Ban Public Smoking!


kfed1216
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As saints we know the importance of keeping our bodies clean and following the Word of Wisdom, however, nothing bothers me more than my efforts and health and that of my family being subjected to people who choose to smoke out in public! They have the right to smoke, but we also have the right to breathe clean air! Help make a change by signing this petition to BAN PUBLIC SMOKING! I saw that you agree that public smoking should be banned...please sign this petition to bring about that very change!

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This is a sensetive issue for me, however it has nothing to do with the WoW connection.

I agree that smoking is bad, however it is our choice to do so or not. At this time smoking tobacco in outdoor public areas is legal in most of the country. Given that nearly nationwide it is forbidden inside any building with the exception of someone's own home, banning outdoor public smoking would force the argument to a place that is dangerous politically, and here's why.

Tobacco is one of the largest industries in the nation, employing tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people involved in the growing harvesting and processing of tobacco for smoking. Add to that the taxes that are gained from the sale of tobacco, and the banning of the practice creates a type of hypocricy.

Add to that the task of enforcement...specifically where 'outside' would smoking be banned? If you intend to include the whole of the earth's atmosphere over the continental US not within a building, enforcing all that space will be a quite impossible task.

If you only designate specific areas outside, you have to be fair and uniform in selecting the areas....and again the task of enforcement comes up....just how important is this to you? For example, would you want any given city to add to its police force simply to oversee the enforcement of a no-smoking area outdoors? Would you want existing law enforcement officers spending time writing citations for smoking outside while they could be spending time enforcing more important laws? Any of these options will cost money, and that would require an increase in city/county/state taxes for funding.

Only governments can tax tobacco, however it is also governments (state and federal) that alone establish smoking bans. Thus the bans cut back on the sale of tobacco, and tax revenue drops.....so taxes on tobacco are raised to make up the difference.

The only sensible resolution is also one that I don't picture happening, and that would be to make tobacco an illegal product. It will never happen for two reasons.

1. Tobacco is one of the oldest industries in the nation. Lobbyists on the federal level are very firmly entrenched. The states that grow tobacco would never go along with this without a major fight.

2. The loss of that tax revenue would have to be made up somewhere else.....like income tax for example.

Like it or not, tobacco is legal, and since smokers can't smoke inside....they have gone outside....what else was expected to happen?

As for your petition....it's a whole lot of no consequence. I understand the spirit you are going with, and I agree that smoking should be wiped out totally. However....it needs to happen in the same way doing the right thing has always happened in this world...because somebody made the decision themselves without being compelled.

As long as people can choose to smoke tobacco, they will choose to smoke tobacco, whether it's legal or not.

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As saints we know the importance of keeping our bodies clean and following the Word of Wisdom, however, nothing bothers me more than my efforts and health and that of my family being subjected to people who choose to smoke out in public! They have the right to smoke, but we also have the right to breathe clean air! Help make a change by signing this petition to BAN PUBLIC SMOKING! I saw that you agree that public smoking should be banned...please sign this petition to bring about that very change!

Whoa~

This is too extreme, to me..... I am a member who happens to smoke. Where else would you like to ban smoking?! The bars? Already done... My apartment? Already done. Now, outside?! Wow! This is just too much....People can choose to smoke if they want to. Smoking outside is one of our last options. And contrary to what you may perceive; no, we don't intentionally blow it in your face to pollute your lungs. I guess people/smokers can and will, if provoked~

Why not focus on your own "beam?" Meaning, are you so perfect that you can cast all these stones at smokers? Are you walking through 2nd hand smoke all day? Or can you politely avoid it? Just because you don't smoke doesn't mean you may not have faults that smell just as bad in their own way. Would you consider loving the smoker into quitting rather than condemning and judging her?

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Guest Godless

Take it from a (soon to be ex-) smoker, it's already friggin' difficult to find a place where we're "allowed" to smoke. I can understand banning it indoors (though such bans are incredibly obnoxious, especially in bars), but where's the justification for an outdoor public ban? Perhaps we should ban other pollutants as well, like cars and New Jersey.

BTW, welcome to LDS.net. ;)

Edited by Godless
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I'll agree that second hand smoke inside an enclosed space is not a good thing. But outside? I dunno. I worked as a warehouse manager when the ban kicked in for smoking in the workplace. So I left one of the warehouse doors open all the time so guys can go out, have a smoke, and come right back in without any encumbrances. Also, so I can keep tabs on where they are in case I needed them.

But this whole thing about banning smoking outdoors I believe is a result of politicians wanting to look like they're deflecting criticism by looking like they are doing something for the betterment of the community while running away from what they should really be taking care of, or trying to deflect attention from what they are doing that few people agree with.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It is best decision that public smoking is banned. I think Govt should take decision and also

make rule for smoking advertisement and teen should not allowed for the smoking.

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  • 2 weeks later...

While I hate smoking, I don't think it should be completely illegal, as it would add to the overcrowding of the prison system that already has non-violent drug users in there. Also, it would lead to more crime as what happened when Prohibition was the law. Besides, if I understand something about the LDS church, wasn't it Satan that wanted to force people to do the right thing?

I'm in favor of designated smoking areas outside, away from entrances where the smoke isn't going to drift over to where non-smokers would be. There was something recently that said that addiction is a brain disease, and I would say that includes those who are addicted to nicotine as well, since it's one of the hardest addictions to break. For many smokers, the addition is terminal, as they end up dying of a smoking caused cancer or other disease.

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