Ok. Tell me if this makes sense? I’m at the Rock Fest Concert, which was incredible by the way, there’s a beer garden where you have to be 19 years of age to enter. So, you’re there, your having a beer, and you want to have a smoke. (Please non smokers don’t turn this into a “quit smoking blah blah blah”) A security fellow comes over to inform my friends and I that you are infact not allowed to smoke in the beer gardens. If you want to smoke you have to go out of the beers gardens on the other side of the beer garden fence. WHERE THE HELL IS THE SENSE IN THAT???? So instead of being allowed to smoke “outside” where you have to be 19 years of age anyway, you have to go on the side where the children and others are to have a puff.
Seriously, all I can do is throw my hands up and shake my head.
—Who’s makin the rules?
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2009.
Just because I drink beer doesn’t mean I want to inhale your smoke. You’re not allowed to smoke on the patio of a bar either, same difference.
Just because I am over 19 doesn’t mean I want to suck in your cancer sticks. Nor does it mean you should go and smoke beside children.
How them spots on your lungs doing today?
I completely agree.. “you’re not allowed to smoke on the patio of a bar either” which is completely ridiculous also. It wasn’t too long ago that you could enjoy a beer and a smoke at the same time. Slowly our freedoms are being eroded… I’m glad someone wants to know who’s making the rules, OP!
It is the same when you go to Alderny Landing for an event and they have a beer Garden (all outdoors). Although I am a non-smoker I have to agree that it is pretty ludicrous. I was sitting there drinking my beer with adults and within two feet are people on the other side of a plastic fence smoking away. So this makes sense? You have an open air area where adults only are allowed in. You then tell them to go outside the fence and smoke to their hearts delight where there are children. Yep. Makes sense to me.
Yep, I don’t want to inhale your secondhand smoke, but man do I ever love to inhale all that gas and diesel fumes. It’s outside people, not in, so go fuck yourselves.
Since when you your rights as a smoker supercede my rights as a non smoker, Shithawk?
Just keep in mind the law is there to protect those in the work place. The beer-slingers aren’t interested in your second-hand smoke. Considering it’s an outdoor venue one would think organizers would have brains enough to accommodate their smoking population from within the gardens.
Exactly, Bro Tim. It’s OUTSIDE!!! Along with all the other pollution.
I just came back from a lovely walk that had a blip-I walked by about 3 idling garbage trucks. It smelled horrible-the exhaust fumes & the garbage-baking-in-the-sun smell…delish!
Jennie, they don’t. But as bro tim, and even kay point out, ITS OUTSIDE. The op is just pointing out how you can’t smoke ANYWHERE inside the 19 plus area, but your free to light up in the general areas with the CHILDREN. And don’t worry about your rights as a non smoker. I think you guys are doing just fine.
Didn’t we already cover this a few weeks ago?
I think so, too, nevermind. As I was reading, I had a case of deja vu…almost word for word.
“Didn’t we already cover this a few weeks ago?”
This site only has 6 topics
– Smoking
– The police
– Skanks
– Taking the bus
– Break-ups
– Racism
You forgot bicycles vs. autos, yorkke 🙂
And personal attacks on Kay… Can’t forget those as they pretty much blend in with them all…
Ok, fair enough, up to 8 topics then
Yeah, it’s outside; there is pollution and other smelly things that I get to inhale every day but why does that mean I should be ok with extra pollutants from your cigarette in my face?
I had a particularly negative experience in Toronto this summer (where the laws regarding smoking appear to be different) in one of the pride beer gardens: someone was walking around with their lit smoke through the crowd ended up burning my hand with it. It hurt like a mother and now I have a small scar as a souvenir.
Better than a drunk wiping you out with their car. Or cutting your hand after they knock over and break a glass that cuts you.
Agreed Bro Tim. Like I said I am not a smoker and never have been. But doe sit REALLY make sense to make people leave an outdoor beer Garden, step over a plastic fence, and then smoke where there are kids? Liek they say, Common sense unfortunately is not too common!
Yeah, I’m not usually a supporter of public smoking, but an outdoor beer garden should at least be able to have a smoking area so you don’t have to abandon your beer for smoke.
