Never had a cigarette in my mouth and never will. Smoking belongs nowhere else than on private property.
Printable View
Never had a cigarette in my mouth and never will. Smoking belongs nowhere else than on private property.
Thought this might be an interesting addition to the conversation...
Quote:
Denbighshire council staff have been banned from smoking during working hours, even in their own cars.
The local authority had already banned smoking from its premises but agreed to stricter rules on Tuesday.
The near-total ban even applies to people who receive home visits - they will now get letters asking them not to smoke in front of council staff.
In a statement the council said it was "obliged to provide a safe working environment for its staff".
Smoking was already banned from all Denbighshire Council premises, but the new policy prohibits people smoking near entrances or windows
Employees who work outside, either as part of a group or on their own, will be banned from smoking while on duty.
There will be no designated smoking areas and no specific smoking breaks allowed.
Staff are only allowed to smoke while on official breaks, or while clocked off, and must leave the "immediate vicinity" of the council premises.
Anyone using a council vehicle will be asked to leave the vehicle before lighting up.
Staff who have to clean smoking areas in places like sheltered housing , will be told to wait at least two hours until the last smoker has left before they clean, in order to avoid passive smoke.
Smoking will also be banned in residential homes, but a designated smoking area will be provided for residents.
Night staff will be the only employees allowed to use the area, which will be closed for two hours before cleaned.
'Authority time'
Employees could face disciplinary action if they breach the rules of the new policy, which was voted for in a meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
Councillor Paul Marfleet, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Personnel, said: "Denbighshire County Council is obliged to provide a safe working environment for its staff.
"It is for this reason, that we have formulated the no smoking policy. It would be wrong of us to presume that by designating specific smoking areas, that there would be no potential danger to non-smoking staff of inhaling passive smoke."
He said the council would be offering support for staff wishing to give up smoking.
Neil Rafferty from the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest), said: "We don't have a problem with smokers being asked to refrain from smoking whilst council staff are in the house.
"That fits in with our philosophy, we always ask smokers to be considerate."
Mr Rafferty said he thought too much fuss was being made of the smoking issue.
"One of dangers of that is you simply make it more attractive to kids," he said. "It's not an exciting, cool, romantic thing to do, it's just something some people choose to do.
"By all means have sensible restrictions on public places and in the work place, but don't be so extreme. It's inevitably counter-productive and robs people of their essential personal freedom."
I have known several people who managed to kick heroin but couldn't stop smoking. Anecdotal, I know, but it matches up with everything I've heard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craterus
Quitting smoking was one of the nastiest, hardest things I ever had to do. I have a very high tolerance for physical pain, and I thought that would help. It didn't. I kept repeating to myself the old Mark Twai quote, "There is nothing so hard about quitting tobacco -- I myself do it hundreds of times per day."
On the other hand, I feel that people should be allowed to make whatever mistakes they want to make, so I'm against the bans on smoking. Let the smokers enjoy themselves, for Pete's sake.
Note: I also swore to myself that if I live to 80, I will celebrate by taking up smoking again.
Giving up something you're addicted to is depriving your body of something it is conditioned to "think" it needs, sometimes deparately. It is akin to stopping eating food. Going cold turkey is similar to starvation. Starvation is one of the greatest pains a human can experience. Your body makes you hurt intensely until you give it what it craves.
I always looked at smoking as disgusting, but after working in a bar for the last couple of months, has really peer pressured me into it, because literally everyone who works there does, and alot of the customers do, i think it makes people look cool, i have the occasional one now at parties and such like.
Your brain does become dependent on it. It stops producing the other chemicals as nicotine takes its place. The same is true with herion and, to a far lesser degree, cocaine. You can die from barbituate withdrawal (alcohol withdrawl is very similar, IIRC) and benzodiapine withdrawal can be extremely unlpleasant; as in seizures and feeling like your body is going to rip itself apart. It is quite physical and not something that your brain is randomly making you feel, it is the result of discontinuing use of whatever drug. Tapering is the best way to avoid the phsyiological symptoms, not cold turkey, and quitting cold turkey can require just as continuous effort as quitting by tapering.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tachicaze
I wonder, what defines a smoker and what defines addiction? Everyone who's ever lit-up is a smoker? It would seem odd that 75% of them then say that they would like to stop. Liking to stop does not mean that they are going to try to stop, and it doesn't even mean that they would really like to stop. There's no time scale: I certainly am not going to make smoking a life habit, and I would never allow it to be anything outrageous like a cigar a day. Anything that involves the subject so much as asking the question, "would you like to stop?" and then linking that to addiction is pretty bogus already (considering the huge stigma that there is with the smoker's 'addiction'). Anyway, my point is that true addiction is something that a smaller percent of smokers ever really reach. Further, addiction is far easier to avoid when one can feel its onset, which is easy with any drugs that creates physical tolerance, than people will acknowledge.Quote:
Originally Posted by A. Saturnus
Excatly where the psychological aspect and physiological aspect of addiction meet seems to be extremely shadey, and I doubt that anyone can make a true reliable study until that has been accomplished. I certainly understand how a person's drug use can lead to them feeling uncomfortable in withdrawal and how they would naturally wish to seek the drug out to stop the pain, but I fail to see how this can force them to pick something up, hold a match to it, inhale, and the like. IMO, the two aspects are often too muddled to be properly considered and to understand what is going on with the addict. It is my strong belief that the most destructive, typically, is the psychological addiction. However, psychological addiction is possible with anything. There have been times when I feel ornorey unless I smoke, and that is when I know that I most certainly should not smoke for a week at least. In a short period of time, the thirst for it goes away, at least at the doses and frequency I use, and to be truthful that is why I tend neither to use frequently or in high doses. When it comes to it, I am of the mind that addiction and compulsive behaviors have just as much to do with the circumstances of the behavior as with the actual essence of the behavior. I.e., using nicotine like it is no thing will have a higher chance for addiction than will use if it is carefully considered and monitored personally.
