Smoking Ban -- How Has it Affected You?

[lba]

I love the smoking ban! Why should smokers think they have the right to subject the rest of us to billowing clouds of smoke just because they have a drink in their hand? It's not merely a nuisance, it's a health threat to other people and employees in the bar. And in response to comments about the mess the smoking ban will create, yes, it will probably generate a lot more sidewalk litter. I'd like to think that smokers could throw an extinguished butt into a trash can, but sadly, very few seem to make that effort. Still, if I had to choose, I'd pick clean air over cigarette butts on the sidewalk any day!

[cwa]

smoking ban in public places is great!!! Get used to it!! If it worked in California and other places it will work here. Smokers increase the cost of health care to all of us. Smokers pollute the air and other peoples lungs. It is a CHOICE. When you don't smoke and have to breath second hand smoke that is NOT a choice. There shouldn't of had to be a law to make smokers more considerate to the people around them. And that goes for just littering your butts too!

[grtstprtyevr]

I'm so sick of reading all of this anti-smoking jargin... banning any sort of civil liberty because it is a nuisance (or even a health hazard) to some people is absolutely ridiculous. People who smoke don't get off on spreading their second-hand around and infecting the lungs of non-smokers... they just choose to light up, for whatever fucking reason they have, and it's our fucking choice if we want to fuck up our lungs. It is absolutely unlawful for the government to step in and tell PRIVATE BAR OWNERS that they cannot allow their customers to smoke in THEIR OWN FUCKING BAR! So if I own a bar, you're telling me that I'm not allowed to light up a cigarette in my own PRIVATE PROPERTY? Fuck that! There should be some sort of compromise here... if you don't want to come home reeking of cigarette smoke then there should be a bar that accomodates non-smokers. That's the beauty of capitalism - if there's a market for it then someone can open it up. But at the same time, for the millions of smokers that don't give a fuck about coming home smelling like smoke - there should be bars that allow smoking! There should be NO GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE on this issue! It is not right for Bloomberg to ban smoking AT EVERY BAR! It's fucking ridiculous. If you don't like smoke - then don't fucking hang out at a bar that allows smoking. The point I'm trying to make is that there should be two types here - bars for nonsmokers and bars for smokers. This way everyone is satisfied. Anything else is an imposition on the other side and it's absolutely unfair. Sorry for the rant but I had to get that off my chest.

[ichiroboston]

I have not smoked cigs in a few years but this ban is crazy...

Smoking is not illigal... and its not going to impare your judgement (drinking??)... sorry but if you dont like it, dont go to that club or bar.

But we should have the RIGHT to smoke untill it's illigal.

my2cents.

[mikeypuff]

Originally posted by grtstprtyevr

I'm so sick of reading all of this anti-smoking jargin... banning any sort of civil liberty because it is a nuisance (or even a health hazard) to some people is absolutely ridiculous. People who smoke don't get off on spreading their second-hand around and infecting the lungs of non-smokers... they just choose to light up, for whatever fucking reason they have, and it's our fucking choice if we want to fuck up our lungs. It is absolutely unlawful for the government to step in and tell PRIVATE BAR OWNERS that they cannot allow their customers to smoke in THEIR OWN FUCKING BAR! So if I own a bar, you're telling me that I'm not allowed to light up a cigarette in my own PRIVATE PROPERTY? Fuck that! There should be some sort of compromise here... if you don't want to come home reeking of cigarette smoke then there should be a bar that accomodates non-smokers. That's the beauty of capitalism - if there's a market for it then someone can open it up. But at the same time, for the millions of smokers that don't give a fuck about coming home smelling like smoke - there should be bars that allow smoking! There should be NO GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE on this issue! It is not right for Bloomberg to ban smoking AT EVERY BAR! It's fucking ridiculous. If you don't like smoke - then don't fucking hang out at a bar that allows smoking. The point I'm trying to make is that there should be two types here - bars for nonsmokers and bars for smokers. This way everyone is satisfied. Anything else is an imposition on the other side and it's absolutely unfair. Sorry for the rant but I had to get that off my chest.

i agree with u

[nyckitty69]

the ban is rediculous. most of the interesting fun people i meet are smokers. the air outside is so polluted anyway.

in dc there is a smoking ban, but only in gov't bldgs, most office bldgs, & shopping malls, not in clubs and bars, and no one seemed to mind.

why don't they remove the ban and encourage better ventilation

Originally posted by clubplanetdan

Has anyone tried to light up at a bar so far? Have you skipped going out because of it?

