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Yes

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Should smoking be allowed in public places?

YES - but qualified

Where a group or society want a meeting place or forum where smoking is allowed this should not be banned by legislation. When a business owner running a club or bar wants to designate a smoking area he should have the freedom to do it. As long as tobacco products can be legally sold then it should not be illegal for smokers to have designated clubs and pubs where they can enjoy their habit. Let the non smokers have everywhere smoke free except for designated smoking areas.

I live in the United kingdom where a total ban on smoking in public places has been
introduced just two months ago. This is a total ban, any area enclosed by four walls and a roof, taxis, buses, trains, boats and company vehicles, even a long distance lorry driver who does not share his cab with anybody else is not allowed to smoke in the cab of a company vehicle, there are no exemptions at all and there are huge fines for failure to comply. These draconian laws are justified because smoking is dangerous and our government has to protect us all from the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. So the big question is, why does our government continue to allow tobacco sales and continue to take 6,000,000,000 a year in tax revenue from tobacco sales? The conclusion has to be that they really don't give a damn about public health if it means saying goodbye to such a large tax bonus.

When the ban was introduced I decided to stop smoking. I didn't want to but I decided that I would not be reduced to skulking in doorways to enjoy my habit. Cigarette smoke is best enjoyed indoors with a pint of beer or after dinner with a cognac and coffee, but never, ever, when stood outside in a cold damp British winter. I have been a heavy smoker for fifty years with a consumption of thirty a day and, with our current extortionate tobacco tax, an expenditure of 2000 per year. Now to explode the myths. I do not suffer from any of the ailments that heavy and prolonged smoking is supposed to induce. I am aged 62 years and consider myself fitter than any non smokers of this age that I know. I bicycle an average fifteen miles a day in one of the hilliest counties of England and can cycle 140 miles a day for day after day on a long ride. I do not suffer from premature aging of the skin and look considerably less aged than any of my younger siblings. I stopped smoking without any prescribed aids and despise the suggestion that smokers are too addicted to be able to

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