Belmont to be first U.S. city to ban all smoking

For anyone that smokes, what made you start smoking? Knowing full well that they are harmful for yourself and others, what convinced you to take up such an addictive habit? Was it for the social benefits? Are you a sheep? Do you follow the crowd fully aware that they are all killing themselves? It surely wasn't for the terrible taste or drowsy feeling you get on your first smoke, was it?

What about the fact that the tobacco companies and governments are fully aware of the effects, but continue to sell them to you because of the amounts of cash your are willing to fork over? You know that they abuse your weaknesses for the benefit of themselves don't you? Are you so weak minded that you support these people's greed by defending their cause, while you sit and rot because of it?

All the people that say they are planning to quit, why plan? Why not do it now? Its inevitable anyway and the longer you wait, the more you hurt yourself. The fact that you are putting it off shows that you really don't want to quit. So why try? Sure its a habit and its hard, but you are aware that its killing you and people close to you, so how hard is it really?

Sure its your right to smoke, but it aint your right to contaminate my lungs. Smoke where I don't have to put up with it. I don't want cancer because of you. Banning is a good thing.

Originally posted by DYepes
to those who smoke here, what exactly do you enjoy about the cigarettes you smoke? Seriously, because as far as i know, the only reason you believe it "relaxes you" is because your body goes into nicotine withdrawal in thirty minutes after a cig and your body desires more.

EVERYONE HERE WHO SMOKES CIGS, tell the community, if you can remember it, how you felt the very first time you ever had a cigarette. Did you end up coughing, become light-headed? Was it a pleasant experience? I mean the very very very first cigarette you ever smoked in your life. Even if you did not like it (which was no doubt the case in almost every single instance), your body suffered withdrawl after thirty minutes. You do not smoke because you actually want to, you all smoke because the Tobacco companies figured out how to force your body to keep money in their pockets

if you honestly believe you are content and just fine smoking, at least please consider the consequences of your choices and how they affect the planet as a whole.

Litter
Cigarette butts and cigarette packets cause litter. Smokers in the U.K. throw away about 20 million cigarette packets and about 300 million butts every day (which is a huge amount!). Many of these end up adding litter to the streets, dirtying floors and damaging furniture.
Fire
Smoking is linked to accidental damage and loss of life through fire. Tobacco contains additives to keep the cigarette alight - this increases the risk of fire.

Some fires are started by small children playing with matches or lighters which have been left around by smokers.

Throwing away a lighted cigarette or match near a forest can be very dangerous. A forest fire destroys everything in its path. Because young trees are destroyed along with older trees the damage is long-lasting and expensive.

Okay using this article's logic of cause and effect I can say automobiles cause litter and start forest firest, please don't drive. Every single highway or major street you drive along is littered with debris ... have you seen the jail workers when they're cleaning highways ... there is usually a huge bag of trash every 50 feet on both sides of the median!!

Let's leave the responsibility where it lies ... with the idiots throwing out the trash in the first place ... whether it is a cigarette butt or an empty McDonald's carton.

Here in California many grass and forest fires (big and small) have been started by vehicles. Either stopping or breaking down on a grassy shoulder or more commonly an older tailpipe/exhaust system dropping a few hot flakes of metal and starting a fire. So are the people who fail to maintain their vehicles at fault or at the cars at fault? Should we outlaw vehicles being driven during fire season or year round?

I agree cigarette butts should never be discarded onto the ground or into a forest. It's trash just like everything else ... if you don't want to carry it with you then wait to smoke somewhere where you can dispose of it. It still doesn't mean we should outlaw smoking because some people have no manners.

