Smoking ban soon here

Well, there's 1 month to go until a total ban on smoking in enclosed public places comes into effect in England.
Scotland and Wales already have their smoking bans (does this mean the English are more expendable?) but information about the effects is a tad sketchy.

I'd like to hear from people who live in countries which already have smoking bans.

The issue here is not about peoples right to smoke (heard lots about that already) rather, it is about the effects of the ban on social lives, businesses etc.

I'd also like to hear thoughts on government revenue, i.e. UK government derives a massive amount of revenue from taxing smokes - is this one of the reasons we are experiencing lots of indirect taxation etc.

Thoughts please?

[edit on 1-6-2007 by budski]

as an add-on, I'm due at the stop smoking clinic this afternoon, and have been thinking about trying the drug Champix - anyone have any real info on this? the sites I've visited aren't that informative. Thanks

[edit on 1-6-2007 by budski]

I live in New York City and it's absolutely horrible. I hardly ever go out to bars anymore, and I and others have to periodically leave the table at a restaurant to go outside and smoke.

I think it really cuts into restaurant profits since beforehand I would want to hang out in the bar for a while before dinner, then linger over dinner and order dessert and an after dinner drink. Now I just want to get out ASAP.

I need to move to Vegas...you can smoke everywhere there!

(while playing blackjack AND having sex with a hooker at the same time I should add )

[edit on 6/1/2007 by djohnsto77]

I live in South Africa and hardly ever go out anymore as I have to go outside to smoke (which will also be banned soon). We have just been informed that our rates and taxes are to go up by 13% and the cost of electricity is due to be increased by 18%. We have been slapped with extra levies added into the cost of fuel (petrol and diesel) which is supposed to help pay for the upkeep of our roads (yeah right!).
On the up side, more people are visiting each other in their homes as they are either allowed to smoke there alternatively you can sit out on the patio to smoke in the company of all your other friends that smoke!
My husband gave up smoking about 3 years ago using a herbal remedy called "Smokeless Plus". He threw his last packet of cigarettes out on the same day he started with the "Smokeless Plus" and hasn't had a ciggie since. He only took the "Smokeless Plus" for about a week or so. Hope this helps.

Loving Soul, that herb that you mentioned your husband using, my wife was just wondering what was in it.

She's a smoker, and the way things are going here, she will have to quit sooner or later. We will look for the name brand, but don't know if it's sold over here.

Any info would help her.

Thanks.

Finland banned restaurant smoking at 00.01 this morning (1.6.2007), there real test for then ban will come during the next winter as temperatures can get very cold and people would have to smoke outdoors. (fancy a smoke when it's -25C out there? )

I live in Ireland, and the smoking ban came into effect here a few years ago. As an asthmatic, it's heaven to be able to sit in a restaurant or pub and be able to breath! I can't tell you how nice it is!

As to how it's affected the licensed trade; well, my local is still crammed to the gills every Saturday, so no change there.
In fact, there is a whole new culture building up amongst smokers. Smoking is becoming quite a social thing now, (I've never heard the phrase: "Just popping out for a few ciggies down at the local" before, have you?) when regular puffers meet in beer gardens (or in the case of my chosen drinking hole, the back yard).

My father in law, whom my wife and I take out for a few drinks of a Sunday before dinner, has made contacts with a local builder, discussed his gammy leg with a nurse from his health centre, and been offered a place in the pub's golf society! (Not to mention being chatted up by a gang of giggling blue rinses!) He actually doesn't mind having to go outside, but does complain in the winter.

And here's a thing for you smokers; when the ban comes in, you'll have these funky, heated marques to sit in during the winter months, and the whole garden to your selves in summer. Just think how healthy you'll be with all that fresh air!

We have a nice saying that smokers must really be healthy, after all they do inhale through a filter most of the time, while the rest of us are breathing all the pollution that's in our air

Damn time has flown in!!! Soon the total ban will be in effect i can't believe it. It's annoying because one of the next problems that the 'majority' voice of the people will be moaning about is that they feel intimidated by the en masse of crowds and people standing outside in the streets and pubs having a smoke well ermmm well else can people go now? seeing the smoking rooms of places can no longer be used. Sure on paper the ban sounds great people can now come to pubs and restaurants with no one smoking over them yet the implementation fails cause what are smokers going to immediately do?...Go outside which is always a great advertisement for a place.

One of the best things i've seen is having the outside areas for smokers and with tables and heaters etc. especially if they desginate the areas at the back of the property or the side so they are out of view sadly not every place can do this. PC madness comes into effect as well with this idea as a local pub had done this yet it was complained about by the non-smokers who wanted to eat outside and so smoking on anywhere on the pub stopped fully. The irony of the situation was that the area was right next to the carpark anyway.

I have just phoned my pharmacy and they no longer stock the "Smokeless Plus" and can't remember who the manufacturer was! Useless bunch! I've also phoned hubby to see if he can remember but no luck. Sorry!!

With all the worlds social and political problems not being resolved and getting more worrysome why are we being fed this as an important issue?If anything id classify this as an diversion from the real issues our leaders arent solving.Just mt two cents.Anybody got a light?