Is this all going to blow over in a few weeks or months, and we'll just get used to it?

Inquiring minds want to know!

[aphelion]

Originally posted by ichiroboston

I have not smoked cigs in a few years but this ban is crazy...

Smoking is not illigal... and its not going to impare your judgement (drinking??)... sorry but if you dont like it, dont go to that club or bar.

But we should have the RIGHT to smoke untill it's illigal.

my2cents.

Huh? This makes it illegal.

You can drink all you want in your own place but you can't walk around outside with an open container. Same deal.

[sam8988378]

Originally posted by cwa

smoking ban in public places is great!!! Get used to it!! If it worked in California and other places it will work here. Smokers increase the cost of health care to all of us. Smokers pollute the air and other peoples lungs. It is a CHOICE. When you don't smoke and have to breath second hand smoke that is NOT a choice. There shouldn't of had to be a law to make smokers more considerate to the people around them. And that goes for just littering your butts too!

So, your Facist "get used to it" is because you are concerned about smokers increasing your health costs? Try some stats on for size:

Total cost of overweight and obesity: $99.2 billion

Direct cost: $51.6 billion (5.7 percent of the U.S. health expenditure)

Indirect cost: $47.6 billion (comparable to the economic costs of cigarette smoking) <----- Well, will you look @ that!

The stats are from the NIH (1995), not from a smokers' rights group. So what is next - a law prohibiting the sale of beer, candy, krispy kremes, starches and fast food to the overweight? Would you pass the weigh in?

Next, "polluting the air". Did you know that trucks are exempt from the same emissions standards that cars are subject to? 1 gas Leaf blower puts out the same amount of carbon monoxide as a car driven 200 miles. So where is your indignation for this?

California is beautiful, but it is a facist state. It treats people as if they are feeble minded and can't make decisions for themselves. Have you considered relocating?

As for the smoking ban, I am now looking @ clubs in New Jersey. Spending my $ in nosmoking land is collaborating with those who would oppress me

[erica127]

Originally posted by Codica3

I actually haven't encountered the smoking ban yet..

me either & i am kinda scared cuz if i go out & really drink i like to have a cigarette or two, but don't smoke when i'm not drinkin so it's not too bad....

a lot of my friends are pissed though cuz u do have to go to the 4th level in fatory to smoke & it's a pain in the ass...people choose to smoke & others choose not to smoke, i jsut feel bad that the ones that smoke are gettin punished hard

[sutogame]

first that assclown raises cigarette prices to $7-$8 in manhattan

everywhere else cigarettes are $4 and under

and now this ban--this is a personal agenda of his ------------------------

fukin bs..........

whats next hes gonna raise the price to $15 a pack....

some chick on tv was like i like the smoking ban cuz i can eat without smoke(she was sitting eating in a bar)

well bitch why dont you go to fukin mcdonalds or subway --no smoke there dumass

and all you people that go out and dont like smoke go to the fukin library or starbucks fukin jerkoffs

[moose25]

I only smoke when i go out and im drinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cwa]

Total cost of overweight and obesity: $99.2 billion

umm this was a discussion about smoking not obesity. i'm at my ideal weight and am healthy. If you eat a krispy kreme donut it has NO affect on my health whatsoever!! If you smoke next to me it does. thats the point.

what affects health costs is a whole other issue....but we all would be a lot healthier if we were able to enjoy dinner, going to a bar, going to the mall in a smoke free environment.

don't you remember when you could smoke in the mall, smoke in the restaurant, offices, etc. people got used to that they will get used to this. i remember you couldn't even smoke in a SUNY dorm cuz it was a state building. people will adapt.

[Guest saleen351]

people who smoke are weak people who never grew up after highschool....

Good job bloomberg. You got balls... please run and beat jeb bush.... wooooooohoooooo i'd vote for you...

[Guest saleen351]

DOCTORS SAID their study, which they described as a kind of “natural experiment,†is the first to examine what happens to public health when people stop smoking — and breathing secondhand smoke — in public places.

The doctors, themselves backers of the ban, acknowledged the effects need to be demonstrated in a larger locale. But despite the small numbers involved, they said Helena’s experience offers a clear hint that the change reduces the risk of heart attacks for smokers and nonsmokers alike from virtually the moment it goes into effect.