They do it because if non smokers see a beer garden full of smoke, less of them will go in. Smokers however are unlikely to avoid the beer just because they can’t smoke in there. It’s all about inticing as many people with the least amount of effort possible.
who gives a shit where you smoke,do it,then act stupid and say oh,i didn’t know.or how about a really cool one.my head doctor tells me to smoke whenever i want,or i’ll go completely apeshit on someone,then look whoever it is,dead in the eye,and smile.i know people will ddamn me for saying that.but isn’t this supposed to be a free society,what about the smokers rights,are they forgotten because someone standing 25 feet away has super smell.fuck em,burn your butts kids.
I wouldn’t be bothered once for smoking joints all day long sitting a mere feet away from kids, but holy smokes….don’t like up a cigarette in the roped off open air beer garden!!
Wow – Life Sucks, what a truly intelligent and thought-provoking post. Thank you.
I find it interesting that any time there’s a smokers vs non smokers debate, the smokers are quick to pull out the pollution card (trucks/buses/smokestacks). Sure, in a perfect world there would be no air pollution and we would all breathe crystal clear air into our healthy pink lungs.
But just like I think it’s stupid to compare cigarettes to alcohol, I think it’s stupid to compare cigarettes to truck exhaust. I would argue that trucks are a necessity. We need them to ship goods from place to place. It would be great if our produce could be brought in in the basket of a cute little bicycle, but obviously that’s not realistic. Buses are also obviously a necessity. Along with these necessary items comes a certain amount of pollution – it’s the trade-off we get for needing to move goods and people. Show me how cigarettes are a necessity.
Jennie- I am not a smoker but perhaps you can find a bubble someplace to live in. I am fully cognisant of the effects of second hand smoke. I grew up in a home where my parents smoked freely in front of us. Strangely, I am still alive. But it is just utterly DUMB to tell someone that they cannot smoke in an OPEN AIR beer garden where there are no kids present yet they can step over a plastic fence mere feet away and smoke to their hearts delight. Same as on any pation downtown. You cannot smoke on the pation but you can smoke on the sidewalk outside the patio. Yep. Makes perfect sense to me!
I’m still getting my head around why Jennie here thinks one should be privileged to somebody’s definition of the “basics” and nothing more. I find it interesting she thinks trucks are useful TO HER so must then qualify as a “basic”. Using this same logic I could say I require an internet connection to work therefore all the phone lines and energy required to keep my PC and the networks up is a “basic” living requirement and the government is therefore responsible.
I’ll play a “card” for you, Jennie, and it doesn’t even matter if you smoke or despise it. There’s one word on this card and it’s a big one: FREEDOM
Get your head around that.
Also, air pollution is not as strongly associated with lung cancer and other diseases as smoking is.
Would that include asthma, Miles? It’s a respiratory illness aggravated by pollution and other contaminates so where does your statistic STOP exactly? Again, do you count the smokers that do not succumb to lung cancer as credit before making such blanketing statements? Does your government who is feeding you such statistics?
Okay Kay – I’m wondering how many people who live in HRM could grow enough food to sustain their families without having anything at all brought in? Since we all need food to LIVE, and that food happens to be brought to us in trucks, I’d say those trucks are not just USEFUL, but NECESSARY.
I’m so glad you brought up FREEDOM. Fortunately, the medical profession/government/society have deemed cigarettes dangerous, and there are laws in place to protect the FREEDOM of non smokers.
Who exactly is feeding you your statistics, Kay? Who says fewer smokers are dying of lung cancer than ever before? According to the Canadian Cancer Society, lung cancer remains the number one cause of cancer death for both men and women.
But let me guess, you have some sort of beef with the CCS…
Never mind Kay, I just realized I mis-read your post.
Lung cancer DOES remain the leading cause of cancer death in this country though.
your an idiot..you don’t need to smoke at all,it’s a deadly habit..if you want to smoke,stay the hell home and breathe your own filthy air..smoking is NOT cool,quit and GROW UP!!!!!
smoking is neither a right or a freedom,its just that common sense has finally caught up with moronic jerks that smoke
Kay my point was that illness due to smoking more prevalent and more costly and generally more severe than illness due to “air pollution”. Also, the negative health effects of smoking, even second hand smoke, are much better documented than the negative health effects of air pollution. Thus, smokers shouldn’t argue “well you run around the city huffing car exhaust so my lil’ ol’ cigarette isn’t going to harm you.
