Why are we criminalising smokers?

A woman puts her cigarette butt down a drain and is fined for dropping litter. A lorry driver parks up and has a cigarette in his cab, he's reported by a bloody dog warden and fined.

So what the hell is going on? Since when did we make smokers public enemy No.1?

The WHO hid the results of its study into the effects of passive smoking, the biggest ever undertaken, because the results concluded that passive smoking was harmless.

Smoking is a contributory factor in the cause of lung cancer, but a far more dangerous contributing factor (68-72%) more dangerous, is exposure to medical radiation.

The chemicals released by hair sprays, deodorants, and other aerosols are also a bigger risk than smoking, as is the inhaling of exhaust fumes.

As usual the 'ban it 'brigade corrupt science and facts to bend us to their will.

But is the worm is about to turn and bite the nanny state where it hurts, by voting Tory?

Why not ditch Brown and his Big Brother State?

Sounds good to me!

OK, now I don't smoke and never have... never would.
That being said... I do think there are some merits to what you're saying here. The PC Liberals do believe they know how to live your life better than you do. They want to ban any foods with transfat in whole cities! They want to MAKE you do the right thing.

If you want to smoke and kill yourself... go ahead. It's your right to live your life in the pursuit of your own happiness.
Do you have a right to affect me with second hand smoke? No. But as long as you're respecting this... the law should not be getting involved with peoples' lives the way it is lately.

Well the world has gone bongers !!!!!!!thats why

very true. I think there is far more important issues that need to be addressed. Crimes etc!

I think its outrageously obscene too that the smoker is being targeted for exclusive tax punishment - just like thedrivers of this country..

Yet yobbos and violent drug dealers are allowed to run rampant, burglarizing, terrorising and destroying communities with impunity..

As ever, Forest members trot out the same tired old lies. These are the real facts: Lung cancer is directly caused by smoking. Medical radiation only affects people exposed to it - a tiny percentage of the population. I've had two X-rays in my life, ever. If I now get lung cancer, it will be from inhaling someone else's smoke.
Dropping litter is an offence, whether it's a cigarette butt or a sweet wrapper.
Voting Tory won't make one iota of difference to the laws which exist. You're deluded if you believe it will.
It's about time smokers got used to the idea. We non-smokers are thrilled it's been banned in public places and I personally look forward to the day when tobacco and alcohol become Class A drugs.

Because 2nd hand smoke is NOT "Harmless". There are people that have never smoked a cigarette in their lives that end up with lung cancer because they hung around people that smoked. My sister has severe asthma because our parents smoked in the house and cars. Still, st age 43 she has attacks that send her to the ER. Last time she was in the hospital for 2 days. Dropping lit cigarettes can cause fires! How would you like it if someone dropped one and it burned down your home?! My niece almost died from RSV at 1 1/2 months of age because my parents smoked around her after she had heart surgery! like I said before, 2nd hand smoke is NOT harmless!

get over it!

well i think they will all change there minds when the tax coming in falls what are we meant to enjoy in life it should be down to each individual if they smoke or not you dint get a man who has had a smoked a cigarette coming in and belting his wife but a man coming in from the pub after a skin full may do just that so are they going to ban drink next

We are are criminalizing smokers we just want non-smokers to have the same rights. Have you noticed that smokers get more breaks at work just because they are smokers.And how hard is it that if you are done smoking a cigarette for you to place in the designated ashtray or make sure its put out and put in the trash can. And I would just for once like to go to a restaurant and have a good dinner without coming out smelling like an ashtray.And I'm not even going to get started on CANCER!

I watched my father die of lung cancer and leave behind my mom, me, and my two younger sisters. It was a terrible way to see him die and I wouldnt wish it on anyone...

The FACTS are that Im a nonsmoker and I dont like breathing the disgusting filth that comes from the cigarettes that others smoke AND that people who breath second hand smoke are at high risk for respritory problems and lung cancer as well. Its not fair to us to have to suffer illness and even risk death because of someone elses dirty little habit.

Well, smoking in America is suffering the same attacks and tax proposals, yeah, it's my fault(because I smoke) that the rest of the world is dying.
Never mind the millions of older smokers who get paid outrageous sums of money, claiming that "in their day" there was no warnings on the labels.( yeah, like the first time they puffed on a smoke, they didn't cough, their lungs didn't constrict, and they just made the assumption that their bodies loved and needed this, like did they inhale the smoke from things that they burnt in their yards)
The whole world thinks our smoke is killing them, I'm 51, still smoking, my parents smoked, and yet I have no problem still running about playing sports, rock climbing, water skiing. - so what about all of those that claim "second-hand smoke" is giving them cancer? Let me see, if I smoke, my partner smokes, and we're in a room, aren't we both smoking, and breathing in second hand smoke? Hell - according to the rest, we should have died off long ago, let alone not spend a frigging day in a hospital..... Maybe their "supposed" information is BS - or maybe God just doesn't love them.....

Why are we criminalising?

Because it IS litter, take a look at all the other fag butts strewn around when you throw your next one down.

It is getting a bit boring all this 'no-one can tell me what to do' attitude.
Easy solution - stop smoking. You will look and smell a lot better and probably live a bit longer.

Hooray!!!!!

You must be a smoker.

I hate to walk through smoke when I am entering a building because some rude smoker who is hell-bent to have smokers right will not move away from the door. My daughter is very allergic to smoke but do smokers care? NO THEY DON'T! You have the right to smoke but don't put it in the faces of the people who also have the right to not smoke. Someone drinking a beer is not going to come up to me and pour it down my throat.

smoking does seem to take the blame for a lot, I lost my dad to lung cancer earlier this year, yes he smoked, but at the Inquest...his death was recorded as Industrial disease, he had worked with Asbestos years ago for many years...so yes there are worst things out there!!

Smokers like drinkers harm others with their addictions. Unfortunately in our culture we use law enforcement to try and correct these diseases. It will take a major overhaul in our national awareness to properly address these issues.

I agree. This is nuts....

The world is mad ! Well no its the government. Now as a smoker myself i do not mind not smoking in restaurants. But when i wish to smoke i dont expect people to look down on me and moan. For god sake life if short and if all people can do is moan then go get a life and start smiling more. oh yes and now watch where they will take the extra money for taxes now that they wont be coming from fads ! hmmmmm mayb u lot should of thought about that one !

It is a common belief that it is OK to discriminate as long as it isn't a popular group. However, discrimination is discrimination.

I find it funny that fast food places are non-smoking. That garbage will kill you faster than the cigarettes.

I'm a smoker, and I don't deny that it's a bad habit but the gov't can't decide everything for everyone.

Smoking is a filthy stinky dirty habit..just accept it and quit, and stop whinging and moaning.