i used to dip snuff, can a day, i could by my brand at $2.10 a can (ya i know cheap stuff), i went to california on fire detail and needed another can because i didnt pack enough. I picked up the can of my brand, the lady rang it up and said $10.??, i almost crapped my pants right there. she went on to explain the difference in price was the taxes california had put on tobacco. I guess if you are going to raise taxes, might as well raise them on stuff that isnt food, shelter, or clothing.

kind of off topic but the discussion turned to taxes.....


this was in summer of 2001......

 

Yeah, here in WA cigs are ~$5 a pack.

I'm quitting at the end of the week. Did it once (for over a year), I'll do it again. This time, its personal! My father died of lung cancer a little over a year ago, and now, my mother has been diagnosed with the same! I just don't want to play those odds.

I find it extremely irritating how, err, irritating, and downright rude, that some folks can be to smokers. It's one thing if that smoker is being rude with his/her tobacco use, such as standing right at the main entrance of a building and making like a chimney, but often, even someone standing FAR out of the way, in designated smoking areas where there is an ashtray provided (outside!) will get dirty looks, sneers, or under-the-breath comments.

I predict that smoking will probably be nearly completely banned by 2020 at the latest. You'll start to see health insurers that will refuse to insure folks, or make the prices so outlandish that affording it will be impossible. Tobacco will be taxed more and more until smokes are $20 a pack, instead of a carton! The tobacco companies? They'll lose a lot of revenue, yes, but they'll probably carry on and export more cigs instead of selling them domestically.

None of this is good. The worst would be taking away the right altogether. If I, as an individual American citizen, choose to endanger myself, knowing the facts about what can happen, then let me! Its MY choice, after all.

The folks suing the tobacco companies? Nonsense!! How much sense do you need to realize that sucking smoke in to your lungs is bad? Heck, when you first START smoking, your own body tells you how bad it is! How many of you smokers out there on the board, when you inhaled your first lungful of smoke, didn't cough and hack and carry on?

Ok, off the soap box..

 

We got you beat Forrest, I live in a City thats on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan and Sask. passed the no smoking in any public places, as of 01/01/05
The Sask side of town will be in a world of hurt for business. We'll probably loss a couple of bars for sure over this one.

 

Here in Columbus we're banning smoking on Jan 31st. News Story

I've never smoked (anything), but I'm still against the government telling everyone else where not to smoke. I don't like smoke inside the building where I work - a small privately held company. However, the owners are nice enough to disallow smoking inside until the shift ends. I really dislike 54% of my neighbors who voted to ban it.

brandon.

 

Probably something like $3200.....Im sending you a slide rule Blue....


I dont smoke - never have - never will....its a vile, disgusting habit, JMO. Dont often set foot in a bar or lounge either - its hard on the lungs....although I must admit that inhaled my share of second hand smoke it my younger days - mostly cause thats were the all BEER was.....

 

Maine banned smoking at all public establishments - from malls to offices to bars and restuaruants. Period. The only exemption was private clubs (Elks, Eagles, etc...) The initial reaction was knee jerk and probably had some merit. Membership at the aforementioned clubs did spike so much so that several put limits on membership numbers. That lasted maybe 6 months. Any establishment had to provide an outdoor smoking area. One of the biggest complaints was that the State had the law take effect January 1. When it's cold outside. And snowy. And no one wants to go out. Instead of July 1 when it's warm and nice and people are more likely to go out. Ancedotes of mass restaurant and bar closures were grossly over inflated. The place we frequent is a little road house bar/restaurant. They did the "Smoking seciton" thing which was a farce but we liked the owners, the staff and the friends there. When the law went into effect, the owner took out about 1/3 of the tables in the restaurant section and put in a pizza oven hoping to pick up a delievery business to offset the bar loss. It's now been a year. Yes, business did drop off. And for about 6 months or so, it was down. But he has since bought the little place across the street and moved his pizza oven there and opened up a little store and put tables BACK into the dining area because the food sales have picked back up considerably. And the bar business is back up again as well. People are now just used to it. He's got a covered porch area where his smoking patron's can go.
I'm no "socialist pigdog". Quite the contrary, I lean more right than many. But smoking is a choice. It's one that I choose not to do. And in public places, I have just as much a right to be there as a smoker does. But I should also have a right to NOT be exposed to smoke if I don't want to be. No one is saying the smoker CAN'T smoke. But what they ARE saying is that if you CHOOSE to smoke, you have to do it somewhere where you do not impact those who CHOOSE NOT to. I have as much right NOT to have my clothes and body smell like smoke. But something YOU choose to do takes that right away from me.

Let's face it. If it were a guarantee that driving drunk wouldn't impact anyone else would it be the issue it is today?? Sure you run the risk of killing yourself but the end result is essentially the same with smoking, only quicker. But there is no such guarantee. So we have laws against drunk driving. Drunk driving is likewise a choice. Both impact those that are in the immediate vacinity of the smoker/driver.

 

I don't smoke, but starting to infringe on people is getting bad and will get worse. Soon we can't smoke, then we can't drink alcohol, then what is next? We can only drive Hybrids?? It needs to stop now before we can legally only leave our houses to go to work (yes an extreme example but you get my point)

 

Think of it for a second and I'm sure you'll the logic.

Example #1 You and I are standing next to each other. You light a cigarette and I get the smoke too. The smoke can and will cause me to die a horrable, painfull, and long, long death.

Example #2 You and I and standing next to each other. You take a drink. Nothing happens to me unless you drink too much and throw up on my shoes.

Do you see the difference?

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GREAT POST NIK!