I am so glad i quit smoking 10 years ago last August!

Anyway here in southern California I think the only place you can smoke is in your own bathroom ~ with your head in the toilet ~ lid shut ~ providing no one else is within a mile and a half of you!

I like the rules here!

I'm all for the ban in restaurants. I think bars should have an outside area for smokers that is not a normal entrance for it.

My big problem is pyrotechnics in arenas. We went to an Arena Football gave a few years ago. It's an enclosed arena and the smoke from that stuff was overwhelming. I don't know how the people in the upper sections managed. They did the pyrotechnics several times!

I don't agree with the ban on smoking outside in your own backyard. That is, if it is a single family home. An apartment complex may be a different matter.

Here in ND, all public places except bars have gone smoke-free.........can't wait til it's banned in the bars!!!!!
The last two times I went out to the bar, the next day I felt like I had a hangover...............I had ONE drink both nights. I thought at first it was because I'm not a big drinker, but then at my best friend's wedding I got quite fuzzy (gotta love jag shots). I felt fine the next day cause I wasn't around smoke! I don't have much of a social life cause of it, everyone just hangs out at my place cause it's the only one big enough for all of us Not much fun in an apartment!

But in this case you arent protecting us from ourselves, you are protecting us from OTHERS

As I mentioned I am an ex-smoker...hate smoke...all for rights for everyone...

I do feel that there should be smoke free bars and bars you can smoke in....

Quote:

But in this case you arent protecting us from ourselves, you are protecting us from OTHERS
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I agree mostly, but I think we can go too far even protecting some individuals from some other individuals. Our county just banned cigarettes in restaurants (but not bars). In town is a small diner that basically nonsmokers have always stayed away from, because 90% of the customers smoke (also mostly middle age and elderly men). In this case, nonsmokers have always voted with their feet and dollars, they don't go there and don't spend money there because it's always so smokey you can see the haze.

When the county passed the ordinance, the owner objected, saying with the ban he would lose all of his customers, so he would not enforce the ban (call the cops if anyone lit up). He tried to skirt the law by placing a large sign outside his restaurant stating it was a "private club" and that smoking would be allowed, but anyone wanting to be a member would have to pay for a membership card ($1)

Personally, I think that the county should have allowed him to operate as the "private club." I think cigar bars, smoking bars, and even smoking restaurant have a place. Maybe they should have to pay for a special permit, maybe they should have to prominently display their status so it can be seen from the curb... Or maybe the reverse, give special incentives for restaurants that voluntarily go smokeless.

No smoke-free bars here

Being a former smoker, I can see it from both sides. And unfortunately, hubby's still a smoker.

I remember being a smoker in a Chinese restaurant, and Miss Bitty was sitting about 4 tables away...IN THE SMOKING SECTION!... pulling her fancy fan from her purse and flapping it like mad giving me a glare that could wilt. In that case, though I wouldn't normally recommend it, I blew that smoke right at her. How DARE you come sit in smoking then act like a prude witch. I didn't go sitting in non-smoking lighting up. And I always tried to keep away from other. I'd go outside at my office and the smokers would congregate in a corner section where no one needed to be. We didn't stand right out in the main walkway that people had to pass to get to the front doors.

Some smokers can be downright rude, just as some non-smokers. I've always figured live and let live...or die, if that's what they choose. I seriously doubt I'm going to develop lung cancer from someone smoking in a completely different room that I don't enter and has a separate vent, but they won't even allow restaurants that little privilege. It's like they're taking a roundabout way to try and outlaw it, and it will end up like any other illegalized drug, more expensive and harder to obtain, yet still being used.