Using a drug to the point of a large physical dependancy is foolish and will only complicate cessation of use extraordinarily. My point in discussions with drugs has never been that there are no very-bad-harms that may result from use, it has only been that responsible use can drastically reduce these risks, or avoid them altogether.
I wonder, on what basis do people call it a daisgusting habit? Surely, you must have reasons.
" think it makes people look cool,"
and kills you Later
I use a Example to why you should not Smoke,Two,actually..
I like to tell a Story to go with my Resoning..
I am addicted to RTW.. I know I should have more of social Life. But I got a Speech Ploblem (which I do,and it is NOT Sturring,Lisp,or Clef Palet)
and I do take breaks,Time for gardeing,reading,watching wrestling,family,etc.... But I can sepnd 2-4 hours A DAY on RTW.. What are the Side Effects?? Carptent Tunnel Syndome (Sore Wrist/Wrists) Eye Strain (unless you take breaks and use adqeuate lighting,like me) and 15 minute breaks a hour (I do 15-20 minute break every two hours). Now
that won't kill me,only I will reget alot of things when I get older..
Back to Smoking,
if you Smoke,cuz you may think it is Cool,or you can be a "real" man or Woman if you do (you are not if you think so and do it) or other resons.. But YEars to Come,you will Devolp into a Smoking Freak.. You will Waste your Money uopn Money upon Money on that Trash (that what it is,Trash) and get Cancer or Sickness Later in Life,Period..
It is your Choice to do so,but I think it should be ban.. Don't Smoke around your Kids or Other People Like me, cuz We don't want to get Sick and Die from your Bad Habit..
Smoke today, die Tomorrow. Thats my motto.
watching people suffer the effects of smoking is not fun
if i was to decide to take up the ''habit'' of spraying ddt around, i could say it helps me deal with stress and that if you stop me you are interfering with my rights i could say its worth the health damage and that people have a choice as to whether their around me when i do it , but none of that would stop my actions being selfish and damaging
Someone once compared smoking to sucking on a pacifier. I think the same thing when someone thinks smoking "looks cool".
All that I can say is: High School Health Class.:laugh4:
I agree with that statement. It sort of applies to me, at least. I don't know if it's the sudden introduction of nicotine into my system or if it genuinely has a sort of placebo effect on my mental state.. either way when I smoke it chills me out a little.Quote:
Someone once compared smoking to sucking on a pacifier.
I started smoking as a pre-teen, thinking it would make me "cool". Fifteen years later, in my mid-to-late twenties, I'd already become well aware of the deleterious effects of my habit. Couldn't run up a flight of stairs without becoming lightheaded and short of breath, always woke up with a nagging little cough. had near-permanent tobacco stains on my fingers, etc.
It took me two tries to quit, both times "cold turkey". The first lasted six months, until the next New Year's Eve. I met this girl who smoked, and well, you can figure out the rest. The second time, after making a strong effort to permanently set my mind against the habit, has lasted still (over thirty years).
For the first couple of years after I quit, other people smoking didn't bother me. But, after a while, I developed a strong physical aversion to tobacco smoke of any sort. It almost makes me sick, the reaction is so strong - especially at meal times. They say reformed ex-smokers are the worst - I believe they're right!
I loves me some smokin' but I knows its nasty!!!:shame:
Im telling yall Chewing Tabacco. No lung cancer its less exspensive and your breath dosent smell. I mean do you really need your lower lip?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Byzantine Mercenary
But,
that the Ploblem.. if you in Public, We will Not Hide inside stores and our Houses to get away from you when you deicde to smoke outside in puiblic places.. I would not want to have your smoke Ruining my Life.. Get the point??
Totally agree. As it stands now, i'm not addicted. I can stop whenever i want to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kanamori
And someone asked me why i started? It's a social thing. It's quite fun to have a smoke with your friends, see who can blow the best smoke rings, discuss stuff that's happened that week. Everyone just chills out.
