A good incentive to quit! (Should smoking be banned in public places?)

Member Name: cjc3001

Product:	Should smoking be banned in public places?
Date:	17/09/08 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fresher air is healthier for all

Disadvantages: What will be banned next...

As a reformed non-smoker now of nearly three years, I'm still quite tolerant of people around me smoking, sometimes to the point of wanting a cheeky little puff myself, but knowing that I would just immediately be smoking 20 a day again within 24 hours, I manage to resist the temptation.

However, this is where I suppose I would have to agree that the ban on smoking in public places has played its part in my continuing success at kicking the habit; I do believe that the evil combination of a few too many drinks in a pub & smelling other people's cigarettes for hours on end would ensure that I would have started smoking again months or years ago. Perhaps because smoking is more of an 'effort' in social occasions, i.e. having to fight your way in & out of busy places & huddling under a heat lamp in the colder months, it's acted as a vast deterrent for those split-second moments when I reminisce about the good old days of being a smoker.

There is a part of me that isn't entirely comfortable with the perceived lack of choice for smokers these days, and the worry about what will be banned next; there are lots of activities people partake in every day that could be dangerous to your health (drinking anyone?!), but because of the fact that smoking indoors is inflicting your habit on anyone else in the vicinity who has to breathe a smoker's second-hand smoke, I can see the benefits outweighing the restriction on smokers' rights!

I also believe that the smoking ban in this country has helped smokers to quit, and I know many people who have cut down their intake vastly since the ban was introduced, which hopefully will all contribute to the cost to the NHS in future years of treating smoking-related diseases, which can only be a good thing if this money can be put towards other vital treatments.

All in all I would have to agree that it's a really positive move (I shall just ignore my inner voice which would like to protest about the 'nanny state'!), and it's nice to get home from an evening out not smelling of other people's ashtrays.

Summary: Fresh smelling people everywhere!