People who worry about secondhand smoke often fear lung cancer most, but that takes years of exposure.

Smoking is also a powerful trigger of heart attacks and it works quickly to increase the risk by raising blood pressure, increasing the tendency of blood to make clots and other ways.

SECOND-HAND SMOKE KILLS

The American Heart Association estimates 35,000 nonsmokers die each year from the effects of secondhand smoke on the heart. It said the Helena data should encourage more cities to limit smoking.

Helena’s smoking ban was adopted by voters in June and lasted for six months, until enforcement was suspended after a legal challenge. It “led to an immediate and dramatic decline in the number of heart attacks we saw,†Dr. Richard Sargent said.

Heart attacks climbed back to their usual level after smoking returned to bars, restaurants, casinos, bowling alleys and other public places in December.

Sargent, who with co-author Dr. Robert Shepard encouraged passage of the ordinance, presented the data Tuesday to applause at the annual scientific meeting in Chicago of the American College of Cardiology.

IMPLICATIONS FOR ALL CITIES

“It is an extremely important study with implications for all cities,†said Dr. Guy Reeder of the Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Richard Pasternak, director of preventive cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, cautioned that because of the small number of heart attacks in Helena, the true effect of a smoking ban may differ.

Nevertheless, he said, “It’s very plausible that you could see this kind of broad effect. It just takes one cigarette to make a vulnerable plaque rupture,†triggering a heart attack.

The doctors kept track of all heart attacks in Helena, population 26,000, and compared that with the previous four years, adjusting the figures for seasonal ups and downs. During the six months the ordinance was enforced, heart attacks in Helena dropped from an average of seven a month to three.

SMOKERS SHOWED BIGGEST EFFECT

They found the smoking ban appeared to have its biggest effect on smokers. Their incidence of heart attacks dropped by three-quarters, compared with two-thirds for former smokers and one-half for nonsmokers.

Lung Cancer

MSNBC Interactive

• Find out more about the causes of this disease

“This is a tiny, little community in the middle of nowhere,†Sargent said. “This study needs to be replicated in New York City.â€

A rule that took effect in New York on Sunday bans smoking in city workplaces. Last week, New York passed a statewide smoking ban, joining California and Delaware with stringent rules on indoor smoking. A Florida ban passed by voters last year takes effect in July.

Next month, indoor smoking becomes illegal everywhere in Boston except private homes, hotel rooms and some cigar bars. Seventy-four other Massachusetts communities have banned smoking in bars and restaurants.

Dallas also recently banned restaurant smoking, as have a scattering of other smaller cities around the country.

The Helena study is likely to provide ammunition for those backing these bans. “This gives us real data and proof that this needs to be done,†said Karla Cutting, a spokeswoman for a Chicago campaign to prohibit workplace smoking.

[djmikebugout]

how has it affected me?

I woke up this morning and my records and my record bags and my clothes didnt smell like disgusting smoke. I was happy.

[ferris2]

fuck it im smokin anyway. its all a conspiracy...the tobacco companys make stoges addictive and the city taxes the shit out of them. its easy money for the gov't. something is up. im callin dick tracy.

[brooklynkid]

Originally posted by djmikebugout

how has it affected me?

I woke up this morning and my records and my record bags and my clothes didnt smell like disgusting smoke. I was happy.

ditto.

nothin better than coming home after a gig and diving right into bed without funkin up the entire house.

Saleen: have you read today's Daily News? Bloomberg announced that not only will he run for re-election but he will win so NYers should get used to having him around. LOL

Also, for those interested, the city is rolling out a plan to distribute free nicotine patches to those who want to quit. It's the third part of Mayor Mike's 5-step plan (the first being the tax increase, the second being the ban). No word on what the remaining two steps are.

Hopefully some day someone will be smart enough to punish drivers who smoke with children in the car.

[ferris2]

yeah if u have kids in the car u def shouldnt smoke..u shouldnt smoke anywhere near kids their lungs are still developing.

i heard that he might ban smoking while driving. that will never fly. this guy thinks he is he king. the 5th step is probably gonna outlaw cigarettes b/c the steps keep getting more and more extreme.