The majority of cigarette smokers do in fact throw their butts out on the ground, or outside of their car. Yes that means 51% or more. This is obvious anywhere. Just watch anyone finish a cig wherever you happen to be, chances are it will end up on the ground. for those that are courteous enough to find a trash bin, or proper cancerstick disposing area, good for you. unfortunately the majority of your like minded peers do not care enough. I regularly witness smokers use the ground as their dumpsite after smoking right next to the damn butt disposal bin thinggy. If trillions of those things end up on the ground every year, tell me now, how many is that over the course of 70 years?

no doubt those chemicals have absolutley no effect on the water supply

That car thing makes no sense. when I drive on any highway, it is rare I ever see someone throw a piece of litter outside their car. In fact the only thing I ever see fly out of a car intentionally is a cigarette butt, and only because it is visible at night. Really now, how many highways have you driven down where everyone around is is just emptying their trash onto the roads? For those that do, yes they are assholes. thankfully the majority of drivers have more curtousy than that. Most of that garbage you see on the side of roads is blow-over from any number of places due to the wind.

Wanna try again?

last i knew its still the United States. and its still a "free country". i just got back from iraq, and there is no way anybody is going to tell me that i cant walk down the street while enjoying a cigarette. ive fought and lost friends so that we as americans can continue to enjoy the rights and benefits of being an american. and im not going to stand idly by while a bunch of nit-wits try to strip us of our rights. thats right smoking wherever i please is a right. and im going to continue to do so. i dont care whether you like it or not.

whats even worse is they are paying, for the their own slow death.

Cigerettes don't kill you. They increase the risk of cancer and other things like hypertesnsion.

For anyone that smokes, what made you start smoking?

40 years ago not many knew the risks of smO'king and it was 'cool' to do it.

If someone starts now they're an idiot.



[edit on 17-11-2006 by PisTonZOR]

If you're going to ban something, ban the Pharmacy corps from pushing their drug commercials on us on the television all the time. Stop them from poisoning us with an excess of drugs for conditions that can be handled by safer means. If we want to point the "poison" finger somewhere, this is a good place to start.

If a man really wants enjoy himself a cigarette, despite the possible problems, and it's not hurting anyone else in the process, then let him have it if he wants. It's supposed to be a free country.

Troy

Originally posted by PisTonZOR
40 years ago not many knew the risks of smO'king and it was 'cool' to do it.

I disagree. Forty years ago there was not the empirical evidence for the dangers of smoking, but cigarettes have been called "coffin nails" for more than a century and anyone who has ever woken up with that nagging, hacking cough couldn't have thought that that was a health benefit.

tobacco.harpweek.com...

I'm a smoker of over 20 yrs
and here is what i think

I was willing to give up the movies
cause there was no vote

I was willing to give up resturants (sp)
cause there was no vote

I was willing to give up bars
cause there was no vote

I was willing to give up smoking at bus stops
cause there was no vote

I was willing to give up most public places why?
there was no vote

I gave up parks, I gave up just enjoying the snoke in
front of a store

Did you know if I were smoking while walking down the street
and a buisness saw me they could get the smoker police on me ?
why cause I'm smoking in front of their store with in 50 feet Yet its a PUBLIC sidewalk.

No way am I giving up my rights to smoke its not the "drug talking" its me its MY choice. tell you what NON SMOKERS get out of the smokers area!

We smokers are forced into a small little area for lunch ( at my job )
all the sudden all the nonsmokers who was *itch*ing about the smoke desiceds to sit 2 fot away from the smokers area AGAIN after we were moved across the complex why?

Why should they move us 50 foot then 75 then 100 just because these NON smokers are moving more out yet there is way to much room for them to sit there anyway

WHY should I give up a right to smoke cause YOU cant walk on the other side of the street or hold you breath for 2 seconds while walking by me.

SO I SMELL OF SMOKE!!!! so what at least i'm not wasting my 50 bucks on whale piss for a squirt of oh i smell good for an hour which reeks like hell.

US smokers pay more tax then you nonsmokers we should have the right
I'll stop bitching when they tax chocolate
If you don't want to smell us or see us MOVE TO THE NON_SMOKING AREA!
if its a park get over it i'm sure the suv you drive home is much better

pffft '

Smokers smoke for all kinds of reasons, and it's presumptious of think otherwise. It's twice as presumptious to tell smokers what they ought to do with their lives.

Smokers are idiots?

Some of them are, sure.

