Hey there Halifax smokers (I used to be one of you),
when I smoked, I gave absolutely no-shits about smoking wherever the fuck I wanted because I was a smoker and no one was going to infringe on my rights to smoke wherever the fuck I wanted.
Well. Now that I’ve quit smoking, I realize how awful it is to be FORCED to breath in smoke every single time it is raining and there are people huddled around entrances smoking. It’s not fair to me. It’s not fair to anyone who is a non-smoker. Especially on a certain University campus (the biggest in the city) where smoking is prohibited, I couldn’t wait for a friend of mine today because there was so much smoke in the entrances. It might be a “right” to choose to smoke, but I think it’s a much more legitimate right that I have access to fresh air at all times.
Seriously. Please move away from high-traffic pedestrian areas. It sucks. It makes it hard for me to continue not smoking, and I really want to continue not smoking so that I might be healthy again. Please don’t force me to breath in those cancerous clouds of death. Thank you.
Dumbasses.
—Halifox
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2009.
Don’t like it, don’t breathe you damn hypocrite
Enough of the “smoking near doorways” bitches….please stop posting them……Borrrrring!
“when I smoked, I gave absolutely no-shits about smoking wherever the fuck I wanted because I was a smoker and no one was going to infringe on my rights to smoke wherever the fuck I wanted.”
“Dumbasses.”
messy argument presented right there.
The OP’s point is that as a smoker they didn’t give a shit but now they realize why non-smokers complain about it. I agree, I don’t want to breath in smoke when I walk in and out of the door. How about i sit in front of the doorway and drop my flatulence for you to smell and breathe in every time you walk in the door… would you like it?
As you said to others when you smoked – Fuck you. Nothing worse than a reformed smoker. Reminds me of born-agains.
I am a smoker who is currently trying to quit and I never would think to light up in a door way or any place where people are gathered, l don’t smoke anywhere around my child or anyone else’s for that matter. This isn’t a smoking bitch, it’s a bitch about inconsiderate people who not only don’t care about themselves but don’t give a shit about anyone else’s health. I know that it’s addictive, but you have a choice where to light up, I have enough respect for other peoples space to not smoke in public, other’s should too.
GO Real chick, GO! 🙂 Inconsiderate assholes suck, whether they smoke or not.
There’s nothing wrong with smoking “in public”… but near a busy entrance I can see why common sense would dictate stepping a few feet further back, it’s not that hard.
Despite my previous comment, I’m with Real Chick on this one. I try to go out of my way around non-smokers (ask my boyfriend of two years who doesn’t smoke), and even when I’m walking around in a public building where smoking is permitted (the casinos in Vegas) I carry around an ashtray so I don’t flick my ashes on the carpet
But posts like this (an ex smoker who’s acting like a hypocrite) causes me to WANT to be a rude smoker… Even though I could never really pull it off
I’m glad a former smoker can admit to such a mindset :)! I agree with everything REAL CHICK says! It’s all about choice; you chose to smoke, you can also choose where to smoke. I know some smokers who are very nice people, but when they smoke they turn into the most inconsiderate people…like someone could forget 50 times that another person doesn’t like smoke :P!
You know what drives me nuts as a smoker? When I go out of my way to be 20+ feet away from doors and air intakes and high-pedestrian traffic areas, and some jackass with a stroller or a small child watches me take a drag, gravitates right to my smoke and then gives *me* the dirty look.
I have been known to put out a cigarette when someone brings a child within 10 feet of me when I am smoking – but if you make it your business to get right in the way of the smoke, don’t look at me like I’m Hitler.
As I said, inconsiderate assholes suck, whether they smoke or not.
The right to life-giving fresh air will ALWAYS exceed a smoker’s rights.
I don’t assume that just because *I* smoke, everybody around me should. I go out of my way to be considerate to non-smokers, and I rarely light up in public, let alone in crowded places, but once in awhile, you just “gotta have one”.
