Brett's Blog: 7 Places they should Ban Smoking
September 15, 2008 | by Brett Blumenthal | 52 Comments
by Brett Blumenthal
Let’s face it, smoking is a controversial topic. If you smoke, you probably feel that it is your personal right to smoke and that you should be able to do so anywhere you want to. On the other hand, if you don’t smoke, you probably feel that those who smoke around you invade your personal ‘healthy’ space; and that your health is being jeopardized due to other people’s personal choices.
I tend to have an extreme sensitivity to smoke. So much so, that when I’m driving on the highway, I can tell if someone is smoking in a car 100 feet in front of me. I kid you not. I am that sensitive. I’m not sure this level of sensitivity is typical, but I do know that many of my friends and family are also very sensitive to smoke and don’t really like to be around it. Granted, we have come a long way in regards to no-smoking laws, but from a non-smoker’s perspective, I think we could go a lot further.
Obviously, there are smokers who are very sensitive and try to minimize their impact on others, but unfortunately, many smokers aren’t. My friend Amy D. and I were chatting about this and we agreed that there are certain places where smoking seems contradictory to the perceived experience, and as a result, we wish no-smoking laws would be passed for these places. At the risk of offending some very nice smokers (it isn’t you, it is the smoke), here is our list:
- The Beach:
- Perceived Experience: You will get a healthy dose of the smell of salty, sea air as the warm breeze relaxes you and your toes play in the sand.
- Reality: When people smoke at the beach, the beautiful ocean breeze wafts smoke instead. Further, many people (not all people, but many) discard their cigarette butts in the sand, creating a landfill of cigarette carcasses.
- Parks/Nature Preserves:
- Perceived Experience: You leave the city to get away from the smog and pollution. You look forward to the beautiful fresh, clean air of the mountains and running streams.
- Reality: Your hike through the wilderness is taken over by smoke instead of the smell of pine trees. Not only do you need more oxygen because of your hike and altitude, but now you need oxygen because of the smoke.
- Outdoor Cafes:
- Perceived Experience: It is a beautiful day and instead of eating all cooped up inside, you dine al fresco, hoping to enjoy the warmth of the sun and a light, natural, non-air conditioned breeze.
- Reality: Many restaurants don’t let people smoke inside, but yet, they haven’t extended that law to their outside facilities. As a result, you end up preoccupied with the quality of your air than the quality of your food.
- Marathons / Triathlons / Ironmans / Bike Races:
- Perceived Experience: World class athletes are pushing themselves to the max. Oxygen is their life and their fuel.
- Reality: While at the Boston Marathon, I was blown away by the number of people who were smoking at the finish line. The poor athletes just had completed a 26 mile course, only to be greeted by clouds of smoke. So much for a cool down with quality oxygen intake.
- Skiing/Snowboarding:
- Perceived Experience: Much like the ‘Parks/Nature Preserves’, you escape to the mountains for some one-on-one with nature, snow and skiing. You look forward to the majestic views of the slopes from your favorite chair lift.
- Reality: The people in front of you on the chair lift are taking their 10 minute smoke break. You feel like you are in a tobacco plant as the breeze gently carries the smoke down the mountain back at you.
- Zoos/Amusement Parks:
- Perceived Experience: You look forward to seeing your children’s faces light up while watching the lions, tigers and bears. Oh, my!
- Reality: You and your children feel like you are soon to be on the endangered species list as you vie for a smokeless viewing point.
- At Entrances of Bars and Public Buildings:
- Perceived Experience: Yes, you found a popular bar to go to for your Friday night outing. That is okay, though, you’ll be on line with your friends.
- Reality: Since your local city doesn’t allow smoking inside the bar, all of the smokers crowd outside of the front door to inhale their favorite ciggy. The wait with your friends isn’t so pleasant after all.
Are there any places that you wish would outlaw smoking?
Related Topics:
- Breathing and its Benefits
- Top 10: Bad Gym Etiquette
- Thank God I wasn’t THAT Person!
- Should the Government Ban McDonald’s?
WOW — I responded before I read all the comments…WOW, I was not quite as riled up as I thought
more people out there much more riled up than me!
OMG Brett! I love love love Sheer Balance and everything I have learned from you but I so disagree with you on this point — and I am a NON-smoker, not an ex-smoker, a non-smoker, never smoked a day in my life. But not smoking in outside venues – the beach??? My God we cannot go that route….that is going too far….
Hi Andrea,
This is indeed a very sensitive subject and very personal and very controversial. As someone who is allergic to smoke, it kills me when I go hiking thinking I’m going to get some great fresh air to be inundated with smoke from people smoking on the trails. Allergies of smoke are no fun…so, I am an extremist, I admit. Thanks for your comment though…I respect all opinions and can easily see both sides of the equation on these things…
Best,
Brett
I am an ex smoker, my wife still smokes. I abhor non-smoke nazis. I understand not smoking in public buildings, but outdoors, come on, just because you smell it doesn’t mean it is doing you damage.The very reason some resturants have outdoor eating ares is to accomadate the non smoke nazis, you didn’t want them inside, they moved outside, now they are having too much fun, you want that area too. If you don’t like to “smell” smoke stay home in your pristine bubble. Leave the rest of us alone!! It should be an establishments choice whether they wantr to be smoking or non smoking, that way the smoking places could be avoided by the non smoke nazis. The problem is, you nazis want to dominate all establishments. Stay your sweet smelling asses home!!!!!
