First if the government wants to stop people from smoking they will spend heavily on education AND make cigarettes illegal. They won't though because the government is addicted to cigarette taxes. This is what makes laws like these so unbelievable. They are setting new heights on how much they can restrict LEGAL activity. Want to make it illegal like drugs? Fine, thats a whole other debate and if it passes then the government has every right to restrict it's use this heavily.

As for your health care arguement. So if you like to eat fatty food and get a heart attack should you pay your own bills? If you like to have multiple sex partners and get AIDS should your pay your own bills too? Both cases are "preventable" like smoking diseases. You see the dangers in using that arguement? It can come back and bite you in the ass on so many levels.

What you dont realize that this is a matter of rights, not smoking. Let them do this and one day they will use the same precedent to ban things that you might actually like to do.

quote:

Originally posted by Jayx1 Exactly my arguement regarding junk food in schools.

Banning junk food in a government regulated building is hardly the same as banning smoking on private property.

hmmmm this is pretty interesting to read.

They have just announced a ban on smoking in bars/clubs/pubs starting 2007 in Sydney (well, the whole state actually). I think it is a great move, but i don't think they should be able to regulate personal space, like those people are suggesting here.

AJ beware because they wont stop until they are made to stop. Banning smoking in public places continued for years and now that they accomplished that in entirety they are going after personal space. These people won't stop because a) its their full time job to lobby against smoking and if the cause goes away so will their job and b) these people suffer from holier than thou mentality and feel the need to spread their gospel through legislation.

Beware Australia!

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut I don't think it should be illegal, I just think that anyone caught smoking within 5 feet of a small child should be shot on sight.

My mom would have so many holes in her body she'd be see through if this was the case! I was raised in a home with both my parents smoking, in AND out of the house, as well as in the car for trips, etc. Definately should be enforced, and i think it should be looked into in homes as well (with small infants and children). I grew up with migraines almost my whole life, allergies were brutal, and i was constantly battling with throat infections and i strongly believe the secondhand was the main contributer.

I think its a form of child abuse, and a lot worse than a little spanking or backhand. Bring on the whoopins', id rather have that than a house full of smoke.

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So there are 2 ways to go about this.

Charge the parents with neglect OR ban smoking entirely.

I vote for the latter...of course it won't happen.

I read something about a province wide ban on smoking in public spaces proposed for 2007, I think?

fair warning to business owners everywhere...you have OVER TWO YEARS to begin to modify your establishments

However, IMHO, the provincial gov't also has a responsibility to spell out EXACTLY what will be acceptable in terms of smoking rooms, patios, etc. to be fair to those business owners so that they can comply...

quote:

Originally posted by MarkT one of the great Utilitarians..."On Liberty" is a good, short read. The "tyranny of the majority" is a concept unfortunately lost on so many people here with regards to the rights and well being of minority groups. What is best taken from the Utilitarians, IMHO, is exactly what you mention. Everyone should be free to pursue their own happiness, so long as that happiness does not infringe upon the ability of others to do the same. It's that last part that seems to be forgotten these days I think you also bring up an interersting point...this isn't just about a parent and THEIR kid. I think that on this specific issue, I have to ultimately agree with the others though...despite my vehement opposition to smokers lighting up around non-smokers. I'm not sure this type of bylaw is the right way to correct what should at least be recognized by everyone as very unhealthy behaviour. I just wish that people could present their positions in a less inflammatory, wildly exaggerated, politician-like manner. It seems that every little bylaw proposal is seen as a march towards a Big Brother society...which is silly.

Kinda like what I said before... the right to life takes precedence over the right to property. If one person is directly harming another physically through their behaviour, they not only should but MUST be stopped.

But I'm not for such a by-law either, I'm against it, and for a very good reason: in order for it to be enforceable, we would need to have almost all of our privacy rights stripped away.

Sort of like what happened with the "war on drugs." Supposedly it's in the public interest, and perhaps it does benefit most of the population to restrict drug usage, but many of our fundamental freedoms had to be eroded in order to set up the infrastructure within which enforcement of those restrictions can take place. And stripping away fundamental freedoms leads to abuse - like courts spelling out in no uncertain terms that police can drag somebody out of their car and strip-search them on the suspicion that they might have a radar detector.

Lord only knows where it would lead if the government passed this law and tried to enforce it. What would they do, litter the roads with cameras, or put cameras in people's cars? It's impossible to track who is smoking in their cars, especially who is smoking in cars with small children, so while it is by no means a "Big Brother" move to want to stop this behaviour from happening, it might very well lead to Big Brother moves in order to enforce it.

There's nothing wrong with the law, though - I'm all for it. Jeff, what you said is crazy, it must have been brutal growing up under those conditions. Nobody should have to be subjected to that. It's a no-win situation though - I think the only real way out is to ban cigarettes completely, and I just don't see that happening.

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quote:

Originally posted by Floorwhore My mom would have so many holes in her body she'd be see through if this was the case! I was raised in a home with both my parents smoking, in AND out of the house, as well as in the car for trips, etc. Definately should be enforced, and i think it should be looked into in homes as well (with small infants and children). I grew up with migraines almost my whole life, allergies were brutal, and i was constantly battling with throat infections and i strongly believe the secondhand was the main contributer. I think its a form of child abuse, and a lot worse than a little spanking or backhand. Bring on the whoopins', id rather have that than a house full of smoke.

Me too. She smoked while pregnant with me, and around me my whole life.

Along with the throat infections (hospitalized once, and put onto IV because my throat swelled shut making me unable to drink or eat for a week), and bad allergies, I also developed severe asthma and was hospitalized 4 times growing up because I could not breathe. I was also hopitalized twice for migraines, which I believe are partly caused by the other health issues from the smoke.

Now that I don't live at home, I haven't had an asthma attack in almost over a year. My allergies are way less severe, and my chest no longer hurts. My migraines are weaker in strength, and last for shorter durations.

I can breathe for the first time in my life, and I KNOW that it is because I am no longer around cigarette smoke.

I sound like one big physical health issue from all of the times I needed to see doctors and be hospitalized. This isn't fair to do to a small child that cannot do anything to fight against it. I wish cigarettes were banned. They are horrible nasty things, and I can tell you that cigarettes have brought nothing but problems into my life, and many others.

Not smoking in front of the kids is PARENT'S responsibity !

I just think they should ban cigarettes from coming across the borders. This country has already banned so many import substances, what's one more? If people tried to fight the ban, it would raise awareness about the constitutional issues behind all the other shit that's banned for no good reason; if the ban stood, everybody here would be a lot better off health-wise.

No need for all these kooky mini-bans, just settle the issue once and for all and get rid of them completely. Yeah the government makes plenty of tax money from them, but I'm sure they can handle a cut of a few billion in a trillion-dollar budget.

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My party schedule:
2009-02-21 - DJ Attention @ I'm So Popular
2009-06-18 - DJ Annoying @ People Need To Know Where I'll Be
2012-11-32 - DJ Insufferable ɸ Or At Least the Stalkers I Complain About
2048-06-66 - Spastic & Whocares ¶ Although I'm Actually Flattered
9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here