I specifically place myself as far from people as possible, but for some reason, these jackasses go out of their way to walk through my smoky air for the express purpose of being an asshole. So Oceanlady – if you go out of your way to be an asshole, you lose your rights to “fresh God-given” air… (God gave us pollutants other than cigarette smoke that are found in the “fresh” air, BTW)
ocean lady really has a massive hard on for fresh air
Smokers think they are so self righteous, yet everyday I see them throwing their butts on the ground and out of car windows. Smokers stink and they are litter bugs!
How much you wanna bet the Bro Tim is a scumbag smoker?
Ahhhhh yes, the lovely fresh air of Halifax with its lack of emission standards for cars (air-care in BC), 10-20 year-old technology on its buses (2010 truck engines are now 95% emission free, at great cost – buses are exempt)….mmm mmm good.
Not to mention the reeking odour of cheap perfume, arm-pits and arse-crack that now pervades every bar, where it was once nuetralized by some harmless tobacco smoke…
Sebastien, not all smokers toss their butts. And as if all non-smokers never litter… whatever…
OP go f-yourself. Your bitch was fine until you got to the part where you insulted everyone calling them dumbasses. Your approach needs some work
it will be 2 years on 07/12/07 that i quit thank god i don’t have to play any more reindeer games with non-smokers; just ban it and get it over with already
And to think it wasn’t that long ago that every bar, Tim’s, and food court had people puffing away hassle free. It’s a slippery slope.
The smokers at the entrance to Scotia Square, at the corner of Duke and Barrington, are horrible for this. I always have to hold my breath to get through the haze.
bad mrfrosty, I can assure you that bus engines are not exempt from the 2010 emission regulations. And for the last 5 years all major bus manufacturers (NewFlyer, NovaBus, Thomas, Blue Bird and IC Corp for examples) have had bus engines equipped with Diesel Particulate Filters that retain soot then burn themselves clean as required. Thomas uses a Mercedes engine that will meet the 2010 standards by using an upgraded DPF and engine control system while they and other manufacturers who uses Cummins will also have a new Diesel Exhaust Fluid system that will further filter the by-product of the DPF system.
Also, many transit agencies have made improvements including running bio-diesel, but I haven’t come across many trucking firms who have bio-diesel contracts with their fuel suppliers.
It’s amazing people hack and cough when they’re 20ft from a smoker, yest gleefully inhale exhaust fumes with nary a bat of an eye. What I love best is when smokers go outside to smoke their non-smoking friends join them.
Yes I smoke. Scumbags come in both sexes, all colours and religions (or non), smokers and non-smokers, so fuck off on that idiotic comment Liverpool.
You know what’s funny and idiotic about the whole exhaust fumes vs cigarette argument? Transportation is unfortunately a necessity in our world while smoking cigarettes serves no purpose whatsoever. So while it would be nearly impossible to ban vehicles, there’s no reason why not to ban smoking.
aside from the fact that cigarettes will not be banned in any of our lifetimes due to the tax revenue.
I’d like to point it out ONE MORE TIME…
Remember the smoking rooms ,in bars & resturants ?
Remember how happy the nonsmoking Nazi’s were, when the Government finally bowed to the stupidity-(my opinion) of getting rid of the compromise which was smoking & nonsmoking spaces in the same private business ?
Well your dealing with that, simply because, you non smoking assholes refused to allow the compromise & had to have it YOUR WAY.
I am a nonsmoker & I just don’t believe I have the right to force my belief(s) down the throats of others & was very happy with the compromise of smoking sections. That it has come back & is biting nonsmokers in the ass, is IMO a great reason for both sides to go back to their government elected masters & non smokers tell them WE WERE WRONG…BRING BACK THE SMOKING ROOMS ! While the Smokers agree with them & request the smoking rooms to be reopened.
But for most people admitting they’re wrong is an impossiblity !!! So now what are they up to…Ban tobacco altogether, which if/when it happens will put thousands of normally law abiding smokers into the same place pot smokers are now, subject to arrest, search & seizure of their property & criminal convictions, fines & prison time…isn’t Canada (because of some Canadian people) a wonderful place :'(
I would just like to say that no one should be saying that Halifax air is bad…go to any big city for a day and blow your nose! I visited London (UK) a couple times and it took less than a day before my kleenex was black! I’m loving this wonderful “dirty” Halifax air.
