The smoking ban - six months later

[Meddle]

If it were up to me smoking would be banned everywhere, except maybe inside your own home as long as no kids lived there.

Alternative would be to hike the per pack price to about $50 or so and limit sales to no more than 2 packs per day per person per merchant.

[blackmath]

If it were up to me smoking would be banned everywhere, except maybe inside your own home as long as no kids lived there.

Alternative would be to hike the per pack price to about $50 or so and limit sales to no more than 2 packs per day per person per merchant.

Yeah and then I'd make it illegal to keep Christmas lights up past January 1st because Christmas and lights may be offensive to some people. Then I'd make it illegal to own a stereo in your own home because someone might get offended. Then, I'd make it illegal to be able to paint your walls anything other than white because when the police do their monthly checks on suspected homes, we can tell who has been smoking by the stains on their walls. Then, we could install smoke detectors in everyone's home so we can know whether or not these horrible, satanic smokers are infecting MY AIR with their carcinogenic cigarette smoke. Making things illegal stops everyone from doing it, right? Worked like a charm during prohibition, yessiree bob.

Pardon me, I have to take the kids to WalMart in my Hummer.

[R8RBOB]

No confusion about public or private, but apparently what is and isn't legal.

Cigarettes, Cigars and anything with tobacco in it is a legal product.

Someone masturbating in public is illegal if they are doing it in a city park or doing it at Motor City.

So now it is legal and illegal!!!! You started off with public and private and now it is legal and illegal. Ok, I'm game.

The reason why public masturbation is illegal is because a group of men got together and said "that's indecent. We can't have guys jacking off in public. We need a law stating that lewd behavior is strictly prohibited." So they pass laws and things like masturbating is prohibited. You can still do it but not in public and in the presence of others.

Smoking is allowed but not in public settings because a group of men and women got together and said "we allow people to smoke in the open and non-smokers and children are subjective to smell like an ashtray due to no fault of theirs. Perhaps if we require smokers to go outsiders, non-smokers would be subjective to second-hand smoke." So they passed a law and smokers are required to go outside to smoke. You can still smoke but not in public establishments and in the presence of others

[Jman]

I'm a non smoker and have been affected by the new ban. When I go out I always have to wait longer for another drink as my waiter or waitress or bartender is outside smoking a cigarette. Yep, laugh cause it's funny but it is also the truth.

A corner shot and beer joint that has a smoking owner and smoking employees with a big sign on the door that warns all who enter that there is [[legal) tobacco smoking going on inside should be allowed to operate for those smokers who want to frequent such a place. I just don't understand people who would never be caught dead in such a place thinking that because they don't like smoke therefore no one shall sit in a bar and relax with a beer and a cigar/cigarette. I don't like fast food and everyone knows how unhealthy a 3,000 calorie fat ladened meal is but if someone wants to do that it's there choice not mine. Please spare me with sitting next to someone eating won't kill me because I choose not to go into those establishments but I don't feel the need to close them down for the publics healths sake. Please also spare me with your interest of the safety of the employees. All that tells me is you didn't read my first paragraph.

[Meddle]

Yeah and then I'd make it illegal to keep Christmas lights up past January 1st because Christmas and lights may be offensive to some people.

It isn't about what someone finds offensive. It's about public health.


Maybe we could let people smoke inside their own cars with the windows closed as long as no kids are ever transported inside that car. The car couldn't be resold though, it would have to be destroyed as hazardous waste.

[blackmath]

Maybe we could let people smoke inside their own cars with the windows closed as long as no kids are ever transported inside that car.

This is actually the law in Ontario, punishable by a ticket. Also, I just have a serious problem with the government telling me what I can and can't do in my own home. Hiding that behind the guise of "protecting children" or "public health" is very suspicious to me. Since when did this or any government give a rats ass about anything but control of its citizens, maintaining the status quo and increasing the GDP?

[Meddle]

Also, I just have a serious problem with the government telling me what I can and can't do in my own home.