And yes, a lot of my stats come from government websites because they are usually quite reliable. The whole “Stats Canada” thing. It’s their business to compile statistics on our population. They do a good job. They typically have the best information on how much money is generated from tax revenue and how much is spent on smokers since they are the one’s keeping the books.
Yeah, and I’ll bet 4 out of 5 dentists really recommend you chew Trident.
Miles, I should tell you I crunch marketing data for a living. LOL
So we should all believe your sources Kay, and no one else’s?
The gospel according to Kay, eveyone!
Jennie, make yourself useful and tell why one should be privileged to somebody’s definition of the “basics” and nothing more. Are you ready to have the public pay to keep my net up and going too?
Oh, and Jennie, ever wonder how the North American Indians survived without trucks? hmmmm
I’m not for one second suggesting we should only stick to the basics. I don’t want to live that way.
All I was trying to say is that you shouldn’t compare cigarettes to truck exhaust. One is a necessary evil, and one is just evil.
Really Kay??? That’s your rebuttal? Okay, let’s all go back to hunting and gathering our own food. You start.
What was your point there Kay? Are you suggesting that marketing data and stats Can data are equally biased or are you just trying to let me know that you understand statistical data? Not being an ass here, just trying to clarify.
Duh…Indians survived without trucks b/c they didn’t have them. I know this b/c I’m a member of the family. We didn’t have horses either as its commonly believed.
Just making it plain statistics can be skewed yet “accurate” all at the same time. I’m not trying to be an ass either… (not really hard, anyway LOL)
I’m just more concerned about my decision making abilities (AKA Freedom) than I am about capitalistic values. Unfortunately the principals of health care and money are one in the same to a snowed general public, especially given the dictatorship stance our youth tend to favour in all their knowledge and statistics about what’s good for them and therefore good for you too.
I’ve also got two near identical smoking threads in my head which isn’t helping things.
Fat, “Indians survived without trucks b/c they didn’t…” NEED them.
Buy Canadian. Good idea, Jennie. The Americans are onto it now too.
No we didn’t; still don’t.
Don’t forget that the Mi’Kmaq have been in NS for 12,000 years now. That’s a long time without trucks…
Ok Kay – why don’t you prove to us all that you don’t NEED trucks either. Start growing ALL your own food. Raise a few sheep and process their wool into clothing. When there’s a hole in your roof, cut down the trees in your backyard to patch it. And should you get sick – really, really sick – I hope you won’t want to rely on medication. So go ahead. Prove to use that you can survive, in 2009, without anything that has been transported in a truck, ever. I too support buying Canadian, and buying local. But those products still have to get to HRM somehow.
Kay, are you SO intent on being “right” ALL the time that you’ll make any argument, no matter how weak?
But then again tobacco smoking was started by the natives and imported to Europe.
Oddly, Bro Tim, the ancient Egyptians had some access to tobacco even during the reign of Ramsess II. Apparently the Pharaoh had a fondness for having a hoot every now and again.
Makes you wonder when the first trans-Atlantic tobacco trade really began with tobacco being indigenous to the Americas only.
Smokers suck. Why can’t lung cancer work a hell of a lot faster to rid the Earth of these people?
Wow, ex, you’re a class act. Wishing death on a group of people due to a vice they have. I’ll go tell my dad his minor heart attack should’ve been a massive, fatal one, to make you happy.
Ok. I’m not entirely sure why this post ended up going the way of smokers vs. non-smokers, health care, and the use of trucks. The original post asks why a smoker had to leave the beer gardens at the concert where you have to be 19 years of age to enter anyway, to go to the other side of the fence where children are to smoke. It’s not about if smoking is right or wrong, or lung cancer, or statistics. Seems this went way off topic to me. I think it’s rediculous that smokers (who must be 19 years of age) had to leave the “outside” beer gardens (where you also have to be 19 years of age to enter)to smoke. Regarless of who thinks smoking is right or wrong. It seems it was a stupid rule.
One more thing. Expatriot… You’re an idiot!
They actually tried pulling that shit on my at one of the outdoor concerts. Guess what? They can’t. The by-law does not cover outdoor venues. Feel free to tell them to bugger off. They cannot touch you.