Re: smoking and the pub
 

Most taxis are non-smoking anyway, or they are where I live.
I do know what you're saying, and as I am sure you can see from the rest of my posts I am on your side! I just mean I think it's more of a case of 'It won't happen to me, or those I am with, or at least it probably won't and I am willing to take that risk for myself, and on behalf of others' with smokers, than 'I want to hurt people'.

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Just to even things up a bit for the non-smokers out there, here's another Bill Hicks quote... "Here is my final point. About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography and smoking and everything else. What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I f*ck, what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?"

Trouble is that smoking in public does harm other human beings :(

FWIW, I think the decision should be up to the landlord/owner. I don't like the Government making decisions about what I can and can not do - I like having the freedom to make my own choices. However, I would like to see the sort of ventilation units that you get in the smoking areas at airports nowadays.

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Nowt like an open mind, and that was....... (boom-boom!) :D

Slack is right though, you need to see before you judge. Hicks was a genius. (liked to kill people with his fags though - boom-boom!)

Re: smoking and the pub
 

And Bill Hicks certainly wasn't scared of airing his thoughts on religion either ;)

Oops, this thread is being dragged kicking and screaming off topic

Re: smoking and the pub
 

It's actually picked up since it did. ;)

Re: smoking and the pub
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4387700.stm

Seems we are going to have to wait a while for the total ban, but it would well happen.

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Donning my cynical hat, does it not seem somewhat strange that a large number of MP's belong to "private members" clubs ?
Pull the ladder up Jack, we're OK.

Or should that read "Pass the Port and large Havana Cecil, we've done our duty and voted for the government"

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Told ya banning smoking was the thin end of the wedge.*


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4389598.stm


* ok, I didn't

Re: smoking and the pub
 

So now because of the stupidly reckless amongst us that over indulge with booze at every opportunity, those of us who behave around alcohol are to be penalised...Oh goody it's for the public good. :rolleyes:

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Ban the deadly drug!

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Oh the hypocrisy, the hypocrisy: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/pol...icle323342.ece

Just read a couple of articles in today's IoS that are relevant to this discussion.
Firstly, David Hockney suggests that, "we have become so scared of dying that we are forgetting to how to live". Wise words indeed.

Secondly, Oliver James says, "Fully three-quarters of people with some history of depression become depressed after they quit, compared with only 30 percent pf people with no such history. Overall, 80 per cent of smokers use it as a drug of solace to self-medicate emotional problems. This evidence has major implications for the debate about smoking in public places. Depressed people tend to agree with John-Paul Sartre that "hell is other people". They find socialising difficult, easily feel irritated and ashamed, worried that they appear ugly or stupid. To enjoy company, to ease thier negative, paranoid ideas, they really do need to smoke. By denying smokers the right to do so when socialising, the Government would be worsening the social isolation of the already isolated one-fifth of the population who are depressed smokers for no medical gain and purely puritanical reasons."
And, "The government, all of us need to understand a simple point: childhood maltreatment is the main cause of depression, which is the main cause of both smoking and drinking. Therapy, not moralising, is the solution."

Certainly worth thinking about in the seemingly emotive issue of smoking in public places.

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Remember you saw it here first ! (post number 487)

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Thing is, the brain is known to reduced production of its own antidepressants when it starts to get a regular supply of nicotine. It's therefore not surprising that people can suffer depression in numbers after quitting - the nicotine is gone, and the brain has given up on its own production so there's nothing to plug the gap.

The long-term aim of a policy like this is to reduce the number of people who take up smoking in the first place. If that happens, the number of people with brains deficient in natural antidepressant (someone tell me what its called!) would reduce.

And besides, if tobacco is recognised as a form of medication for dealing with depression ... given the choice, were I to find myself in the position of being clinically depressed, I would hope that my psychiatrist might prescribe me some medication with slightly less fatal side effects than tobacco. Somehow, were tobacco discovered tomorrow and put forward as a drug for treating depression, I couldn't see NICE recommending it being provided on the NHS. :erm:

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Serotonin. I believe Brazil nuts are good for the head; so quitters, get down the nut counter (magnesium and zinc supps too)

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Or get nuts before you go nuts ... I'll get me coat. :disturbd:

Further to the point I was making above, there are very good reasons why cannabis has not been legalised despite the obvious pain-killing benefits for peope with conditions like MS. It's because as well as the beneficial chemicals, it also contains some pretty unpleasant ones. Several studies are underway to try to isolate and replicate the beneficial chemicals and produce something your GP can prescribe without killing you.