See a smoker? Call 911

To call 911 over a smoker seems to be a bit extremist.
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I think any city that bans smoking in public areas also have to ban cars and trucks in public areas.

Akiva

I should certainly hope most public areas that ban smoking also have a policy against driving your car or bus into them.

It isn't a choice of either breathing in the acrid nonesense from a cigarette or from a car, people are forced to deal with both.

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mejusthavingfun...out of curiousity do you ever ride or drive in cars?

Akiva

There legal to buy, legal to carry, hundreds of millions of dollars are generated with taxes on them. But, you just can't smoke them? Why doesn't the government just ban cigarettes? Is it because there in the pocket of big tobacco?

Thousands of things are banned by the government for being unhealthy. But, something that is a known carcinogen is sold in every state of the union, for public consumption. Huh, go figure.

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Fair enough. I think there should be rules for automobiles too.

Behold the wonders of public transportation.

I have this knack of spotting people dropping their valuables on the train, I was very tempted not to tell the man who dropped a pretty full pack of his Marlboros.

Yeah, after you see how all the Marlboro men in the ads who smoked got horrible lung cancer and died prematurely.

Anyone who manufactures tobacco products should be jailed for killing people.

Bunch of murderers, those tobacco companies.

They knew and they lied.

And they make a product that kills.

Smoke in your house if you must but keep it away from me! I don't want you out on your balcony smoking while I have to keep my windows closed on a hot day in order to keep the smoke from coming into my apartment. Also, why aren't smokers fined for throwing their stubs all over the street. It's disgusting. And to liken second hand smoke to car exhaust is like comparing same sex marriage to marrying a sheep. Keep your disgusting smoke away from me!

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We'll, I hardly think it's fair to target children. Did you guys see this month's National Geographic? There is an article called "Tobacco Planet." Almost a billion men smoke worldwide and some 250 million women smoke. In Armenia 70% of the population smokes. Most of Europe and Asia is around 50-65% for males and the US has a higher female demo at around 20-30% smoking. Largest number of quitters in the US, Honduras and Zambia.

They don't mention in the article, but these are not all chain-smoking people. In places like Peru smoking is extremely casual, so casual you buy single *cigarettes on the street. The article also states that 5 million people die from smoking-related illness each year.

It does not mention birth defects or environmental damage. By environmental damage I don't mean air pollution. At nearly 15 Billion cigarettes a day, that is a lot of cigarette butts that take around 10 years to biodegrade and tons of manufacturing waste. Littered butts are carried by wind and water into nearby bodies of water. The cancer causing agents in the filters leak into aquatic ecosystems, threatening the quality of the water and aquatic life. Cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of fish and birds that mistake them for food. So it's not like they are doing us much good outside the cancer part.

Updated On: 10/23/06 at 11:00 PM

I have to be honest here, I prefer car exhaust smell to cigerettes. (waiting for the brain cell jokes). Smoking is just so uncool these days. It's time to let go and move on.

I agree about the littering...and I don't have a car or smoke in pubic either.

But if you are are complaining about cigarettes so much, you should also be complaining about car fumes. They go in your face so much that you are probably so used to it and you barely notice anymore, whereas smoke you do. But if there was a ban in effect I don't think I could sign it on a matter of principle. I think we have to be very careful when it comes to supporting rights being taken away. Its a slippery slope that could lead to Footloose all over again. dancing is NOT a crime I tell you!

Akiva