Question about smoking regulations where you live

DaisyFace

Love me...Love me not
The day I will give up my rights to do something legal like smoke cigs or drink soft drinks or eat fast food in my car or house, is the day the government decides to buy my car or house for me.

Uh-Oh....that day may be nearly here!

Remember "Cash for Clunkers" and $8000 toward the purchase of a house?
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Well when I can find a house for 8K I will let you know. Oh, does that 8k apply to a used mobile home? Will they give that to us in advance? If so, darned...we could use that to go get Cory a darned fine mobile! I could use that to fix mine up and will agree to stop smoking in it! But I need cash upfront because I dont have any taxes to get back.
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
Twenty years ago, NY did not ban smoking in hospitals. My H's friend's aunt was in an oxygen tent and some idiot smuggled cigs in for her and she blew up - literally! At the wake, people actual said "she never looked better" after all the plastic surg needed to have an open casket.

When I first began working (1983), you could smoke anywhere. My first job out of school was at 2 World Trade Center and one woman smoked next to me even after I asked her to go somewhere else until I "accidentally" knocked the ashtray onto her seat and "accidentally" rubbed the ashes into her jacket sitting on the chair. She never spoke to me again but she also went elsewhere to smoke. She complained to my boss but he sided with me. At my next job, I had a private office with a door. People smoked in the common areas and in private offices but never in mine. Eventually, smoking was banned in public areas and one woman was fired after she continually went into my office to smoke (the rule was that people with cubicles could use private offices IF that office belonged to a smoker. This woman didn't want to walk down the hall to a smoker's room and I got fed up.) Next, smoking was banned in private offices so they moved into the stairwells. At this point, in Manhattan, you have to hold your breath as you approach an office building you plan to enter because the smokers are huddled in the doorways. There is also no smoking in bars or restaurants. I used to not be able to take my kids out to eat so for me, a smoking ban is good.

As for my house and car, it's not allowed. Actually, as I've gotten older, I've found that I have fewer and fewer friends who smoke. H's cousin, who's in a wheelchair, lived with us for many years. When he first moved in, he smoked and it was winter. We made him go outside to smoke. He eventually quit.

Mattsmom - I am NOT trying to be snarky, but I know someone who smoked with MS and she said her doctor told her to quit because it could aggravate her symptoms. I don't know if that's true or if her doctor just said it to give her some motivation to quit.
 
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DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I still cant figure out why or how they banned smoking in bars. Alcohol and smoking go together like Peanut butter and jelly. I wont go in a bar anymore...and I dont drink! I would go in with people, have a virgin cocktail and socialize because I could smoke...lol. Now we cant even have private membership clubs that allow smoking which I think is absolutely communist. If a group of people want to go in together and pay to belong to a club that is private for smokers and those that support them, why should we not be allowed to do so? There is something inherently unamerican about that.
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
Janet -

I don't necessarily disagree with you about bars. I used to go in with friends who smoked. They used to have smoking and no-smoking sections and it didn't bother me because I felt it was fair to both groups. It's all consenting adults. I've never smoked so I don''t get the attraction. I don't have a problem with people who do but my H has asthma and I don't want it around him.

It's much nicer, though, to be able to take my kids to a smoke free restaurant. I don't want them exposed to it because of the weak lungs on H's side.
 

1905

Well-Known Member
I'm not a smoker, but husband is and smoking doesn't bother me. I am bothered that smokers aren't allowed to smoke on the beach. That's outside, why is that "illegal"? I work in a school and people who smoke aren't allowed to smoke IN THIER CARS! That doesn't make sense to me. About a week ago, a man who worked near here in Atlantic City, sued the casino and blamed his lung cancer on the casino and won millions. That's not right, he knew the working conditions.
Nobody can smoke in casinos anymore- as of about 2 years ago. Nobody can smoke in bars either in NJ.

It's not even the smoking that bothers me, it's fact that people can't even smoke outside that is disturbing. What's next?
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
There used to be ashtrays on the checkout counters so that people could set down their smokes while they were writing a check for their groceries. Honestly, I don't miss it. What I do think is absurd is that the apartment complex down the block from me doesn't allow people to smoke in their apartments. So they stand out on the street smoking. They look like caw caw, and they leave their butts all over the place. Oh, and dragging the baby out onto the sidewalk in a rainstorm/heatwave to have a smoke is not the way to be, people.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
Well... seeing as how Duckie's asthma reacts to smoke I'm glad that public buildings, stores and restaurants are now smoke-free. But I don't care if others choose to smoke in their cars and homes as long as it doesn't have a negative impact on my family.
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
Several years ago, I stopped carpooling with one mom because she smoked in her car while driving my kids. I did not feel I had any right to ask her to stop as it was her car but I did not want to expose my kids to it and have them come home to their asthmatic dad with smoke all over them (she was a chain smoker). When she asked me why I stopped calling her to drive my kids, although I still drove hers, I told her the truth. Unfortunately, she was unable to stop smoking and my daughter eventually stopped going to her house because the smell bothered her.

I think it's ridiculous that people can't smoke in their own homes or cars. I have the right to ban smoking in my house and car and others should have the right to smoke and I have the choice not to ride in their car or visit their homes.

Public areas (except for bars) should be smoke free or have separate sections.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I was rather upset when restaurants went completely smoke free. I liked having smoking sections. I have adjusted to it though. I just dont hang out in a restaurant for long anymore. No more going out for a soda or coffee to talk.

I have to admit there were places I didnt understand their smoking sections because they were completely arbitrary. table here...table there...no actual barrier. That didnt seem right to me. Most places had actual walls.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
Here in Columbia - we aren't allowed like you to smoke on hospital grounds. Period. We aren't allowed to smoke in bars - which everyone said would kill business - it has not. We aren't allowed to smoke in public places.

The argument - Do you want someone/government regulating what you can do, or rather what is healthy for you - should it be your choice?

My thought - When you smoke, and then quit, like I did? The stink of my skin, clothes and others smoke became more and more nauseating to me. Each week, month, year I realized how awful I must have smelled and how badly I stunk. How my clothes, body and the smoke itself smelled to others.

Did I enjoy cigarettes when I smoked them? Duh - yes. Did I stop when I realized it killed my Father and DF's Father and I didn't want to scare my son and get lung cancer, heart attacks, emphysema and leave him alone in the world like he thought? Yes. Did I realize that I had to clean my house twice as much when I smoked? Wow - no. Was that a bonus? Yes. Did I want ANYONE telling me where and when I could smoke? (insert expletive - no). Did I respect THEIR wishes as a conscienceous person? Yes - you bet. Did it matter that I did because it still stuck to my clothes, my car, my hair - and my breath anyway even though I THOUGHT I was being kind? No. - I still stunk.

So - my last argument smoking in a car or place with children - NOT cool - for that and that alone - even with residuals? I think if THIS stops people - and is healthier for kids - then so be it.

Other than that my opposing view is - DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO - period. You regulate this - next thing you'll be telling me I can't have chocolate - and THAT is going to get you on my %Hit list.....Know what I mean??
 
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