Smoking in Maine (renting, house, school)

[Maineah]

Let me be up front about the subject right from the start I HATE SMOKING! I don't like being around smoking at all. I think it is a seriously stupid habit which has caused untold misery through nicotine addiction and accumulation of carcinogenic chemicals eventually causing various deadly cancers. Smoking directly or indirectly killed my Mother,Grandfather,and by second hand inhalation most likely my Grandmother who sat in the same room with my Grandfather and inhaled the remnants of his 3 pack a day habit for 35 years.
So do you think I might be biased in my opinion on smoking? Rest assured I am. That said I am not in favor of the State legislature passing a bill to ban smoking in private automobiles when children under 16 are present.
It's none of the Legislatures' business and they have no right to tell people they can't smoke in a car. Another idiotic feel good law not unlike the recent novelty lighter ban. I was not for banning smoking sections in restaurants as I felt if there was a choice and I could go to a non smoking section. I heard the justification being the health of the servers but no one has much concern about house painters who are exposed to 20 times the contaminates with daily exposure to volatile organic compounds. It amounts to just more nanny state babysitting from the State. What's next smoking bans in your own home? It's coming.
I believe that anything we can do to stop people from smoking is a good thing unless it trumps privacy rights. Raising the price from 35 cents in the 60's to nearly $6.00 a pack hasn't stopped people from smoking ....telling them they can't smoke in a car won't stop them either. If the government really wanted to do something about smoking they would close down big tobacco once and for all and ban the manufacture of smoking materials in all forms across the country. They won't though as money does the talking in this country.

[shadowfax1997]

I agree - the nanny state mentality will be the destruction of this country.

I have contacted my legislators and requested they not support the bill.

If they really want to stop smoking, simply make it illegal. Never happen though - too many jobs and money for government.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by shadowfax1997

I agree - the nanny state mentality will be the destruction of this country.

I have contacted my legislators and requested they not support the bill.

If they really want to stop smoking, simply make it illegal. Never happen though - too many jobs and money for government.

I just got done contacting my useless representative as well. I call him useless as no matter what I contact him on he NEVER returns a letter, phone call or email. He does show up on the door step every few years looking for a vote and I usually unload on him pretty good at that point. He still somehow keeps getting re-elected. What the legislature should be doing is spend some time cleaning up the waste in this State. They should table all new bills until they go through all of the curent laws on the books and examine their legitimacy. I'm sure they could spend years on the weeding out process and maybe pare down this bloated government a bit in the process. They have an obligation to review old laws and to stem waste and they are not doing it.

[Maine Writer]

I'm a former smoker who hates smoking. I'm sure it contributed to my mother's death. I'm not sure what's best - telling adults they can't smoke in the car with kids or putting the law in action rather than just writing and keeping kids safer. WHY do we have to tell adults not to smoke with kids in the car? It's selfish and irresponsible. But then, why do we have the right to tell adults they can't smoke? I don't know.

The non-smoking side of the restaurant is just like the non-peeing side of the pool.

[dmyankee]

Calm down, now. Its just called REVENUE ENHANCEMENT for the State 'o Maine.

The legislature assured us that the seat belt law would never be a reason to get pulled over for future revenue enhancement either!

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

The non-smoking side of the restaurant is just like the non-peeing side of the pool.

You got me there. Believe me I don't miss the smoking section, though bars and restaurants did take a pretty big hit when it was first implemented. The restaurants we went to usually had a seperate room for smokers or put the smoking section upstairs. Yes you could still smell it but it was better than having to breathe it while trying to eat.
I don't know if it's ignorance, poor education,peer pressure, or lousy parenting but smoking is still a big problem in Maine. It's amazing to see how many people still smoke in this State. There was a shoe shop downtown that I had to drive past when taking my kids to school in the 90's if they missed the bus. Just at 7:45 AM EVERYONE in that place gathered across the street to smoke their cigarrettes. I actually used to close the vents in the truck while driving past so we didn't get a dose of smoke blown in. Those people would stand out there in a blizzard to smoke, it was pathetic. We called them the "cancer club". There are still places where I will not go to this day. The Amvets Hall I used to belong to, I left when I just couldn't take the smoking there anymore. I'd come home from a meeting there and my wife would make me throw my clothes in the washer and take a shower the minute I got home.

[TheCaptain]

How about a bit of irony for a Wednesday afternoon? They're about to try and pass legislation saying you cannot smoke in your own car when you have children under 16 present.

OK, fine. Wonderful. Now watch those same adults go home and feed their kids frosted flakes, sugar, chips, and let them sit in front of televisions for hours and play video games. Will they ban that too?