A smoker is someone who smokes regularly and not just occasionally. It's rather simple to categorize as people who smoke only occasionally are a small minority. Most people who smoke more than 4 cigarettes in their life, smoke on dayly basis.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kanamori
Addiction means that you 1) feel a need to take a certain chemical substance, 2) cannot control your use (failure to stop), 3) suffer from withdrawal symptoms if you don't get the substance and 4) suffer from negative effects of the use.
It's true that those 75% who'd like to stop didn't necessarily try to stop. Let's just say if there was a non-expansive pill without side-effects you had to take to become non-smoker, these 75% would take it. They didn't stop yet because of the effort, not because they prefer to smoke.
You're right to say that the more important part of the addiction is psychological. A physiological addiction is with medical help always to overcome. But I fail to see why those two have to be seperated to say anything reliable about addiction. What the health care professional is interested in is long-term change of behavior and that always means the psychological addiction has to be cured.
No addict has the experience of being 'forced'. That experience is typical for schizophrenics and people with OCD. Addicts smoke to overcome the negative effects of withdrawal. It can actually be seen as a coping behavior to an aversive stimulus.
It stinks, that's the reason.Quote:
I wonder, on what basis do people call it a daisgusting habit? Surely, you must have reasons.
In my imagination, where I have had very negative views toward smoking prior to any use, it is very easy to see people responding that they should stop a habit more because it is frowned on, and is popular to frown on, than because they would like to stop. Also, as I have said, it is quite possible that many smokers do not wish to continue their habit for the rest of their life, but would not like to stop at that moment. That is not addiction. This is, essentially, where my problem lays with the statistic. Saying that they would like to stop is not even close to being a reliable diagnosis of addiction, which is uncommon in its true form.Quote:
Originally Posted by A. Saturnus
Second hand smoke smells, and tastes much, much worse than the actual smoke, with the exception being the chemically preserved cigarettes *yuck*, and the smoker doesn't recognize the smell afterward.Quote:
Originally Posted by A. Saturnus
Quote:
Originally Posted by currywurry
I don't think it cool to blow Smoke Rings.. What the Fun Point of that?? you want to discuss things of the day?? go buy a ice Cream Cone from Daily Queen and/or go play a PS 2 game together and that be relaxing.. Can Stop Whenever you like?? if you not "addcited",sure,mabye you could,but that sounds kinda Ironic if you ask me..
All I got to say about dipping is that if your going to do it you might as well do Cope.Quote:
Originally Posted by Strike For The South
Fortunately for me I'm in a occupation where tobacco use is accepted, which means that during the workday, I'm either smoking a ciggarette or dipping. I've cut back on smoking and only smoke 4-5 ciggarettes per day, but since I've done that I've been dipping a can a day. In fact right before I logged onto the site I was smoking hookah, with some of my friends and I currently have a dip in my mouth.
I wouldn't say that smoking or any tobacco is cool, but I definately have no plans or desire to stop. I realize that the long term effects are bad for me and that my habit enriches other people, but you could say the same for alcohol, fast food etc.
Basically I smoke because I find it to be relaxing, whether in a social setting or just smoking by myself and contemplating life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BHCWarman88
:inquisitive: Since when does Dairy Queen get you high? (Or give you a buzz...)
It ain't the same.
No one said that anyway. I've given you the definition of addiction above and no, it's still rather widespread (though of course not 75% of all smokers).Quote:
Originally Posted by Kanamori
Yes, smokers get acustomed to the smell and no longer experience it as aversive. That doesn't alter the fact that it still stinks for everyone else.Quote:
Second hand smoke smells, and tastes much, much worse than the actual smoke, with the exception being the chemically preserved cigarettes *yuck*, and the smoker doesn't recognize the smell afterward.
What a coincidence. In my bio classroom at school, there's a poster called "Smoking Today, Dead Tomorrow". :juggle2:Quote:
Originally Posted by Csar
As opposed to not smoking and never dying? What BS... We've gone from having no idea that too much smoking is bad for your lungs in the 40's and 50's to personafying the cigarette with death itself in the 90's and 00's. :dizzy2:
There is a middle ground people.
How is it ironic that i can can stop whenever i like if i'm not addicted?Quote:
Originally Posted by BHCWarman88
And anyway, i don't think you quite understood my meaning of 'everyone chills out'. I mean it as in everyone relaxes, and everyone is generally just happier and nice.
It's one of those things that you have to experience to understand.
Nah, I won't be Experiening That any time soon :-) :-)
Ironioc?? It just is,since Everyone I know in Real Life that started Smoking or who wanted to Smoke "occsonally" got Addcited..don't know how it being so fun and relaxing when you stand there and Smoke and Blow Rings..
Dont smoke, never will.
By the way, I love it when the bleeding heart liberals of the org. exclaim "I dont care if they pollute their own bodies." Funny.
Sometimes I wonder if quitting was worth all the effort. Just different means to same, inevitable demise. But at least I get more sex now.
it is..
Why Smoke?? you want to Smoke to Be Cool, to look like aReal Man/Woman and to Relax?? or you want to do that and aslo get lun cancer and die in 20 years,eh,and also posion other people with the trash you do. Fun,isn't it??