Oooh, and “harmless tobacco smoke”?! I’m assuming that’s a joke Frosty! Maybe not all people suffer from bronchial issues but I assure you, many do, and it reallly sucks when you get one because someone doesn’t want to get up and go outside. When I was younger I got bronchitis and throat infections a couple times each year because of my chain-smoking babysitter. It stopped for a while until I moved in with my dad who smoked inside all the time. More puffer fun and not being able to breathe until he moved in with his gf. Now my lungs are currently happy :D!
Here here more!!
Good points More.
And there’s a difference between the “harm” done by a babysitter blowing smoke directly into the face of a child, and a well-ventilated smoking area…or outdoors, where even the anti-tobacco nazis think that “second hand smoke”, diluted to a few parts per million, is some BADDDD for them, lol.
It’s funny how people demand good science for eveything from global warming to abortion…but when it comes to casual tobacco use, they’ll glom onto the most radical propaganda they can find to support a blanket ban of something they, well, something that they “don’t like”.
There is NO evidence that “second hand smoke”, in a well-ventilated room, or outdoors in a bus stop is anywhere near the “killer” you think it is…You just don’t like it…
Just like I don’t like your perfume, b.o. and shitty iPod music polluting the air…
Why don’t you go move out to the country in you want fresh air?
*Mind Snap* ,
…’hypocrite’? …really? Do you even know what the word means?
If a person goes OUT OF THEIR WAY to inform you of times in the past when they have not done what they are advocating now, that’s not hypocrisy. That’s changing one’s mind and being big enough to admit past wrongs.
The evidence of second hand smoke and all it’s negative ramifications, is brought to you by those same cheery naysayers, that climate change is a hoax.
dartmouthy & Mr frosty…thanks for the support.
If we could get a few more people onboard (& maybe solicit a local publication or 2) to put the ‘bug’ in politicians ears that the smoking room ban has caused more problems than it has solved. Perhaps ( & its a big stretch) people could reexamine this issue & allow both groups to have the ability to enjoy a nice warm, dry place to socialize while breathing the air they both prefer.
Because I have to tell you, I really enjoy going into a bar that’s smoke free. But I never had a problem with anywhere I went that had smoking rooms. They were a working compromise, & the whole damn world needs more compromise & less conflict…IMO.
Second hand smoke may not kill you…heck, it might not even make you sick right away, but most health agencies agree that there is NO safe level of exposure to second hand smoke. There are also reports suggesting that ventilation systems are not completely effective and cannot eliminate exposure to second hand smoke. I don’t think people need to worry too much about the smoke they are exposed to in a bus stop, but I remember smoking rooms, some WITH ventilation, and they always had a noticeable cloud of smoke. As a carcinogen, it’s the accumulation of damage over time that leads to disease so minimizing exposure is the best way to reduce your risk. Everyone is going to have their own idea about how much risk is acceptable to them and smokers don’t have the right to force others to take on that risk.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/200…
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factshe…
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/…
http://www.oma.org/phealth/2ndsmoke03.pdf
I don’t know where exactly you live but every bar/resturant I went into in the Halifax,as well as Enfeild to Truro & down in the Annapolis Valley had -ventilated smoking rooms EVERY SINGLE ONE !
You see, by law they had to be ventilated…& they were. The only time I noticed any significant amount of smoke in any of these rooms is when they were packed, standing room only. While the rest of the bar had a couple of non smokers or smokers waiting their turn. I even know bar staff who would refuse to go into smoking rooms & smokers had to come out to get a drink…I never once seen a problem about this.
So your crying us a river about possible second hand smoke effects is a BS cop out.
Smoking rooms worked. As an asthmatic non smoker, I remember very well how difficult, sometimes impossible for me to stay in, bars would be on Weekends. Once the smoking rooms went up, so did the availabilty of clean air. You are definately one of the ‘problem’ people who think your way & only your way, is how life has to be.
