Smoking going up to 18

jason · Post by **jason** » Jan 2nd, '07, 16:10

Tom L wrote: I don't thinking anyone can get on their high horse about smoking innless they live an active life, healthy vegan diet and don’t drink.

I dont know what a vegan diet has got to do with it - unless you are carefull that is more likely to be detrimental to your well being than a normal balanced healthy diet. Healthy diets are about balance and it is harder to balance a vegan diet by the nature of its restrictions.

Mel Daytona600 · Post by **Mel Daytona600** » Jan 2nd, '07, 16:16

Hurry up 1st July, I can't wait for the ban. I get fed up with going out to a pub or restaurant and having to have a shower as soon as i get in because the stench of stale smoke is terrible. It put's me off of going out because I don't want to end up smelling of a stale ash tray by the time I get home.
Also I hate the idea that other people are f*cking my health for me, that's my job and no-one elses. I get sore eye's and throat from all the smoke. I'm just so glad that I gave up 7 years ago, there's definately no going back for me!

Jon B · Post by **Jon B** » Jan 2nd, '07, 17:10

Yeah I can't wait for the ban either.

Would make giving up much easier. Although it has now been 6 months since I last smoked a cigarette.

69 Carginogens in a Cigarette. No thank you.

sprocket · Post by **sprocket** » Jan 2nd, '07, 17:42

I quite like going to the new Weatherspoons in Exeter, smoke free

First time I walked out of there was well impressed I didn't smell like an ashtray

Bring on the ban

clunk · Post by **clunk** » Jan 2nd, '07, 18:09

Tom L wrote: It's like saying "excuse me, can you keep your lung cancer to yourself while I develop liver sclerosis"

Drinking doesn't have an immediate side effect which affects those around you. The by-product of drinking is needing to pi$$, so would it be socially acceptable for me to start pissing on people whenever I feel like it ?

Of course it isn't and smoking should be treated in the same way. I want a pi$$ i go to the bogs, you want a smoke go outside and do it.

sprocket · Post by **sprocket** » Jan 2nd, '07, 18:30

clunk wrote:
Tom L wrote: It's like saying "excuse me, can you keep your lung cancer to yourself while I develop liver sclerosis"
Drinking doesn't have an immediate side effect which affects those around you. The by-product of drinking is needing to pi$$, so would it be socially acceptable for me to start pissing on people whenever I feel like it ?

Of course it isn't and smoking should be treated in the same way. I want a pi$$ i go to the bogs, you want a smoke go outside and do it.

You go girl

Very true though

Tom L · Post by **Tom L** » Jan 2nd, '07, 19:19

i just think smoking is part of our pub culture, everyone complains about the nanny state when its somthing that affects them, but no one sees the flip side.

I work in a pub and i'm one of the few non-smoking staff, but it dosn't bother me, i don't notice any effects, but then agian i might just be used to it

Drinking doesn't have an immediate side effect which affects those around you. The by-product of drinking is needing to pi$$, so would it be socially acceptable for me to start pissing on people whenever I feel like it ?

what about the amount of violence caused by alcohol and accidents caused by drink driving? 1 in 7 road deaths are caused by drink driving in the UK, 3500 people are killed or seriously injured in the UK by drink drivers. A quarter of all adults claim to have been a victim of alcohol-related violence themselves, Alcohol Concern estimates that alcohol is a factor in 40% of all recorded domestic violence incidents. in nearly half (44%) of all violent incidents, victims believed offenders to be under the influence of alcohol this figure rose to 54% in cases of 'stranger violence'

i'd call that more of an imediate side effect than having smelly clothes

Dynasangel · Post by **Dynasangel** » Jan 2nd, '07, 19:38

If tobacco and alcohol were illegal today they would be classed as a Classed A drug, they both kill, but through personal experiences I would agree alcohol is worse due to the way people react towards it or cant control it, but everybody has a choice.

clunk · Post by **clunk** » Jan 2nd, '07, 22:14

Tom L wrote:what about the amount of violence caused by alcohol and accidents caused by drink driving?
i'd call that more of an imediate side effect than having smelly clothes

I am well aware of the problems associated with excess alcohol, which is why I used the word "immediate".
If I'm sat next to a drinker in a pub, that has no effect on me, whereas sitting next to a smoker I have no choice but to inhale the carcinogenic toxins.

Mike Daytona600 · Post by **Mike Daytona600** » Jan 2nd, '07, 22:26

If I get caught braking the speed limit or riding like a tw*t I get done for it cos it endangers me and the people around me. Why should smoking be any different, it kills.

watters · Post by **watters** » Jan 2nd, '07, 22:28

jason wrote: the goverment draws 8 billion pounds* in tax revenue from cigerette smokers every year. That money has to come from somewhere, be sure that if you ban smoking it is you and me who will have to pick

agreed,but then how much of this money is then put straight back into treating people with lung cancer, cleaning fag butts off the streets, campaigns against smoking, millions of disposal bins for fags etc etc

jason · Post by **jason** » Jan 3rd, '07, 09:12

watters wrote:
jason wrote: the goverment draws 8 billion pounds* in tax revenue from cigerette smokers every year. That money has to come from somewhere, be sure that if you ban smoking it is you and me who will have to pick

agreed,but then how much of this money is then put straight back into treating people with lung cancer, cleaning fag butts off the streets, campaigns against smoking, millions of disposal bins for fags etc etc

1.4 to 1.7 billion to the NHS on recent figures.

other costs are relatively small in comparison so not usually quantified, I guess if you really wanted to be generous you could put another half a billion aside for any other costs. So that leaves a 6 billion odd tab that we need to pay for and be sure we will.

and on the NHS expense side of things there is a very real and substantiated arguement that in real terms smoking saves money not wastes it :

"It is assumed that if large numbers of smokers give up, the NHS will make substantial savings.

This is not necessarily the case. Dutch researchers have shown smokers may actually save society money because they do not live so long. The study, conducted by the Erasmus University Department of Public Health in Rotterdam, compared the health care costs of smokers to those of people of more advanced years.

They concluded that in the long run, if many people stopped using tobacco products, costs would actually rise as a healthier population eventually moved into nursing homes and into the relatively expensive diseases of old age.

They calculated the average lifetime costs of a smoking man to be $72,700 - much less than $83,400 for the non-smoking man. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/backg ... /86599.stm

whichever way you look at - odds say that the working man will be sponsoring a smoking ban, probably through tax and duty hikes across the board, very heavily.

Jon B · Post by **Jon B** » Jan 3rd, '07, 10:31

LOL. For alcohol they should give everyone a test on their 18th birthday. Whoever has violence tendancies after 8 cans is not allk alcohol and given an electronic tag.

Reasoning for this is that I cannot understand why people get aggressive when drinking, I always go other end and either get REALLY tired or reall hyperactive and happy.