Poll: Should smoking be made illegal?

[Eri]

No, because prohibition doesn't work. Making smoking illegal would be the same as making drinking illegal in the 20s, or making marijuana illegal. All you end up with is more crime, and more people clogging up the criminal justice system with petty offenses.

It works both ways. If it was so petty, why would they commit a crime just to do it?

 

[Wolfram23]

Where I live it's pretty much illegal to smoke in most public places, and near entrances to buildings and such. I like it, I definitely don't notice smokers so much anymore.

However, I think people should be free to do what they want. Yes, including harming themselves. I think that a lot of drugs should be legal, but controlled as well as have restrictions on areas of usage... for example, if you're under any influence while driving you lose your liscense.

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

I think they should tax it. But it is no way right for the Government to ban it. We should be allowed to put whatever the hell we want into our body. I'm not a smoker and I've never had drugs.

 

[Railgun88]

If you want to see smokers start mobbing stores and killing people. Sure, go ahead. Also, if alcohol were to be banned with it I'm sure we would all see a repeat of the prohibition. And we remember the prohibition, right? Just learn from the past, lest we make the same mistakes.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Me being a liberal, I argued that people, knowing the dangers of smoking, should choose for themselves if they want to do it or not.

I hate to break it to you, but that isn't a liberal viewpoint. Liberals are responsible for all of the laws that negatively impact smokers. Your viewpoint is libertarian at best, and conservative at worst.

Ah, sorry. It's the same word in Swedish, I mistranslated.

Ah. Didn't know English wasn't your native language. Your English was pretty good, so it never occurred to me.

 

[Shycte]

It would just be a mess if it was banned entirely.

But I am all for banning it in public places, I feel really sick when I smell cigarette smoke. And people aren't very considerate in where they smoke, so.

Oh yeah?

And every time you make a smoker stand out in the rain because they want a cigarette but you don't want them in the same room you're being very inconsiderate to them too (it works both ways, you are not inherantly morally superior because you choose not to smoke, and this is coming from a non-smoker).

Maybe the next time you see someone light up on a rainy day maybe you should be considerate enough to wait outside while they finish.

The thing is that he is being passive while the other is responsible for the actions. Smoking around others who does not wish it is disrespectful, just like drinking, speaking to loud, having sex etc etc.

 

[Eri]

No. If smoking is banned then drinking has to be banned as well.

Drinking doesn't harm your health unless you overdo it. Smoking harms you regardless of amount smoked.

You do know that every drop of alcohol destroys a number of brain cells right? Alcohol is worse than weed man.

No. No it doesn't. And no it isn't.

 

[Sun Flash]

*snip*
Ah, sorry. It's the same word in Swedish, I mistranslated.

Actually, European liberal and American (at least US) liberal are kind of different. European Liberals are Libertarian; freedom of choice ect. Whereas US Liberalism is more left wing socialism that leans towards authoritarianism (I think).

So you didn't so mistranslate, as the word has different connotations on either side of the Atlantic

sorry for sticking my nose in, just thought I'd give my two cents.

OT: Not illegal. I think the dangers of smoking are publicly known enough, I mean, who doesn't know smoking leads to an increased risk of cancer and other respiratory problems? Just leave it as it is. "We've" done all we can to warn people, it's up to them if they want to continue harming themselves and everyone else around them.

As a side note, I feel I should mention that I use this as an argument in the legalisation of marijuana. It doesn't make sense (to me) that smoking, which is infinitely more harmful than weed, is legal when the latter isn't.

 

[Shpongled]

No, because prohibition doesn't work. Making smoking illegal would be the same as making drinking illegal in the 20s, or making marijuana illegal. All you end up with is more crime, and more people clogging up the criminal justice system with petty offenses.

It works both ways. If it was so petty, why would they commit a crime just to do it?

That logic doesn't really work. The weed isn't petty, it's very much enjoyable. It's the criminal offense that's petty.

They happily commit a petty crime because they know the punishment of getting caught is negligible, and the chances of actually getting caught are so minimal that the reward of smoking a nice J at the end of the day is more than worth the small risk.

 

[Chechosaurus]

Certainly not! I thought that it should when I was much younger but now I really don't. Although I am a smoker, I do want to quit and I am intending to do so after my up coming exams. Even so, it is a breach on civil liberties to ban something like smoking. If you did, you'd have to criminalise alcohol and other such substances and you only need to look a prohibition in America during the 1920s to see why that's a bad idea.

