What are your opinions on the smoking ban?

Are the govt. and non smokers going to pay the difference that these businesses are losing, because smokers don't go there anymore? No, they aren't. So there shouldn't be any ban until they do. Honest businesses shouldn't loss out because whine buckets refuse to stay home in their nice clean homes. No one to bother them there.

Smoking bans are good in certain places. Bans should not be forced on private businesses. Yes, smokers toss their butts. But since they have been forced outside without any ashtrays, where do you expect them to put them? Take smoking back inside where it belongs. Contained.

It is up to the free market to determine what they would like. Obviously, there are smokers and non-smokers and more or less based on region and other factors. If a restaurant wants to offer smoking, they should be allowed to offer smoking. If a bar wants to offer smoking, they should be allowed to offer smoking. If a patron does not want smoking, they should find an establishment that offers no smoking.

But what this really leads to is a bigger issue and that is hate. I have heard on many forums that non-smokers actually hate smokers. There are some people who have absolutely no business eating fast food whatsoever, but do I go and ban them from eating fast food? Nope. But Mississippi has tried to do that and I think it is absolutely wrong. The argument that we pay for the health of smokers is bust. I have to pay for the largely overweight. And I do it.

Banning is anti-American. We have talked about the worries of letting Obama in because as Palin loves to call him, he is a socialist. Unfortunately, what we need to be worrying about is Communism and that comes from bans. One ban, leads to another, leads to division, leads to hate, leads to unmentionable and unthinkable actions of one group against another.

Lets all just sit back and let the bannings happen. My theory is that within 30 years, you will also not be able to wear perfume or cologne in public. You will also be weighed upon entrance into a restaurant. Caffeine sodas will be illegal to anyone under the age of 21 and liquor laws will rise to 30 years of age. Could you imagine? Is that free? I think not.

You need to visit the smoking forum on topix. There is a ton of information for you there.

With rights come responsibilities.

Smokers litter. This means they are irresponsible. A good way to stop the litter would be to take the cigarettes out of their hands.

Beaches have bans on dogs for pretty much the same reason: dogs poop on the sand. Remove dogs, problem solved, no dog poop on the sand. Remove smoking, fewer cigarette butts on the sand.

In California, brush fires adjacent to roads are generally caused by smokers tossing still-lit butts from car windows. Firefighting is costly and sometimes property damage ensues.

Cigarettes are the #1 cause of home fires resulting in fatalities in the USA.

In the late 1970s, the transportation of baby turtles across state lines was outlawed, because a few children died each year of salmonellosis caused by contact with the turtles.

Cigarettes kill more children every year, through fire, than baby turtles ever killed through salmonellosis. So why are cigarettes allowed to be transported across state lines?

"Ignorant" is when you don't know any better. "Stupid" is when you do. Smoking is stupid. Smokers are stupid. We're all stupid about something, but most of us don't show it so plainly on our faces five minutes out of every thirty.

Just recently has this been a big issue. I can understand that people may not want to smell smoke in a restaurant or are an area where there would be alot of children... but at bars? cmon people

if you dont like smoke drink at home!

I think smoking should be allowed in all of those places. Good ventilation can prevent second hand smoke from being much of a problem. If I'm smoking and somebody doesn't like it they can just go somewhere else. I mean it annoys me when people bring their babies places, but I'm not going to propose the government ban babies.

I think banning the use of a legal substance is ludicrous. If it is that dangerous, ban it altogether. In my opinion, the second hand smoke argument carries no water. Just more propaganda to scare away teens from smoking. I have yet to find any GOOD scientific evidence to back the claims made by the anti smoking people. There are folks scared because their neighbor is smoking in his own house. We NEED real science, not the scare tactics of the Reagan years.

Fundamentally, I'm against it in private establishments such as bars, restaurants, etc. If an owner wants to allow smoking, he should be able to. If a person doesn't like it, they don't have to go there.

Having said that, as an ex-smoker, it's really nice to be able to go out w/out having to come home smelling like smoke.

I'm an ex smoker, and I HATE cigarette smoke!

I hate going to bowling alley's, clubs, casinos, and some restaurants just because they do allow smoking in those facilities.

I want to be able to go out, enjoy myself, and not come home smelling like an ashtray.

Or having the smoke inflame my sinuses so bad I end up with a sinus infection.

If people want to smoke in public, then they should be required to smoke under a gold fish bowl.

if you wish to smoke than do so but not in crowded places

would be best to not to think of all the people who have died of lung

cancer

its just one more way the government is taking away freedoms.turning us all into little drones.