Believer1997 Posted March 14, 2009 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 66 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 6,363 Content Per Day: 1.13 Reputation: 119 Days Won: 9 Joined: 11/07/2008 Status: Offline Share Posted March 14, 2009 *has no idea what all the dollars mean...* do you have any no-smoking laws over there? and tax is something like 77% here... Virginia is debating a bill now to make ALL restaurants Non-Smoking... all government buildings, hospitals, etc. are now NS and any restaurants who want a NS area will have to upfit the building to put in a whole new air handling system.... just for the Smoking room... very expensive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeilanS Posted March 15, 2009 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 158 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,763 Content Per Day: 0.27 Reputation: 7 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/14/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/23/1990 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Where I live every indoor public place is non-smoking. Restaurants, libraries, government offices, ever bars. And I have to say, I would be most upset if they ever changed it. I accept that people have the right to smoke, but I think banning them from doing it in public buildings is perfectly fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningGlory Posted March 15, 2009 Group: Royal Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 1,022 Topics Per Day: 0.16 Content Count: 39,193 Content Per Day: 6.11 Reputation: 9,977 Days Won: 78 Joined: 10/01/2006 Status: Offline Share Posted March 15, 2009 I'm not so sure about this. Alcohol is certainly a problem, but cigarettes are almost guaranteed to kill you at some point and they are far more addictive. You can drink responsibly but you really can't smoke responsibly. Cigarettes are more addictive than alcohol? I guess you've never witnessed someone going though alcohol withdrawal (delirium tremens or the 'DTs'). Well, I have, when my former father-in-law was hospitalized. If you witness something like that....you would never again make such an uninformed statement. By the way, how many times have you heard of someone being over the legal limit for nicotine in the blood and taking out a family on the interstate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LadyC Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 fair? no, it's discrimination. period. i have no problem banning smoking from government buildings, grocery stores, etc. but the government has no right to dictate to business owners how they should operate their business. if a restaurant is willing to go to the expense of those high priced ventilation systems, they should have the right to do so. and bars, don't get me started. bar owners should not be forced to send their smokers outside. here in nevada, they passed a law prohibiting smoking from any business that serves food. let's forget for a minute that there were plenty of restaurants that catered to non-smokers, and even public directories that listed non-smoking establishments. let's forget my own personal bias. let's talk about what it did to the small business owners in this state. and to the local economy. many small pubs/bars/casinos suddenly had to choose between serving food or not... and it was probably an even split between those that stopped serving food and those that continued serving food but made their customers go outside, and both categories suffered tremendously. OUR economic decline in this state started prior to the decline the rest of the country has seen. many small businesses went under because they lost a huge customer base. locals no longer wanted to hang out in the pubs, they started going to the large casinos. pubs that quit serving food had to lay off cooks/wait-staff/dishwashers. pubs that kicked smokers outside lost so much business that they had to decrease their staff. thousands of people in this city alone became instantly unemployed. there is nothing FAIR about it. sure, maybe those who despise the smell of smoke or like to look down from their perch on anyone who partakes of such a "filthy" habit think it's fair, because they're getting what they want. but here's a newsflash.... smoking is LEGAL. passing laws that penalize people for legal activity not only is discriminating against a segment of the population, but also puts undue hardships on small business owners who do not WANT to discriminate. and veering back to the whole health issue thing, let me just say that's a lame argument also. let's put an enormous sin-tax on junk food and fast food, and make it legal to refuse employment based on a person's BFI and see how acceptable THAT is. stepping off my soapbox now to go fry some pork chops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LadyC Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 I'm not so sure about this. Alcohol is certainly a problem, but cigarettes are almost guaranteed to kill you at some point and they are far more addictive. You can drink responsibly but you really can't smoke responsibly. Cigarettes are more addictive than alcohol? I guess you've never witnessed someone going though alcohol withdrawal (delirium tremens or the 'DTs'). Well, I have, when my former father-in-law was hospitalized. If you witness something like that....you would never again make such an uninformed statement. By the way, how many times have you heard of someone being over the legal limit for nicotine in the blood and taking out a family on the interstate? thank you MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Believer1997 Posted March 15, 2009 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 66 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 6,363 Content Per Day: 1.13 Reputation: 119 Days Won: 9 Joined: 11/07/2008 Status: Offline Share Posted March 15, 2009 I think all addictions are horrific... but alcohol and drugs have to be terrible. I admire tremendously anyone who is able to go through getting sober and turning their lives around. God is in the details here, I believe... I do agree with you, too Glory.... watching people go through that is just an experience I'll never forget seeing. God Bless you Manie!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningGlory Posted March 15, 2009 Group: Royal Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 1,022 Topics Per Day: 0.16 Content Count: 39,193 Content Per Day: 6.11 Reputation: 9,977 Days Won: 78 Joined: 10/01/2006 Status: Offline Share Posted March 15, 2009 My friend in MS says the cigarette tax went up there, and also the Federal tax went up in the new SChip law. So the price of cigarettes there is now high enough that he is quitting. My question is, I know they are going up in Texas because of the Federal tax, but is the state tax going up on them also? Any of you Texans know? I couldn't find anything online. My office mate says they are 5 to 6 dollars a pack now and will be 8 dollars by summer. How accurate that is, I'm not sure because I couldn't find anything either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningGlory Posted March 15, 2009 Group: Royal Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 1,022 Topics Per Day: 0.16 Content Count: 39,193 Content Per Day: 6.11 Reputation: 9,977 Days Won: 78 Joined: 10/01/2006 Status: Offline Share Posted March 15, 2009 *has no idea what all the dollars mean...* do you have any no-smoking laws over there? and tax is something like 77% here... Oh yes, fudgical, we have very stringent no-smoking laws here. A bill is being considered that would ban smoking in your home (if it's an apartment) and in your car. Employers can already fire employees for smoking even though they do it at home. Now that I typed that I realized that smoking will have to be made illegal in the U.S.; otherwise those laws wouldn't make any sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningGlory Posted March 15, 2009 Group: Royal Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 1,022 Topics Per Day: 0.16 Content Count: 39,193 Content Per Day: 6.11 Reputation: 9,977 Days Won: 78 Joined: 10/01/2006 Status: Offline Share Posted March 15, 2009 Sweet!!! we have gone from defending mean and hateful speech to defending smoking! what will be next? Oh! I know! Let's defend the right of someone like you to argue anything and everything, ad nauseum, whether you know what you're talking about or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kat8585 Posted March 15, 2009 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 1,360 Topics Per Day: 0.21 Content Count: 7,866 Content Per Day: 1.24 Reputation: 26 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/22/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 04/18/1946 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 I've heard that cigarettes are more addicting than heroin. And I know alcohol is extremely addicting if you are an alcoholic. But never having been an alcoholic and never having done heroin I don't really know. I know that my daughter has done all 3 and the only thing she still does is smoke, and she's never been in treatment. But she was definitely an alcoholic and a drug addict!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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