I’m Not At All Sorry & I strongly disagree, & smoking rooms in my experience worked & they worked very well. There certainly weren’t crowds of smokers hanging out in doorways & alleys having a smoke, like there are now. So for me the solution is simple, bring back smoking rooms.
I’m talking about overall….first they had the separate sections, which was like a no peeing section in a pool. Then they put up physical barriers and then they had the ventilation for a while before the bans came into effect. Sitting in a ventilated smoking area was better than not being ventilated, but it was still quite obvious that you were in a smoking area. The smoke clouds I’m speaking of usually were in packed bars at night by the way. The non-smoking area was fine by me if you think I was implying otherwise. My concern is about the exposure to second hand smoke in the smoking areas. Frosty says that if they are ventilated the smoke is at a few parts per million and only an annoyance. I disagree with that. There are studies that disagree with that. Even in ventilated areas, SHS poses a health risk. People who work in those areas are at an even higher risk.
I’m not crying any rivers at all. I’m just relaying information that smoking rooms may not be as effective as you claim they are More. I don’t have a “way” for things to go “only my way”. Relax and try to understand my position. Pointing out the health risks of SHS is not a BS cop out, it is the salient point to the issue. The intent of public smoking bans is to protect the health of workers and patrons from the harms of second hand smoke. Proper ventilation (perhaps arguably) does not eliminate those harms so a widespread ban is preferred. Smoking rooms might work in bars where workers don’t have to enter, but what about restaurants? I personally don’t think that people should be worried about their exposure to smoke as they enter and leave buildings or as someone passes them on the sidewalk. If smokers want to sit in a room full of smoke in public, I really don’t care about that either as long as they are aware of the risks. Workers shouldn’t have to be exposed to any cigarette smoke however. In my opinion, the public smoking ban is the best solution. I’m not being emotional when I say this either, I’m trying to be rational. I’m not the one yelling at smokers who stand in front of entrances and I’m not the one yelling at the government about public smoking bans either. I don’t smoke and I don’t really care so long as I am not forced to breath in SHS.
Miles…yes it is -second hand smoke -a cop out.
People in smoking rooms for the most part …ARE SMOKERS !
They are already polluting their bodies with straight up 100% toxins from their favorite brand & THEY ARE BREATHING 2nd hand smoke from their own tobacco burning as well, as from everyone else in there with them.
I remember going for drinks in that smoking bar that used to be one street up from Skingarden Rd. it was a Cigar bar…I was prepared to meet friends & put up with the stench of their cigar habit for as long as I could…you cannot imagine my surprise to find the place had about 10 peole in it…& it wasn’t that big, but the air movement was so good , I never had an asthma attack, & I never even got the congestion I usually get before I’m reaching for a puffer & gasping for air.
The smoking room at Sam’s , The Landing, Shooters, Curly’s , Whistlers, The Engine Room, The Woodside were/are places I frequent, the smoking rooms in these places worked really well & the difference was night & day for me. Forcing these PEOPLE to have to huddle in alleys & door ways to escape bad weather, is now getting in peoples way trying to access buildings. So since smoking rooms worked, I say bring them back.
I guess I don’t know what you mean by calling it a cop out then.
There are three issues here. 1) The safety of exposure to second hand smoke. 2) The right to expose yourself and others to second hand smoke and 3) The inconvenience of smokers huddled by doorways.
Your solution is to bring back smoking rooms. That would potentially address all three issues. I agree it would solve issue 3. In principle, I think smoking rooms are fine for smokers with respect to issue 2. I do not think smoking rooms are good for workers because of issue 1 and 2. I don’t think the advantage of smoking rooms with respect to 3 (removing inconvenience) trumps the disadvantages with respect to 1 and 2 (health risks and rights of workers). My argument is that workers should not be forced to be exposed to SHS in smoking rooms because that exposure could be unhealthy. Where’s the cop out?