[brooklynkid]

Originally posted by Ferris

i heard that he might ban smoking while driving. that will never fly. this guy thinks he is he king. the 5th step is probably gonna outlaw cigarettes b/c the steps keep getting more and more extreme.

c'mon...if you were the leader of the world's #1 city you'd think you were the king too! (ahem, Rudy!)

and uhhh, providing help for people interested in quitting is hardly extreme. i think in Canada they call it health care.

[sam8988378]

Originally posted by cwa

umm this was a discussion about smoking not obesity. i'm at my ideal weight and am healthy. If you eat a krispy kreme donut it has NO affect on my health whatsoever!! If you smoke next to me it does. thats the point.

what affects health costs is a whole other issue....but we all would be a lot healthier if we were able to enjoy dinner, going to a bar, going to the mall in a smoke free environment.

... people will adapt.

The original post i replied to mentioned health costs as part of his support for the ban. The NIH figures showed that if you were soley concerned with health costs, you would be persecuting the fat before the smokers. An intersting addition to this is that the average person quitting smoking, without altering diet in any way (although every quitting person I have ever met or heard of has snacked more), gains an average of 14.6 lbs. This is due to slight stimulant effect of nictine. So, not only do you have to be deprived of smoking, but you have to diet, too!

What really irked me about Herr Bloomberg and Herr Pataki is that they are dictating change. Change should come about from the individual, not be dictated by a facist state, which thinks we are too feeble minded to think for ourselves. Bloomberg used to smoke. Do you think he would have taken kindly to someone telling him he couldn't smoke?

he is like the born again christian who can't stop trying to help you find jesus, the AA person who can't stand to have a drop of alcohol around, and yes, the reformed smoker. Reformed anything people are a pain in the ass, because, while they came to their decision in their own space and time, they don't allow others the same freedom.

I agree that smoking is an anachronism. I even thought that one day i might attempt to quit. But this heavyhanded facist dictate makes me want to light up all the more!

As for 2nd hand smoke: there are those who are susceptable. However, my mom was a smoker. My dad smoked cigars, and was an athelete who even broke a world record. They had 6 very healthy kids. All grew to adulthood without any respiratory distress. Some even smoke. The grandkids are healthy. Some are atheletes. Her Dad smoked 4 packs of Belair/day, and lived to be 94. Risk, like beauty, is in the genes.

[pookie23]

Originally posted by sam8988378

As for 2nd hand smoke: there are those who are susceptable. However, my mom was a smoker. My dad smoked cigars, and was an athelete who even broke a world record. They had 6 very healthy kids. All grew to adulthood without any respiratory distress. Some even smoke. The grandkids are healthy. Some are atheletes. Her Dad smoked 4 packs of Belair/day, and lived to be 94. Risk, like beauty, is in the genes.

What sport did he participate in?

[funeralhome]

Last night was my first night out since the smoking ban and I utterly HATED it and I knew I was going to too. Most people at the lounge looked miserbale and bored and I could just see it in their faces that they wanted to smoke. I went to three bars last night and even the atmosphere is different and I'm not talking about the smoke but it's just STRANGE. It was so uncomfortable to go outside in the cold without my drink and freeze my fucking ass off.

I bartend at a club as well, and that I have to say was ok, since I can't drink on my shift and I need to smoke while I'm drinking. And yea, it was awesome to come home and not reek of cigarettes.

But anyway, I'm one of the few on here who's completely againt it. You don't like the smoke then don't fucking go out, move from where you are or lol, like someone else said, go to starbucks. I just can't fathom how in a wonderful city like this, you can't do what you want in a private business, even IF smoking isn't so wonderful after all.

[nyckitty69]

tangential, ...

there more important issues in nyc than banning smoking like the deficit, reducing unemployment, cleaning up the hudson river,etc.

who the hell voted for this mayor?

[clubgyrl00]

I went to Arc Friday night and I asked the bouncer at the door if we were allowed to smoke since he didnt take my cigarettes away and he replied that there was a designated smoking area...well after checking in my jacket, we found out it was a tiny roped off space outside...and it suxed b/c i was freezing in just a tank top...needless to say, i smoked maybe 2 cigarettes that night....which is better for me anyways...b/c i would have smoked a ton out of boredom in the beggining of the night when the club was empty. They were on top of anybody that did try to light up though inside.

[kitty19]

if you guys actually give a shit about not having bloomberg in office, we should all vote and make sure he doesnt win a second term.

he's announced he's running for mayor again for another term. he thinks that he's really popular here in nyc (48% of NYC thinks he's doing a great job).