Should smoking be banned in public places?

[ladiesbballcoach]

I only bring this up because it is a headline story in BOTH of today's Herald Leader and Enquirer.

 

http://www.kentucky.com/254/story/245032.html

 

Hospitals set full ban on smoking

Puffing would be barred anywhere on property

 

Smokers gathered at the designated smoking shelter near the entrance to Central Baptist Hospital. Nearly all Lexington hospitals, their campuses and any buildings they own or lease will be completely smoke-free by next November.

 

Nearly all Lexington hospitals, their campuses and any buildings they own or lease will be completely smoke-free by next November.

 

Central Baptist Hospital, St. Joseph Healthcare, UK HealthCare Albert B. Chandler Hospital and UK HealthCare Good Samaritan are joining four other Kentucky hospitals in Paris, Versailles, Maysville and Georgetown as the founding members of the Tobacco-free Healthcare Collaborative, a group that has committed to going tobacco-free by Nov. 20, 2008.

 

Going tobacco-free means that smoking, currently allowed in outdoor designated areas, will be eliminated from the hospital campus as well as any facility owned or leased by the hospital. Facilities include outpatient centers, medical office buildings, physician offices, urgent-care centers, laboratories and clinics.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/NEWS0103/711300372/1077/COL02

No. Ky. pushes smoking ban

Business group also seeks higher cigarette taxes

Northern Kentucky's largest business group is calling on state lawmakers to ban smoking in most public places and increase the state's cigarette tax by 25 cents.

 

Chamber President Steve Stevens said the smoking ban is a "health-related" proposal.

 

"A healthy workforce is really what we are striving for," Stevens said Thursday evening before unveiling the agenda to lawmakers

 

"To accomplish that we need a productive work force, a healthy work force," Stevens said. "It also leads to lower insurance costs, which ultimately affect the bottom line of businesses."

 

A dozen cities in Kentucky, including Lexington and Louisville, have passed smoking bans. The Northern Kentucky Health Department has tried to rally support and lobby counties to pass similar laws but has been unsuccessful.

[leo42171]

Do they want to ban M&M's in the vending machine too?

[Hearsay]

Two words: Nanny State.

[ladiesbballcoach]

Two words: Nanny State.

 

Two words back: Why should any person that is allergic to smoke have to either a) become a hermit as they can't go places because of the smoke; b) have to deal with being sick just because they want to stop somewhere and have a meal out?:D

[ladiesbballcoach]

Do they want to ban M&M's in the vending machine too?

 

You eating M & M's doesn't affect my health. You smoking and me having to breath it does.

[leo42171]

You eating M & M's doesn't affect my health. You smoking and me having to breath it does.

 

Do you hang out in the designated smoking areas?

[ladiesbballcoach]

Do you hang out in the designated smoking areas?

 

Smokers don't always stick to that. At the Bengals game, a smoker lit up right behind our seats. Usher was on top of that and after 4-5 minutes of having to put up with him blowing smoke in our faces, they got him and escorted him out.

 

It always seems also, that, to get to the restrooms, you have to walk through the smoking sections of restaurants.

 

I guess I am bias because of teenagers and restroom duty at school. I go in and come out stinking the rest of the day of cigarette smoke.

[Hasbeen]

Do you hang out in the designated smoking areas?

 

I've not yet voted in the poll because this is not listed as an option. Very few smokers I've encountered would complain if there were a designated area provided for them. When I was a smoker I would go out of my way to keep folks like LBBC from breathing my second hand smoke but there is not a reciprocal effort by the non-smokers to provide a little space.

[Hearsay]

Two words back: Why should any person that is allergic to smoke have to either a) become a hermit as they can't go places because of the smoke; b) have to deal with being sick just because they want to stop somewhere and have a meal out?:D

 

I dunno, LBBC.

 

Why should anyone who abhors sex and violence have to throw away their TV set? We should just ban sex, violence and cursing from the airwaves.

 

Why should anyone have to pay a high premium for health insurance because the rest of the country is fat? We should just make fat content illegal in food.

 

Why should anyone have to do anything they don't like to do?

 

If there are enough people who don't like smoking, the fre market will create smoke-free environments for them to eat at, BUT WE DON'T NEED THE GOVERNMENT TELLING US WHEN AND WHERE WE CAN HAVE SEX, WHAT WE CAN EAT, WHEN AND WHERE WE CAN SMOKE, ETC. ETC. ETC. Trust the market, LBBC, trust the market . . .

[cshs81]

I'm not necessarily for a law but I'm 100% behind a business that wants to implement the rule.

[Hearsay]

I've not yet voted in the poll because this is not listed as an option. Very few smokers I've encountered would complain if there were a designated area provided for them. When I was a smoker I would go out of my way to keep folks like LBBC from breathing my second hand smoke but there is not a reciprocal effort by the non-smokers to provide a little space.

 

Just as there are some people who will drink and drive despite the law, just as some people will talk loudly at the movie theatre despite the rule, there is always gonna be some jerk. But the government can't control jerk-dom and we shouldn't desire them to.

[leo42171]

The articles that you posted are about Hospitals banning smoking and the other is about NKY Chamber of Commerce wanting a “Healthy” workforce. It seems like you are in favor of a total ban? No bowling alleys, bingo halls, bars, etc….?

[ladiesbballcoach]

I dunno, LBBC.

 

Why should anyone who abhors sex and violence have to throw away their TV set? We should just ban sex, violence and cursing from the airwaves.

 

Why should anyone have to pay a high premium for health insurance because the rest of the country is fat? We should just make fat content illegal in food.

 

Why should anyone have to do anything they don't like to do?

 

If there are enough people who don't like smoking, the fre market will create smoke-free environments for them to eat at, BUT WE DON'T NEED THE GOVERNMENT TELLING US WHEN AND WHERE WE CAN HAVE SEX, WHAT WE CAN EAT, WHEN AND WHERE WE CAN SMOKE, ETC. ETC. ETC. Trust the market, LBBC, trust the market . . .

So I should live my life, greatly limiting where I can take my daughter out to eat because someone else wants a freedom that enfringes DIRECTLY on mine? By the time the market adjusts my daughter will be grown and gone.

 

I can turn the TV off. I can stop the inhalation of smoke unless I tell my daughter to hold her breath for the 30 minutes of the meal.

 

I would not have a problem with certain types of fat to be declared illegal in foods. Some fat is needed and good for the body to work correctly.

[leo42171]

I dunno, LBBC.

 

Why should anyone who abhors sex and violence have to throw away their TV set? We should just ban sex, violence and cursing from the airwaves.

 

Why should anyone have to pay a high premium for health insurance because the rest of the country is fat? We should just make fat content illegal in food.

 

Why should anyone have to do anything they don't like to do?

 

If there are enough people who don't like smoking, the fre market will create smoke-free environments for them to eat at, BUT WE DON'T NEED THE GOVERNMENT TELLING US WHEN AND WHERE WE CAN HAVE SEX, WHAT WE CAN EAT, WHEN AND WHERE WE CAN SMOKE, ETC. ETC. ETC. Trust the market, LBBC, trust the market . . .

 

100% agree!!!

[newarkcatholicfan]

I say let them smoke in there home with the door and windows closed if they own their home.