Re: Bullying Smokers

Luckily, I've never smoked. My parents both smoked heavily and the constant smell of stale smoke, the yellow ceilings and net curtains, the horrible sight of fag ends stubbed out in dinner plates was enough to stop me from ever thinking about smoking - even when most of my friends were smokers.
However, having worked with drug users of all types during my professional career, I realise that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known to mankind. I've worked with heroin users who have been able to go "cold turkey" and give up their heroin habit. I've worked with cocaine and amphetamine users who have been able to give up their addictive behaviour. What do they have in common? The majority could still not give up smoking! Nicotine is a horribly addictive drug so it is no surprise that users will use all sorts of arguments to justify their habit.
Few, if anyone, would claim that it was acceptable for cocaine/heroin/speed addicts to snort, inject or smoke their drug of choice in public areas. For me, the use of tobacco is in the same category.

Re: Bullying Smokers

an amazing discussion and what good websites are all about - cheers lads and lassies fantastic stuff!!

I was a fag smokers years ago - gave up fags took to the pipe and cigars.

I started working in a Drug and Alcohol Authority in OZ and in all our staff meeting people lit up fags and smoked - I never did but was amazed - if I had had lit a cigar I would have been thrown out - such are the vagaries!

IMO working in the drug field I have never met as smoker who respected the needs of non-smokers. Legislation was absolutely necessary to put them in their true place - out on the street. To be honest we now have outdoors areas in our pubs for smoking but the climate permits that!!

OZ has now got its smokers % downn to 10% of the popn approx but the drug is of course still legal. smoking now has beccome totally unacceptable in all public places and so it should be.

An alcohol and drug authority that accepted smoking on the premises was ridiculous but that was the denial of society at the time - stop all other drugs but not smoking.

fags and alcohol are still legal drugs and will probably always be so - they just need controlling as we control our kids against dangerous behavior.

What a great thread and what great contributors!

Re: Bullying Smokers

lol

So as I stated then, smokers can't concede even this basic moral precept. You don't see anything ridiculous about wanting to combust a substance in public and fill a room with the smoke from that action.

Yet you would not tolerate a man walking into a pub and masterbating on the table. Neither would you tolerate say a bunch of sailors who walked in and let off coloured smoke distress flares just because they love the pretty colour smoke. You wouldn't tolerate kids coming in spraying grafitti on the walls.

Yet you expect the rest of the world to tolerate smokers lighting up and filling a room with smoke ! what a hoot !
If it weren't so tragic it would be hilarious but sadly it really is tragic.

We are where we are today, not because smokers have "seen the light" and realise how unacceptable it is to smoke in public, but because the rest of the world has long since had enough of selfish idiots who can't confine their addictions to their own home. We now have laws in place to force smokers out of public places and rightly so. Yet were those laws removed, most smokers would go back to their selfish habits. There is no "enlightenment" or collective of smokers that have "seen the error of their ways".

The rest of your argument really then centres around what you seem to believe is a right for society to pander to everyone's unsociable habits, though of course you will never concede that smoking is really that unsociable, after all millions did it for years on end !

I don't subscribe to your philosophy I'm afraid. I don't believe Britain should pander to addictions and provide dedicated places where those addicted people can perform their addictive habits, whatever they be. So no, I don't believe there should be pubs and/or restaurants dedicated to smokers. Nor do I believe we should have pubs dedicated to drug users. Equally I don't believe we should start building sets of public conveniences dedicated to Cottaging ! What kind of society would that result in ? What of our children having to grow up in such a society?
It is an utter nonsense.

If there is money available to build smoking pubs, spend that money instead on building smoking rehab/quiiting centres instead.

Personal addictions belong in one place only, and that's in your own home.

Re: Bullying Smokers

You speak for yourself.

Re: Bullying Smokers

Perhaps this is an opportune time to tell you about my dad.

He smoked Capstan Full Strength all his adult life (at least for as long as I knew him). He maintained that they were the only ones he could taste!

Being a Yorkshireman he was, of course, a tight-fisted bugger. For that reason, he never threw away his dog ends but put them in a large glass sweet jar. To save money, rather than buying a new packet of cigarettes, he would periodically take out some old dog ends, break them open and make roll-ups out of the tobacco.

Oh, it gets worse. He'd throw those dog ends into the sweet jar too, to be kept for future roll-ups. I assume that, latterly, he'd be smoking more tar than tobacco, but he was happy.

He lived to the age of 79

Re: Bullying Smokers

quote Realist

Yet you would not tolerate a man walking into a pub and masterbating on the table.

JEEZUS....what sort of pubs do you frequent Realist?

Re: Bullying Smokers

Deleted.

( I'm ashamed of meself even thinking it now).

Re: Bullying Smokers

oh mups YOU can clean up ya own 'pups'!

Re: Bullying Smokers

I'm still trying to give up,had all the patches,gum,peppermint sweets,the lot,plus the E-ciggy...reason I can't give is I am addicted,plus I enjoy a ciggy (roll up),plus any stress,and I reach for one.

IMO,if the government wanted to get rid of smokers,they should not be made/and sold,but they won't do that "Bann Tobacco" all together,cos they make loads of money from it.

Re: Bullying Smokers

That's like my mother-in-law. She's a heavy smoker and finally decided to try e-cigs instead.

Now she smokes both!