In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, smoking is soon to be banned in bars. It will be a disaster for many bar owners but one bar owner Brian Hughes feels he can avoid any problems.
Hughes is the owner of a bar called Volume and he is going to knock out the back wall of his club to make room for one of the first beer gardens of his town.
Hughes is mainly doing this because he wants to hold onto his customers. He doesn't want them to be running around the streets of downtown just to have a smoke. He just needs to keep his fingers crossed that they don't ban smoking on the streets in Brian's town.
[Via: Chicago Tribune]
Today if you are a smoker in America you are in a constant search for the outdoors, somewhere where you can light up in peace. Not only does it put you in a desperate situation but you also get a feeling of shame.
There are not many places where a person can smoke — behind the dumpsters if they are not queasy about rats and garbage. Most people when they walk by a smoker only give them a look of scorn, which just increases the feeling of shame.
Of course your health, addiction to nicotine and secondhand smoke are worrisome factors, but when did we have passerby's cared about your health in the past? This is just a way for society to find a new group of people they can categorize as outcasts.
It is enough to ban smoking from indoor areas, only after cars are banned should we talk about banning smoking outside of any building. Exhaust fumes are probably just as harmful to our health as a whiff of cigarette smoke as we pass a smoker on the street.
[Via: Washington Post]
In France smoking in bars and cafes was banned on the 1st of January of this year. There are signs warning of a 68 euro fine for those who light up. Huge signs cover the entrances to cafes with pictures of crossed out cigarettes. The French however, loyal to their stereotype of stubbornness are puffing away inside.
Or it seems that way at first glance. French café owners have had a new obligation on their hands since the beginning of 2008, which is that they must install a so-called fumoir, which has automatic closing doors, air extractors, which of course no one has bothered to install. The French have managed to find the loose ends of these new laws. In France it is still legal to smoke on the terrace of a café or restaurant. The definition of a terrace is a place that is outside the premises without a fixed ceiling and enclosed walls.
Parisian café owners have thrown some tables and chairs out on the sidewalk and called it a terrace. Of course Americans have always done the opposite of the French, but exiled smokers can move to France if the problem gets worse.
[Via: LA Times]
There are plenty of infomercials on TV, advertising the slightly ridiculous electronic or e-cigarette. This is a rechargeable cigarette-shaped "healthy" alternative for smoking. It's a non-inflammable and doesn't emit smoke, but it gives of a bit of a nicotine flavor for those who are trying to quit smoking.
According to those who have given this type of cigarette a try it is quite helpful for quitting the habit.
Doctors on the other hand feel that it is not helpful, as a person trying to quit needs to use their own will power and no gadgets to get them off cigarettes.
This cigarette looks much like a regular cigarette, what makes it different is that it has a battery inside, and the yellow filter is where the cartridge is contained. The exchangeable cartridge contains nicotine in diluted form, which is turned into vapor when the smoker inhales, giving them their fix.
Though doctors may find this tool ridiculous, I think it could be helpful, as you can kick to addiction to nicotine slowly and then you only need will power to drop the habit.
[Via: The Times of India]
One Scottish city is offering a fairly odd incentive for people to stop smoking. In Dundee, people who come from poorer areas in the city will get $25 with which they can buy groceries. This money, of course, comes with a catch — these people will have to take tests weekly to show that they have not gone back to smoking.
The anti-smoking campaign group Ash welcomed this new idea with open arms.
Amanda Sandford of the group said, "We think it could really help those particularly disadvantaged people who find it really hard to quit - having this sort of extra incentive given to them in the form of vouchers, which they can exchange for food."
"Given that food prices are rising, the people on low income really have to count for every single penny… So having a scheme where they are rewarded for quitting smoking, I think could work."
So basically it has come down to bribing smokers to quit. Surely, a low-income family of four will not see much help from $25 a week but it seems that smoking has become such a taboo that people are going to any means to have it banned.
[Via: ABC News]