Well, they say you can't have a meth lab inside your own home.

[blackmath]

Also, I just have a serious problem with the government telling me what I can and can't do in my own home.

Well, they say you can't have a meth lab inside your own home.

Crystal Meth is illegal.

[DetroitPole]

I truly and honestly cannot understand the fascination with smoking a nasty ass cigarette. I have never in my life smoked a cigarette and just don't get what's so exciting and grand about it. On top of that many smokers are quite arrogant and feel they have the right to blow their smoke in your face. I have on occasion had to confront smokers about smoking in my house or car. These people really don't understand how disgusting cigarettes smell to non-smokers and how the smell lingers in a location and in one's clothes. Why the hell do I want to smell your cigarette smoke in my clothes after you've long ago put the cigarette out? Funny thing is, whenever someone kicks the habit they complain that years later cigarette smoke makes them sick. No kidding? Non-smokers have been trying to tell you that for years.

Uhh...you do understand that it is a drug and an extremely powerful addiction, right? There isn't really anything "exciting and grand" about it.

[Downriviera]

Its ironic how the smokers are now standing outside bars to have a smoke. Before the ban I used to go outside of the bar to have some fresh air. I don't smoke cigarettes but I still think the ban is far too restrictive.

[lincoln8740]

They have these rights because the state did not ban "smoking." The state banned smoking in public establishments like bars and restaurants. It may be privately-owned but it is a public establishment. Nice try with the argument.

uh hey high and mighty- the state banned smoking also in PRIVATE establishments as well. They also banned smoking OUTSIDE at both public and private establishments

Speaking of Private Establishments and smoking---anybody go to "Back to the Club" night at the DAC?

How did they handle the whole smoking and drinking thing?

[Barbara_10]

If it were up to me smoking would be banned everywhere, except maybe inside your own home as long as no kids lived there.

Alternative would be to hike the per pack price to about $50 or so and limit sales to no more than 2 packs per day per person per merchant.

Sieg Heil
A little Hitler like, don't you think?

[wash_man]

"As we close in on the six month of Michigan's smoking ban, people are making a stink about repealing the law that ban smoking in restaurants and bars."

This is part of the problem. People tend to think this only applies to bars. It covers ALL work places to protect ALL employees. I remember an incident I experienced about 15 years ago. I sat in a small conference room for 10-12 hours one day reviewing some company business with two co-workers. Both of them were chain-smokers. They smoked all day long in that room. No windows. No ventilation. I was a contact lens wearer at the time. By the end of the day my eyes looked I had been on a ten day drinking binge. I coughed for several days after. This wouldn't even be an option today. Remember, it's not just about bars.

[MCP-001]

So now it is legal and illegal!!!! You started off with public and private and now it is legal and illegal. Ok, I'm game.

The reason why public masturbation is illegal is because a group of men got together and said "that's indecent. We can't have guys jacking off in public. We need a law stating that lewd behavior is strictly prohibited." So they pass laws and things like masturbating is prohibited. You can still do it but not in public and in the presence of others.

Smoking is allowed but not in public settings because a group of men and women got together and said "we allow people to smoke in the open and non-smokers and children are subjective to smell like an ashtray due to no fault of theirs. Perhaps if we require smokers to go outsiders, non-smokers would be subjective to second-hand smoke." So they passed a law and smokers are required to go outside to smoke. You can still smoke but not in public establishments and in the presence of others

You are dancing around the issue that tobacco is still a legal product.

Why not just come out and say that you want to ban smoking altogether because you know what is better for someone else, than they do?

[pffft]

You're talking about a theoretical ...what if ? It's raining therefore the sky is falling. You can't chain smoke in my office, therefore they're going to take away your right to smoke the walls gray in my house!
You can't take your clothes off in the middle of the street, therefore nudity is going to be banned! That's what they're really after! They want to tell you nudity is bad for you. It's the nanny state!