I’d like to add some additional rants. In the previous post I focused on my home situation, now let’s talk government bans. As I remember being taught as a school kid, the constitution said we are a free people. What happened? Now, all you hear is “Do this Don’t do that”. Those colorful little “NO SMOKING” signs are popping up all over like weeds in an empty lot. Cities all over the country are banning smokers from more and more places. My city recently passed an ordinance banning smoking in restaurants, bars, nightclubs, bingo halls, and ALL workplaces. One local hospital bans it ANYWHERE on hospital grounds OUTSIDE as well as inside. It’s getting really rediculous and out of hand. I agree with a previous poster who said we’re tired of being treated like criminals. If you look at pollution statistics, you’ll be surprised to learn of all the poison you breathe everyday from the air. Vehicular exhaust, power plants, factories. In my city residents who live near a chemical plant complex are developing cancers at a rapid rate, but the offending plants are denying responsibility. When I drive through that area,there’s always a haze and foul odor, and it’s NOT from smokers. Never mind the chemical plants, lets sock it to smokers instead. Am I missing something,or is there an unfair element here?
I was always taught in school this is a free country. Imagine that. The constitution that the Founding Fathers of this nation devised has been chopped on so much it might as well go in a shredder. Every time you blink a new regulation is born. Yes, I am a smoker- I smoke a pipe, and I enjoy it. I live with two non-smokers,my daughter and her husband,and it has caused discussions between us. This is my home,they moved in after my wife died so I wouldn’t be alone. Frankly, there are times I wish they didn’t. They try to inpose smoking rules on me in the name of “respect” for their dislike of smoke.They want me to smoke only in certain areas of the house away from them. This was MY house to start with, so where’s respect for me? My daughter grew up with my smoking but now she’s a rampant non-smoking bully. She made her husband quit smoking before he married her,now he’s as bad as her. Bottom line: I’m not giving up something I enjoy just to have harmony in the house. They don’t like it- there’s the door.
Exactly… its not JUST tobacco the plant.. its the cyonide the poisons the toxins the tar the smell the unpleasentness. Look you guys are selfish enough to choose to smoke, stop blaming us for making you uncomfortable.. I personally think smoking should be banned everywhere public. Smoke a cigarette at home if you wanna smoke. I have a pregnant wife and boy do i wanna just clock every guy i see puff a huge cloud when were about to walk by. Like one of my favorite actors said once, if you want to jump out a plane without a chute be my guest, but please forgive me if i dont join you.. Its not the weak immune system its the fact that its gross!.. Take that stuff home cause im sure your house smells like smoke anyway.. with your ash-filled ash trays and cig burns in your couch..
I’m also highly sensitive to smoke and get glares when I cough around smoking, even though I can’t help it. I don’t think the point is that nonsmokers who have problems with inhaling smoke are trying to police the personal health decisions of smokers. Even the federal government has conceded that cigarette smoke is a health risk.
To Anamaria: And I do have a compromised immune system and have spent much time volunteering for causes such as assisting survivors of sexual assault.
Yesss… What you people haven’t realized yet is that we are plotting to kill you all, by smoking outdoors, so you can all choke to death. Mwahahaha!!
Good thing you have nothing against sitting at a camp fire, 2 feet away from it… Probably your lungs are immune to THAT kind of smoke…
Jesus, people! It’s not like we’re aliens spurting cyanide on people! Tobacco is a plant too… And being worried you will die from a faint smell 100 feet away, means you are killing yourselves with stress. Remember… Hypochondria is a somatoform DISORDER. (=that mimics disease or injury that can’t be attested medically, PHYSICALLY)
Look… I always try not to offend non smokers, by taking my smoke outside of their huge personal space… But I’m tired of feeling like a criminal. How about you worry about drunkards beating their wives, or rapists, or something WORTH WORRYING???
I pity your immune systems.
And no, I’m not hating… More than a dog cornered in a dead end by a person with a baseball bat…
Drugstores and grocery stores with pharmacies who let their employees smoke outside the FRONT entrance! There’s nothing like going to have a prescription filled for a migraine or ASTHMA only to find you have to walk through a cloud of smoke (even one cigarette makes a small cloud) because employees smoke right outside the front entrance! At least…..please have the employees smoke at the BACK entrance where customers can avoid the smoke! It’s common sense!
And to “smokie free” , squeezing a pillow is NO substitute for a good smoke. If I’m hurting myself, that is my decision. As far as family and friends, if they are afraid of the smoke or don’t like the smell , then they can stay away. Wouldn’t bother me the least bit. I much prefer to “hang” with my smoking friends rather than have to give it up to be with non-smoking, whining people, family and friends included.
Dr Romero, in answert to your question posed above, it really doesn’t matter to me the length of my life. Sure the government with all the regulations they are putting in place and trying to make people quit smoking is for one reason and one reason only…money! The longer you live, the longer you have to work and pay into the tax system. They make money. Also, if it cuts down on the health care costs, they make money.
I really resent the new taxes being placed on cigarettes too. They are being used to fund SCHIPS or health coverage for uninsured kids. Baloney! Let the parents pay for health insurance just like I did when my kids were growing up. If they can’t afford it , too bad. Should have thought of that before they made the decision to have kids. A condom costs about .50 rather than me now being saddled with paying thousands of dollars to insure their offsprings. I am looking for and am having success with skirting this new tax. I refuse to pay to raise someone else’s kids.