I'll admit that it is a drain on the health services but that is why it is taxed so highly. People have a right to do with their body what they will. I do not belong to the government and I am nobody else's property and so I am entitled to do what I like to myself. To even suggest criminalising tobacco is, quite frankly, retarded.

I believe that it should be banned in public places (like it is here in the UK) but that's only because I don't want to subject other people to second hand smoke just because I want to have a cigarette. If someone says that smoking should be illegal because it's bad for you, they are basically saying that McDonalds should be illegal. It's all the same really. Just because it's bad for you, doesn't mean it should be illegal. I never force anyone to breathe my second hand smoke... Unless it's in the car and I'm driving but I always open the window and even then... I am driving them somewhere and thus doing them a favour. Least they can do is let me smoke in my own car. Tell your friend that he is a retarded fascist from me.

 

[Unesh52]

And every time you make a smoker stand out in the rain because they want a cigarette but you don't want them in the same room you're being very inconsiderate to them too (it works both ways, you are not inherantly morally superior because you choose not to smoke, and this is coming from a non-smoker).

If you're sitting in a restaurant and someone whips out a mandolin and just starts wailing on it, singing some old song all out of tune, I think you would be very cross. If you're the assertive type you may even get up and tell the other patron to stop it or leave. Hell, the restaurant owner may insist on it himself. Is it inconsiderate to tell the guy off? Of course not; that sort of action is intrusive and irritating, and therefore he is the one who should stop. Same concept. If "moral superiority" entails not acting in such a way that pisses everyone else in the room off, then yes, the non-smoker enjoys a position of moral superiority in that situation.

 

[Eri]

No, because prohibition doesn't work. Making smoking illegal would be the same as making drinking illegal in the 20s, or making marijuana illegal. All you end up with is more crime, and more people clogging up the criminal justice system with petty offenses.

It works both ways. If it was so petty, why would they commit a crime just to do it?

That logic doesn't really work. The weed isn't petty, it's very much enjoyable. It's the criminal offense that's petty.

They happily commit a petty crime because they know the punishment of getting caught is negligible, and the chances of actually getting caught are so minimal that the reward of smoking a nice J at the end of the day is more than worth the small risk.

if you get caught, you go to jail. How is that negligible? Also just because it's enjoyable doesn't make it less petty.

 

[MrHero17]

Let it remain legal, people need to have the freedom to make stupid choices. I also think we should get rid of the sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes and just give them the same tax rate we give everything else.

 

[Double A]

Public places only. Second hand smoke presents a danger to the health of people in the general vicinity, and that it stinks worse than a hog pen only makes it worse.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'm actually going a bit farther with this: Smoking should remain legal and other such drugs should also be legalized and regulated. This would deal a massive blow to he various drug cartels. When I say legalized though, I say that in the same sense that alcohol is legal. You can drink it but not while operating heavy machinery or while working. Obviously, a percentage of people will not heed the laws and kill themselves during drug induced road trips. I just defeated my own thought.

...

Anyway: in a truly free society the citizenry should be able to do with themselves whatever they want so long as it doesn't harm others. I think that's how the Turians do things...

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I'm sure I'm not the only one that had this [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition] in their head when they saw this thread....

Yeah, click that link and read the article, and will find the repercussions that happened.

 

[LikeTeeth]

I've always been annoyed by the stigma on smoking. My situation is that not only am I addicted to smoking, I actually really, really enjoy it. I'm kinda like that guy from XXX that says if he could smoke in his sleep he would. I'm not as creepy though, nor do I smoke as much. You know what? I'm not like that guy.

I figure if the only person I'm hurting now is myself (it's illegal to smoke in bars in Australia and I really don't think second hand smoke in the street could be harmful considering how much it takes to actually cause damage) then what's the big deal?

If people have a problem with me smoking because it's bad for me, does that mean I have the right to go into a fast food place and tell all the fat people they're killing themselves with deliciousness?

 

[saruman31]

The impact of drinking is 10 times bigger than smoking. Im not talking about the ones who drink with some friends occasionally but for those who get overly aggressive and as consequence people get hurt or die.
These things will never be made illegal because of the profit they generate.