Lots of non-smokers are idiots too. What's your point?

Let's have a look at some of the positive benefits of nicotine and/or cigarette smoking.

www.forces.org...

If any of y'all are foolish enough to enter this ring swinging wildly, calling me and everyone like me an idiot, telling us what we can or can't do, be prepared for a fight. Seriously, be prepared.

Let's talk about cancer. There are millions of ways to get it, but a bunch of lazy doctors would love to have you believe that if you're a smoker then that's the cause of it. A good doctor knows different, and knows that the only way to know what caused your cancer is to do a number of expensive tests that aren't covered by insurance, and even then there's no certainty. Nevermind forest fires, nevermind dust, nevermind killer chemicals cooking off in your car's dashboard. It's the evil cigarettes - that's what they tell you.

Petroluem producers and their twin mini-me sidekicks, the plastics manufacturers and the chemical cartels, love the cigarette boogeyman, because it takes the heat off of them. Nevermind the fact that their products cause more cancer than all the cigarettes in the history of mankind, they've got a handy whipping boy to take the heat and distract people from the fact that the environment has become saturated with carcinogens - the toxic byproducts of greedy, reckless industry.

You're worried about second-hand smoke, yet you eat, drink, breathe, and bathe in a toxic soup every day? Are you out of your mind?

Let's talk about cognitive ability. Non-smokers can't hold a candle to smokers in terms of synaptic response and creative thinking (all other factors being equal anyway, a person with an IQ of 20 smoking a cigarette isn't going to make much of a splash). Maybe it's a coincidence that many of history's most admired minds were smokers, but science doesn't really believe in coincidence - science believes in consequence.

Let's talk about conspiracy. This is, after all, a conspiracy website. Let's talk about the conspiracy to keep people in the dark about the cognitive benefits of smoking. Let's talk about the conspiracy to blame the cancer epidemic on cigarettes. Let's talk about the conspiracy to silence researchers who investigate smoking myths, and the conspiracy to prop up research that paints smokers in a bad light. Let's talk about the conspiracy to defraud addicts using usurious taxation schemes based on junk science and irrelevant, unqualified statistics.

For once, let's have a discussion, instead of just listening quietly to the rants of a bunch of non-smokers who think they know it all, and haven't even stopped to consider the possibility that they may have been misled.

Do I really have to say it..I'm a smoker, and damn proud of it. I smoke because cigarettes are cheaper than prescription anti-depressants, and because I like putting nitro in the engine that is my brain. When it comes to thought, I'm a speed-freak. Guilty as charged.

Smokers have been kicked around for long enough I think, it's time they started fighting back against all the snooty know-it-alls who don't know nearly enough to hold their own in a REAL debate about the subject of smoking. They know just enough to maintain the appearance of erudition, but they haven't got a clue, and the illusion doesn't hold up under scrutiny.

Are there dangers to smoking? You better believe it.

Last time I checked, there are dangers in drinking water, or in going for a walk around the block, owning a gun or a large dog, bending over to tie your shoes, or, alternately, leaving your shoes untied. That's what it's all about, weighing risks. It's the responsibility of the individual to make those decisions, that's the bottom line in my mind.

ok

in public buildings such as restaurants that is fine. In toledo, ohio where im from, they passed a law a few years ago where restaurants could have a smoking section, and bars too, but they had to be closed off and have their own ventilation. so all these restaurants and bars and such built these rooms, which im sure were not cheap. Now ohio has just passed a law outlawing all smoking in public places ( similar to the law here in washington, california, etc.) What about the money all those bars and restaurants spent for those rooms to comply with the law? Lots of businesses, especially places like bars and bowling alleys, and night clubs, are going to be heavily affected by laws like this. I say if it is a place where the owner has the right the to deny service ( bars, nightclubs, etc.) then they should be allowed to have a smoke room, like i mentioned before.

cigs are not going to go away. Federal and state govts. make far too much money from Tobacco. You are talking about a crop that we have been producing since coming to this land, and the people here were growing it too. it is so ingrained in our economy, that if we were to remove it, it would surely cause a LOT of problems.

i quit smoking 3 weeks ago, and i am starting to feel really good, i know its bad for you, and thats why i quit. But you must also realize, half of these laws were put into place WITHOUT a public vote. That is totally wrong. This is an issue that should be voted on by the public.

and by the way, for you people that keep saying that the Tobacco companies are MAKING the cigs addictive, tobacco naturally contains nicotine, and nicotine is a NATURALLY addictive substance. It's all the other crap they put in there with the tobacco.