Are you just disagreeing with the idea that SHS levels in a ventilated smoking room are potentially harmful? That might be fair to do, but I showed you some of the information I based my comments on (that there is no safe level of second hand smoke exposure and that ventilated rooms cannot prevent SHS exposure). There’s lots to say about these latter two points and I’m not entirely convinced that smoking rooms CAN’T work. I was just raising the issue because in order for them to be the best solution you would have to be sure that the risk to people working/spending long periods of time in smoking rooms is negligible. The fact that your asthma doesn’t act up in smoking rooms is not sufficient evidence to say that they are the safest alternative.
“”that there is no safe level of second hand smoke exposure and that ventilated rooms cannot prevent SHS exposure”‘
This is the new mantra of the anti-smoking brigade….and I can see why it’s done; no legitimate cancer/health institue is going to go on record as saying there is a ‘safe” level of ETS…that would be professional suicide – like saying there is a “safe” level of alchohol with which it is “safe” to drive. But we know that there probably is, given that over time, we have come up with “safe’ levels for everything from radioativity to arsenic in NS wells.
Why not have 0% alchohol for drivers?…given that MANY OTHER things that drivers regularly do are just as “dangerous” statistically, including speeding talking to their passengers, adjusting the radio, reaching for a coffee and so on…because we HAVE to quantify risk, or we are just being crazy!
There are risks and “unsafe” aspects to our daily lives…one has to take the measure. Smoking is an easy target for some folks, because they “don’t like it”, and so they grab onto this concept of “no safe level” of ETS.
I could say just as easily that there is no “safe” age for young people to get their licence, there is no 100% “safe” speed to drive at, there is no “safe” amount of time to go swimming and so on. The best thing to do if you are one of the 40% of people who never smoke, (about 75% SAY they don’t when asked, especially ‘officially’, but tobacco sales are not declining enough for that) is to look out for number one if you’re so worried, and remove yourself from the situation. If there is a “group” of smokers in a crowded space, that were there first…move away.
And who exactly are these “workers” you have hypothesised that would be forced to spend all day in the “smoking rooms”, and what would they do? Stand there and hold the ashtrays like a butler?
I agree that there is a point where SHS levels, even prolonged exposure to those levels, would be negligible on someone’s health. In that respect, I think the “no safe level” argument is used too liberally as well. “Safe” levels may be reached in a ventilated room or they may not. I’ve seen conflicting reports on the subject. If smoking rooms are safe, then fine, put in smoking rooms. Smoking bans however, are cheaper, easier to enforce and require less legislation.
The “workers” would be the employees of the bars and restaurants that would have to serve customers in the smoking rooms. There are obviously ways to limit their exposure and you could come up with guidelines to protect them, but it’s a valid concern that needs to be considered since their exposure could be involuntary and potentially greater than the customers they serve if they work long hours over many years.
The underlying issue with smoking is that it pits one’s right to smoke up against another’s right not to. I believe the onus is on the smoker, when in a public space, to be considerate of those around them and respect the non-smoker’s right to not share your habit.
In the several bars I went to that had smoking rooms, many of the bar staff smoked !
Sucks I know…terrible, but it is a fact.
I know of one friend of myself & my girlfriend (who also works in a bar) who refused to go into the smoking room after she quit smoking. The owner put a sign in the smoking room that patrons had to remove their glasses & empty bottles, & were to go to the bar to get a refreshing beverage. It worked out fine…no unwilling employee in the smoking room. Smokers in their own space enjoying their smoke…me over at the bar enjoying the fresh air.
Best part no one hovering around the door, or standing on the sidewalk smoking.
That’s the bitch right…getting smokers out of the way.
Well we already had a ‘way’.
THe nonsmoking Nazi bragade wasn’t happy then….seems they’re still not happy now.But they have succeeded in pissing off everyone, smokers pissed they’re out in the cold/wet.
Nonsmokers having to run the gauntlet to & from buildings with smokers standing around outside, Bar & resturant owners who went to a large expense meeting ventilation & other construction requirements for building smoking rooms. None of the so called solutions are/have worked . Smoking rooms were IMO, were better than people standing around, often in groups, smoking right around an invisible line from a doorway.