically. if we’re going to place blame on people for making us uncomfortable in anyway.. let’s not forget to point our fingers at all guilty parties.