So even if u were to just grow your own tobacco plant, dry out the leaves yourself, and smoke it, it would still be addictive, but it wouldn't be near as bad for you as commercial tobacco.

my favorite is that we can chastise smokers and treat them like second class citizens, but if someone is obese if you say something to them its like some big deal.

and to the person who mentioned all the Pharma. companies pushing all their drugs on us, i agree completely. Theres far too much of that going on. You want to hear something interesting? I dont take any pills or anything for anything at all.. unless im really truly sick, but guess what? i havent even been sick enough to warrant needing pills for almost 2 years now.... which coincides with me stoppping popping pills! Ironic dont ya think!?

/end rant

Why is everyone so adament about controlling what everyone else does these days if they dont like what that person does? I mean cmon, gay marriage, smoking, drug laws ect. ect. What someone else does with themselves is their business and no one elses. If someone wants to smoke cigarettes let them smoke. I dont give a damn. And honestly, being a smoker myself you can all kiss my BUTT. HAHA JK, pun intended.

The issue of smoking is always going to be a heated debate. Nobody is willing to give any ground. Smokers believe it's their right to smoke and of course non smokers will never agree. I used to be a smoker for about 30 years, on about 20 a day, probably double when I went out drinking and I enjoyed every minute of smoking ( all 250000 or so cigarettes) I didn't give a damn about non smokers and smoked where I liked. I gave up about 6 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did, no more hacking cough in the morning, not be able to breathe properly and no more stinking. Now I can't stand to be near smokers. I realise how selfish I have been in the past with my polluting the air around me. But I must say let the smokers do their thing, just keep them away from me.

Originally posted by Hermann
The issue of smoking is always going to be a heated debate. Nobody is willing to give any ground. Smokers believe it's their right to smoke and of course non smokers will never agree. I used to be a smoker for about 30 years, on about 20 a day, probably double when I went out drinking and I enjoyed every minute of smoking ( all 250000 or so cigarettes) I didn't give a damn about non smokers and smoked where I liked. I gave up about 6 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did, no more hacking cough in the morning, not be able to breathe properly and no more stinking. Now I can't stand to be near smokers. I realise how selfish I have been in the past with my polluting the air around me. But I must say let the smokers do their thing, just keep them away from me.

So because you dont like something you can impose your beliefs upon someone? So in that case you agree with the cause the Christians have against banning gay marriage becasue they dont like it? I mean cmon, this is complete rubbish. Just because you dont like something doesnt give you the right to tell someone they cant do it.

My bad, I didnt read that last bit of your post there. I do agree that one must let others do as they please whether they like it or not, but there should be a place for them to do that. This is just so you understand me completely. This is the second time I've jumped the gun on someone in two seperate threads, my apollogies.

[edit on 11/17/2006 by ludaChris]

I'm not sure if any of yas caught this fact or not, didn't have the time to go through all the posts. But, this law bans smoking in all multi-family buildings also. So, if you live in an apartment complex, well, you can't smoke in your home.

