Smoking Ban for Beaches and Parks Is Approved

[Ziggy Stardust]

One group will be exempted from the new restrictions: actors lighting up a cigarette in a park or a beach for the purposes of a theatrical production.

Number of Actors in New York quadruples overnight

Last Februari saw an unprecedented increase in number of actors in new York city and a sharp increase of theatrical productions sited at beaches and parks.

The reason for this surge remains unknown, but Bloomberg opted that a New Yorkers always have been a cultural bunch and the crisis brings out the performer in them.

[Dreadnaught]

Dread (or anyone), what is your opinion on a ban of parking on odd-numbered streets (based on house numbers) until the middle of March due to concerns with "emergency vehicles" (plow trucks) being unable to run through fast enough?

What if I said this never happened before in at least 10 years?

What if I said the residents wouldn't even know about this until they got a ticket?

What if I said that the aforementioned "emergency" plow drivers enjoy going through a residential street 5 at a time to clear out .5 inches of sleet?

What if I said that there is no way in hell that this will be strictly enforced by the police -- ie, arbitrarily enforced?

Is this worse than your smoking ban? Better? So-so?

Too right! Why should people be allowed to abuse children in a confined space like a car? Or inflict those on sidewalks with second-hand smoke? Or inflict it on their children at home?

I legitimately think laws like this are a slippery slope to a wholesale banning smoking. What do you think?

[RandBlade]

I legitimately think laws like this are a slippery slope to a wholesale banning smoking. What do you think?

Hope so.

[Veldan Rath]

Hope so.

Yeah, ANOTHER war on a drug on the way!

(Cause Prohibition taught us nothing)

[Knux897]

Yeah, ANOTHER war on a drug on the way!

(Cause Prohibition taught us nothing)

Well considering the percentage of people that smoke is far smaller, and even then they are dwindling. Alchohol is completely different

[Veldan Rath]

Well considering the percentage of people that smoke is far smaller, and even then they are dwindling. Alchohol is completely different

Really? So how is that War on Drugs going? Do MORE people snort coke than smoke?

Edit: And, so if more people smoked, your opinion would change?

[RandBlade]

Really? So how is that War on Drugs going? Do MORE people snort coke than smoke?

I'm going to guess no, in which case using your logic the war on drugs is working so why discriminate between smokers and crackheads?

[Being]

Hope so.

You breathe more toxins on the freeway than you do standing next to a smoker. You want driving banned now?

[RandBlade]

Is your rage against smokers making you obtuse?

If there are less crackheads than there are smokers (who are idiots as well) then making smoking illegal will be more of a nightmare considering how much we spend on the war on already illegal drugs. Yeah, lets add more to that, by tacking on cigarettes. Jebus.

Either that, or there are less crackheads because its illegal so the "war on drugs" is working. How about we just treat smokers the same as we treat crack addicts?

However, I don't think they should be made illegal, and thus give the criminal element MORE money to screw us with.

So we should make heroin and crack legal?

You breathe more toxins on the freeway than you do standing next to a smoker. You want driving banned now?

Bull.

[Veldan Rath]

Either that, or there are less crackheads because its illegal so the "war on drugs" is working. How about we just treat smokers the same as we treat crack addicts?

So we should make heroin and crack legal?

So you would declare the war a success? Wow, I must have missed the news.

And yes, I'm for legalizing drugs. Stick what ever you want into whatever orifice (of your own) you want. You just have a boner on this smoking thing, for some reason.

I would love smoking to disappear, just like anything that is bad for you, even in moderation and itty bitty small doses, but it will never happen. So I would rather deal with reality.

[RandBlade]

You expect something sensible out of Being?

It's just a pattern I've noticed, you dismiss things without addressing them somewhat frequently. Do you know car exhaust is healthier than second-hand cigarette smoke? Why is it bull? Because the big bad government told you so?

And you've never dismissively said "Citation Needed" without providing any counter-evidence?

So you would declare the war a success? Wow, I must have missed the news.

Depends how you measure it. When you contrast the number of people who take crack and tobacco, yes there is a difference.

And yes, I'm for legalizing drugs. Stick what ever you want into whatever orifice (of your own) you want. You just have a boner on this smoking thing, for some reason.

I would love smoking to disappear, just like anything that is bad for you, even in moderation and itty bitty small doses, but it will never happen. So I would rather deal with reality.

I don't think we should criminalise tobacco instantly, but we should step-by-step eliminate areas where its OK etc on a way to it. I'm of two minds, I too would consider legalising all illegal drugs (and keeping tobacco illegal) or criminalising tobacco just like the others. Ultimately - but not overnight - I think the discrepancy between the way tobacco and heroin/cocaine are treated should be eliminated one way or another.

As for "this smoking thing", if we had somebody saying in the OP said, “Once we pass this, we will next be banning injecting crack cocaine into minors in cars" then I think it would be given a different reaction by most people than “Once we pass this, we will next be banning smoking ... in the cars of people who are driving minor ". I don't see why injecting minors with second hand smoke should be treated differently to injecting them with cocaine.

[Being]

You expect something sensible out of Being?

My statement was perfectly sensible. Why wouldn't you expect that from me? Edit: I' appreciate it if you leave me out of your conversations. I leave you out of mine.

Bull.

Car exhaust chemicals

Particulate matter
This is basically soot - it's most apparent effect is reducing visibility. It impacts on breathing and respiratory systems, damages lung tissues and causes cancer. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people and animals die prematurely each year due to the health effects of inhaling particulate matter.

Benzene

A carcinogen in humans, benzene is also very toxic aquatic life and can cause death in plants. It is a "precursor" component for formation of photochemical smog.

Formaldehyde

Another known carcinogen for humans, with similar effects to many animals and birds. In an aquatic environment, formaldehyde has a half life of between a day and ten days.

Polycyclic hydrocarbons

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that some Polycyclic hydrocarbons may be carcinogens in humans and animals and can cause harmful effects on skin and the auto-immune system.

Some recent studies have also found car exhaust can create hydrocarbon-based free radicals which can linger indefinitely. These free radicals are believed to cause lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Even with the use of catalytic converters to help break down pollutants that cause smog, it may be creating conditions for the creation of these free radicals to form.

[RandBlade]

It wasn't as clever as you thought, I just can

Ohhh

You're sneaky

My statement was perfectly sensible. Why wouldn't you expect that from me?

Car exhaust chemicals

I don't see anything there to show more damage from car exhausts than from cigarettes, try again.

[agamemnus]

Point is that both of these laws could be slippery slopes to police states. If the police see one smoker "all by himself" and don't fine (arrest?) him, what will they do? In my city, they will leave him alone, using their famous "common sense"... The fact that the smoke may be wafting somewhere else would generally be ignored, though.

We have a large number of ordinances that are enforced by the police as they see fit.