[MCP-001]

You're talking about a theoretical ...what if ? It's raining therefore the sky is falling. You can't chain smoke in my office, therefore they're going to take away your right to smoke the walls gray in my house!
You can't take your clothes off in the middle of the street, therefore nudity is going to be banned! That's what they're really after! They want to tell you nudity is bad for you. It's the nanny state!

It's called incrementalism. This is how government works.

From seat belt laws to the income tax, everything is done in little steps.

[East Detroit]

6 months later, I am loving it... been to restaurants, bars, concerts... and can breathe and see perfectly!

[DetroitPole]

Sieg Heil
A little Hitler like, don't you think?

How? What does that have to do with Hitler? Don't be stupid.

[R8RBOB]

You are dancing around the issue that tobacco is still a legal product.

Why not just come out and say that you want to ban smoking altogether because you know what is better for someone else, than they do?

Does MCP stand for the Master Control Program? I thought Flynn neutralized you. Just wondering.....LOL

As for the legal status of tobacco well MCP I do believe smokers can still buy their product. I don't recall protesters camped out at stores and gas stations in an attempt to stop any smoker from getting his or her smokes. As for banning smoking, I don't care about prohibiting people from smoking. I care only about going to a strip joint and not having to deal with the dancer's cigarette ash staining my clothes as she is talking to me. .....END OF LINE.....

[Barbara_10]

How? What does that have to do with Hitler? Don't be stupid.

The reference must be lost on you.
You must be very young....or stupid.

[MCP-001]

As for the legal status of tobacco well MCP I do believe smokers can still buy their product. I don't recall protesters camped out at stores and gas stations in an attempt to stop any smoker from getting his or her smokes. As for banning smoking, I don't care about prohibiting people from smoking. I care only about going to a strip joint and not having to deal with the dancer's cigarette ash staining my clothes as she is talking to me. .....END OF LINE.....

And what good is a legal product, if the state restricts where you can use it?

[wash_man]

And what good is a legal product, if the state restricts where you can use it?

Can you walk down the street with an open intoxicant? Didn't think so. Yet alcohol is legal.

[R8RBOB]

Can you walk down the street with an open intoxicant? Didn't think so. Yet alcohol is legal.

What are you doing? You are going to confuse the hell out of the MCP.

He don't remember the good old days when you could go to work and have an ashtray on your desk. How the air was filled with smoke. What's that smell? It's the smell of twenty cigarette butts in the ashtray. How about those days when you could smoke in the malls, the movie theaters, on Greyhound buses, on airplanes, hell everywhere and non-smokers got fed up and changes were made. No more smoking on flights. You want to smoke? Wait until you land. You want to smoke while you shop? There are plenty of exit doors to choose from. Need a cigarette to calm your nerves while you are typing that letter. Get up and take a cigarette break.

As I said before, no one is telling a smoker he or she can't smoke. They are telling him or her that it is a new day and deal with it or not but the ban is not going anywhere.

[Lowell]

I love the ban. How nice it is to be able to dine or visit a pub and not have my experience, let alone my lungs, spoiled by a known carcinogen and highly addictive drug and then come home with hair and clothes stinking.

As for all the rights argument, playing music in public could be called a right and legal, but does anyone here care to argue that one should have the right to set up a bank of megawatt speakers and blast them next to your house at 4 in the morning? There are limits to everything.

The voters of Michigan of all political persuasion overwhelmingly support these restrictions and the more they see its effects, the more they like it.

The casino allowance shows the dangerous political influence that industry is exercising. Their support of those "rights" is laughable especially as they have been granted an anti-free market oligopoly. So much for the "rights" of their competitors. And so much for their employees and the non-smoking customers who are the victims.

[Bobl]

I like not going home smelling like smoke, after enjoying good live Detroit music. I share Downriviera's amusement that, instead of non smokers going out for fresh air, we now have smokers going out for carcinogens.
Now, if I could just get C. [[my beloved partner) to quit, all would be good.