I'm just wondering how many of these councilmen and women spent the last year on investing in single family rental units...because now, these units are gonna be far more valuable while there's an exodus out of the duplexes, apartment complexes, ect. Since, I am sure that every smoker living in this town will be planning on moving real soon. I don't blame them. Everytime I go outside, I am barbarded with society's pollution. I got to work, and I am expected to play with some pretty toxic substances. I go to the resturant, and well, the kind waitress decides to place the nice perfume ladened women in the booth next to me. I go to the convenience store, and the pine sol they've just mopped the floor with knocks me out of business for a few days. All these things are just as offensive, just as unhealthy, as second hand smoke!!! After enduring all this bullcrap for 8 or more hours a day, danged if I will let anyone tell me I can't light up a cigarette in my own home and enjoy killing myself for awhile. What the heck, everyone else has been enjoying doing it all day long!!!
You can eliminate all the smokers from the world, eliminate every potato chip and peice of junk food!! It's not gonna help you any! These are just scapegoats to distract the masses from the real offenders!! Which are everywhere, in your food, in your cosmetics, in the products you enjoy consuming on such a massive scale. And, so many oh so enjoy making such a large profit on!! Your kids are very likely to die before you because of it, the smokers have very little to do with it. Pass all the stupid anti-smoking, anti-fat, anti-whatever laws you want, it ain't gonna help you one bit....YOUR SOCIETY IS KILLING YOU!!

Have a nice day now!

Banning all the smoking of cigarettes is a stupid idea and an attack on personal freedom . If people want to smoke cigarettes and take any other drugs they should be able to in there own segregated areas. I am under no obligation to go any where near the people who smoke cigarettes and take other illegal drugs.

For the record Im a Non smoker.

Let's do an air-raid, bomb Belmont! The U.S. armed forces have the responsibility to protect the freedoms of the Americas.

Smokers,

Sure it's your right to kill your self but it's not your right to drag down people with you, if you want to kill your self go do it by your self in a corner.

it's our right to not stand for your second hand smoke crap.

Originally posted by selfless
Smokers,

Sure it's your right to kill your self but it's not your right to drag down people with you, if you want to kill your self go do it by your self in a corner.

it's our right to not stand for your second hand smoke crap.

I'm a smoker. Out of respect for others, I will not light up inside. As funny as it might sound, smoking indoors is also significantly more harmful for the smoker than smoking outside is.

However... if I'm walking down the street or standing outside a bar, you better believe I have every right to smoke. If you don't like it, then move. There's plenty of air around.

What about the fact that when I get on an airplane, I have a constant migraine for the duration of the flight due to the whining kids sitting nearby. I'd say I have a good argument that they're hazardous to my health. Yet, I must withstand it.

How about the fact that so many people, including many non-smokers, feed themselves crap like McDonald's, then rack up health-care bills that, when they're uninsured, I have to pay for? That's money I could be spending on my own healthcare since I choose to actually work and pay for insurance.

As others have pointed out, where is the outrage over the air-pollution (NOT caused by cigarette-smoke) that is still damaging MY health?

What about the fact that I can't eat too much fish, due to high mercury-levels? That is infringing on my right to eat fish. Yet no one is up in arms about that quite like you anti-cigarette zealots are about smoking.

What about the fact that, due to heavy development, the roads where I live are increasingly more dangerous because of high-traffic? That is infringing on my right to be able to drive safely, wherever I choose.

We can go on and on about this.... cigarettes are not the only cancer-causing sins out there. If you want to take cigarette-smokers on, then you've got to take on all the obese people who eat at McD's, you've got to take on the industries that are churning black clouds of pollution into our air. You've got to take on the factories that insist on dumping their chemical-waste into rivers and oceans (as well as the government that lets them get away with it).

In today's world, you anti-smokers have plenty of bigger things to worry about... us smokers are one of the smaller threats out there. Leave us alone.

If Marlboro Reds aren't All-American, I don't know what is.


[edit on 17-11-2006 by firebat]

Sure smoking is not the only thing that is harmfull to our health but, ITS ONE OF THEM.

when it comes to smoking, you can't tell a none smoker to not stand where a smoker is because he's not the one who's operating an activity that causes harm to others. It's the smoker who's doing the harm not the victim.



Stand out of my way while i kill my self and i don't care who i take with me?

That logic makes no sense at all...

That's selfish behond selfish.

[edit on 17-11-2006 by selfless]

Originally posted by selfless
It's the smoker who's doing the harm not the victim.

Nonsmokers are smokers too.

They are called drivers.