I've been having a look, and have found some links for the economic effects of the smoking ban.

www.forces.org...

www.davehitt.com...

www.tcsg.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

ije.oxfordjournals.org...

Some make for quite interesting reading, but I've not yet had time to look at the reliability of some of the studies.

What I can say is that, being of Irish descent, and having many close relatives in Ireland, when I spoke to them about this, the concensus was that it had been bad for pubs and restaurants.
Having said this, there are a lot of smokers in my family and their view could be regarded as biased with no real basis in fact, only opinion.



[edit on 1-6-2007 by budski]

Quite frankly I couldn't care less about the upcoming smoking ban in my Country. I don't bother to visit any licensed establishments to drink any more -- not because I have no 'life' -- but because I refuse to pay about £3 for a Pint of crap, warm Beer, and then have to listen to some mindless Tosser bleat on for hours about a sport that I really don't care about at all. I can't do what I like, either. I can't listen to any real music -- I can't pull out a modified Bong and start getting warm. I'm surrounded by holographic persons who aren't even really there -- especially the Women, who's heads are usually so full of 21st female propaganda that they start acting like a Big Brother contestant hamming it up for the Camera when you engage them in simple conversation.

Mindless group think mentality... Follow the herd.

Holograms!

Cigarettes are utterly worthless, anyway. You get nothing out of them, you're just paying an extortionate price to kill yourself. Quit smoking. Start smoking Cannabis instead. You will most likely obtain special capabilities. If you can't afford it, I advise you to plant your own miniature crop.

Originally posted by Nobusuke Tagomi
Quite frankly I couldn't care less about the upcoming smoking ban in my Country. I don't bother to visit any licensed establishments to drink any more -- not because I have no 'life' -- but because I refuse to pay about £3 for a Pint of crap, warm Beer, and then have to listen to some mindless Tosser bleat on for hours about a sport that I really don't care about at all. I can't do what I like, either. I can't listen to any real music -- I can't pull out a modified Bong and start getting warm. I'm surrounded by holographic persons who aren't even really there -- especially the Women, who's heads are usually so full of 21st female propaganda that they start acting like a Big Brother contestant hamming it up for the Camera when you engage them in simple conversation.

Mindless group think mentality... Follow the herd.

Holograms!

Cigarettes are utterly worthless, anyway. You get nothing out of them, you're just paying an extortionate price to kill yourself. Quit smoking. Start smoking Cannabis instead. You will most likely obtain special capabilities. If you can't afford it, I advise you to plant your own miniature crop.

At the end of the day, you are still putting a foreign substance into your body, and whilst the effects on health are not easily substantiated, there is more than a small element of risk involved.
en.wikipedia.org...

You're not going to believe this one

As I have 3 kids I go outside to smoke, yes, even at -25C. Now the gov't is looking at legislation to disallow smoking in your yard. WHAT? They want me inside poisoning my kids?

Slapping smokers around is nothing new but this is idiotic.

BTW the smoking ban here has put quite a few businesses out of business. Nice to see those non-smokers picking up the slack of providing business for those that put their life savings into pubs and eating establishments, only to be legislated "out of business" because a non-smoker MIGHT want to go there sometime.

About five years ago a smoking ban was put in place where I lived. I didn't smoke but everyone I knew did and still does. People complained for a while but going outside to have your smoke is a common thing now. People became use to it.

The thing that is making worry now is some apartment buildings are placing a stipulation in their contracts that you are not allowed to smoke in your unit. I didn't mind the public smoking ban because that effects other people but I think that it is unfair that you are not allowed to smoke in your own home.

Just my two cents.

Originally posted by budski
At the end of the day, you are still putting a foreign substance into your body, and whilst the effects on health are not easily substantiated, there is more than a small element of risk involved.
en.wikipedia.org...

While you're talking about elements of risk; you should be far more concerned about "Health issues and the effects of living in this society" long before you should be concerned about the health issues and effects of some Bastard plant. Just take a good look around you if you don't believe me.


[edit on 1-6-2007 by Nobusuke Tagomi]

Originally posted by Xfile
With all the worlds social and political problems not being resolved and getting more worrysome why are we being fed this as an important issue?If anything id classify this as an diversion from the real issues our leaders arent solving.Just mt two cents.Anybody got a light?

Good question, they sit on bar stools outide the bars around here.

I don't somke but my dad and grandad did they lived into their eighties.

There are and have been no smoking clauses in apartment leases and rented rooms here for sometime now.Right up there with"no pets,children",lol

Originally posted by intrepid
You're not going to believe this one

As I have 3 kids I go outside to smoke, yes, even at -25C. Now the gov't is looking at legislation to disallow smoking in your yard. WHAT? They want me inside poisoning my kids?

How are they going to enforce that, mount a talking Camera on the wall of your house overlooking the Garden -- that shouts Fascist, pro-authoritarian rhetoric at you when you smoke, or drop litter?

Throw Turds at it to obscure it's vision.

Tell your Government to go and [REDACTED]

Throw Turds at them, too.

I am a smoker myself and actually prefer not to smoke inside nor be around smoke inside. Yes, i do leave my table or leave the bar to go out and have a smoke, but its an excuse to go outside... so i dont mind