I know they're unhealthy actions, and as a kid you can't choose what your parents do. But my point is, like it or not, it's a citizen's CHOICE. Not the government's. What they should promote are INCENTIVES to help people lead a better life. Instead they enact PUNISHMENTS.

I've never cared for "nanny laws," and unfortunately the U.S. seems to be passing a great many of them lately.


[Edit]
Ah, and P.S. on the restaurant comments: I didn't want it either, but one thing I've noticed is that restaurants are now able to turn a table over more times in a night than when there were smoking sections. You know how it was...you'd see a couple walk in, sit down, and have a cigarette while they leisurely looked over the menu. They'd order, eat, and afterwards have another cigarette and take their time over a cup of coffee. Now that you can't have a cigarette in a restaurant, all you want to do is get in, eat, and GET OUT. Which of course, lets the restaurants pack in three or four more turn-arounds per night.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by Maineah

You got me there. Believe me I don't miss the smoking section, though bars and restaurants did take a pretty big hit when it was first implemented. The restaurants we went to usually had a seperate room for smokers or put the smoking section upstairs. Yes you could still smell it but it was better than having to breathe it while trying to eat.
I don't know if it's ignorance, poor education,peer pressure, or lousy parenting but smoking is still a big problem in Maine. It's amazing to see how many people still smoke in this State. There was a shoe shop downtown that I had to drive past when taking my kids to school in the 90's if they missed the bus. Just at 7:45 AM EVERYONE in that place gathered across the street to smoke their cigarrettes. I actually used to close the vents in the truck while driving past so we didn't get a dose of smoke blown in. Those people would stand out there in a blizzard to smoke, it was pathetic. We called them the "cancer club". There are still places where I will not go to this day. The Amvets Hall I used to belong to, I left when I just couldn't take the smoking there anymore. I'd come home from a meeting there and my wife would make me throw my clothes in the washer and take a shower the minute I got home.

As they say in the big city "I feel you, man" ... my wife of 30 years, mother to my 4 children, teenage sweetheart, took her last breath in my arms — lung cancer. My brother died of lung cancer 6 months later. Mother-in-law (who I dearly loved) died of it shortly before my wife along with one of her sons the next year (brother in law) ... then it was my cousin's turn ... unbelievably, my list goes on for another 8 or so ... all within a few years of each other ... best friends and close relatives. I could not hate smoking more. Yet I would never blame the individual smoker, however obviously foolish. Nearly 1/2 million people die in this country each year from smoking related illness. I hate the tobacco industry and lobbyists more than any terrorists, however despicable they are for the few thousand lives they stole. But who do our national leaders and media focus on as the bad guys? The first job of the government, says 'W', is to protect the people from harm. hmmmm ... shut down the tobacco industry? Nah. Let's go spend more lives and bazillions of dollars fighting the terrorists overseas. What about the legal terrorists back here killing 150x more people EACH year than the terrorists have claimed in 200 + years? Ban in cars and restaurants and public buildings? But let the merchants of death behind the smoke operate with sanction? Oh that's okay.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

As they say in the big city "I feel you, man" ... my wife of 30 years, mother to my 4 children, teenage sweetheart, took her last breath in my arms — lung cancer. My brother died of lung cancer 6 months later. Mother-in-law (who I dearly loved) died of it shortly before my wife along with one of her sons the next year (brother in law) ... then it was my cousin's turn ... unbelievably, my list goes on for another 8 or so ... all within a few years of each other ... best friends and close relatives. I could not hate smoking more. Yet I would never blame the individual smoker, however obviously foolish. Nearly 1/2 million people die in this country each year from smoking related illness. I hate the tobacco industry and lobbyists more than any terrorists, however despicable they are for the few thousand lives they stole. But who do our national leaders and media focus on as the bad guys? The first job of the government, says 'W', is to protect the people from harm. hmmmm ... shut down the tobacco industry? Nah. Let's go spend more lives and bazillions of dollars fighting the terrorists overseas. What about the legal terrorists back here killing 150x more people EACH year than the terrorists have claimed in 200 + years? Ban in cars and restaurants and public buildings? But let the merchants of death behind the smoke operate with sanction? Oh that's okay.

I simply can't express how sorry I am for your losses....and I DO know how you feel. It's bad enough that smoking can kill you it's abhorrent that it kills you while addicting you to it at the same time.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by Maineah

I simply can't express how sorry I am for your losses....and I DO know how you feel. It's bad enough that smoking can kill you it's abhorrent that it kills you while addicting you to it at the same time.

amen ... 'nuff said for me