Here we go again (smoking/non smoking)

[Dee]

At 12:01 a.m. on May 31, 2006, new smoking bans will come into effect in Ontario and Quebec...

According to the Ontario legislation and regulations, all business owners must implement the following measures:

Ensure that patrons are aware that smoking is prohibited in your establishment;

Post “No Smoking” signs at all entrances, exits and other appropriate locations (signs are available at no charge from your local public health unit);

Remove all ashtrays from your premises;

Ensure that members of the public and employees do not smoke in your establishment.
In addition to these responsibilities, there are other obligations that will affect certain types of establishments.

If you currently have a designated smoking room (DSR) …

As of May 31, 2006, you will no longer be permitted to allow smoking in your DSR, or anywhere inside your establishment.

If you have an outdoor patio…
The guidelines for permitting – or prohibiting – smoking on patios remain unclear, due to the vagueness of some regulations, and the strictness of others. For example, while it appears that smoking will be permitted on outdoor patios, it also appears to be prohibited on any patio that has a roof – defined as any permanent or temporary covering that is impermeable to rain – covering any portion of the patio area. At the same time, smoking will be permitted at outdoor tables covered only by an umbrella.

CRFA is currently seeking clarification on these regulations, and is lobbying for a consistent approach that is workable and meets the needs of operators and the customers they serve.

If you offer a smoking area for employees …
Effective May 31, 2006, smoking in all enclosed public places and workplaces -- including employee break rooms – will be prohibited.

The only exception to this rule is a provision that allows for "smoking shelters,” which are defined as non-serviced areas consisting of no more than two walls and a roof. Any structure that exceeds this definition will be considered an enclosed public place, and must be 100% smoke-free.

If you have corporate vehicles …
Smoking will no longer be permitted in company vehicles. All enclosed workplaces, including company vehicles, must be smoke-free.

Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (http://www.crfa.ca/issues/2006/ontario_and_quebec_smoking_bans_take_effect_may_31 .asp)

First let me say, laws banning smoking indoors in most public places have been in effect in Ontario since 2003. So basically there is no news here. LOL

[hoops]

if people want to smoke who am i to stop them, BUT when people smoke inside a building it is impossible to get the smoke out. all we ask is that a smoker step outside for a few minutes to have their smoke. if smoking IS allowed inside, non smokers are being asked not to come to that place at all.

[SongDragon]

I don't have any problems with designated smoking rooms (as long as you don't make me go in there). I don't mind smoke in open air, in fact it tends to keep the mosquitos away. I only really have a big problem with smoking/non-smoking sections of restaurants... No matter what the smoke diffuses into the rest of the room, so even a non-smoking section is getting plenty of smoke in it. Other than that, what can I say?

~Song

[Amy in Vermont]

I'm a smoker. I know its bad for me and I should quit. They are adding another tax on here the first of July, so the price may drive me to quit yet.

But as a smoker, I understand why laws are being passed to protect non-smokers. If I choose to smoke, that's my choice. But a non-smoker chooses not to smoke, and who am I to force my smoke on them.

Yes, I miss being able to sit with a smoke over a coffee or cocktail yacking with friends. So be it.

A

[Wildflower Fever]

How many of you smokers experience a gradual increase in smokes per day each year? I'm just starting to notice, like an idiot, that I smoke far too much. I've never tried to quit, except for perhaps one instance following a surgery where I was forbidden. I'm 34, have smoked regularily since I was 17, would like to start quitting by slowing down first, baby steps you might say. Has anyone had success with this method, or is cold turkey the only way?:confused:

[Melba]

Wildflower Fever,

I quit slowly and not cold turkey and it worked for me. It works for some, not others. I decided one carton of cigs was gonna be my last and I would have to make it last till I was done. I started by not smoking at work, but still smoking elsewhere. Once the craving at working did not phase me, I went for the rest of it. I gradually stopped having a cigarette in the car, and then after dinner and after, um, well.....you get the picture....:o It worked for me. If you try and don't succeed at first, dont' get discouraged....try another method. I will be 34 Friday and I smoked almost as long....I am glad I quit. Stopped 4 years ago. Good luck!

[snakegrl]

I switched to organic cigaretts, got down to half a pack a day. One morning I ran out. the health food store wasn't opened yet and I had to get to work, so I bought my old commercial brand. That was the nastiest tasting crap Iv'e ever had. Could not smoke them. I decided to quit right then and there and did except for 2 cigs that week. Haven't touched 'em since.
The main thing that helped me quit was really wanting to.
I can't think of anything else that can aid you more than that.

[Wildflower Fever]

I switched to organic cigaretts, got down to half a pack a day. One morning I ran out. the health food store wasn't opened yet and I had to get to work, so I bought my old commercial brand. That was the nastiest tasting crap Iv'e ever had. Could not smoke them. I decided to quit right then and there and did except for 2 cigs that week. Haven't touched 'em since.
The main thing that helped me quit was really wanting to.
I can't think of anything else that can aid you more than that.

When you say organic cigarettes, do you mean "additive free"? There are organic shops of all kinds in my neighborhood, but I guess I've never seen organic tobacco. The only thing that comes to mind is "American Spirits", for example, they are additive free but don't claim to be organic, yet that is basically the same thing I guess.:o

[snakegrl]

Yes, that's the brand. My mistake about them being organic though.

[Wildflower Fever]

Yes, that's the brand. My mistake about them being organic though.


No problem. You're right about them, though, the big brands just taste even lousier after you've had decent cigarettes. I'm glad they don't taste "too" good, I might never quit!:o

[pulmike]

I'm nobody's expert on quitting, but so far so good for me- ten weeks this Sunday.

I used the patches, so that's sort of quitting little-by-little. I Absolutely Hated It. Still do. The only good thing about it is: It seems to have worked for me.

I don't suppose any one method works for everybody, or even most people. I like the idea of just trying different ways until something works. In my case what clicked was finally getting enough motivation. Around Christmas, and through the rest of the winter, I was having frequent chest pains, radiating down the left arm etc.. I was pretty sure I had developed coronary artery disease. My Dr. agreed, and predicted I would soon be getting a heart cathether/stint. I quit that very day and haven't smoked since. Lucky for me, after a few weeks and about $6000 worth of medical testing, it turned out that I didn't/don't have any heart disease.

Instead I have GERD, a sort of fancy acid indigestion, fixable with an over the counter pill. I didn't know what GERD was at the time. Now I know more, and it turns out it can really be quite hard to distinguish from heart disease.

Anyhow, sorry to get sidetracked. For me the main thing was to get motivated. What worked in my case was: raw fear. I was extremely lucky; I got the fear, full strength, but not the actual heart disease.

pulmike

[Dee]

Having previously quit for twelve years, I know how hard it can be at times. Glad the health scare was a false alarm Mike, but obviously it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for you. Stay the course, and kudos on your ten weeks!

[snakegrl]

Yes, what Dee said. Hang in there. Your'e past the physical addiction. The habit of it will fade and no longer be a part of you.

[Eva]

Hang in there, Mike! You are doing well.

Eva

[ponytail]

My partner smoked when we first got together, but quit years ago. I'm very glad he did.

My father chain-smoked Camels, and died of cancer of the esophagus. I have to take medication for chronic respiratory problems that I probably have at least partly because of long exposure to his smoking (his father, also a Camels chain-smoker, died of emphysema).

However, I don't presume to decide that other people shouldn't smoke. That's up to them. I think there should be areas where they can, but I agree it needs to be a separate room. Lucky for me none of my friends smoke either these days, so the only time I run into it is in public places. If I find it a problem, I just don't go there. There's a bar half a block from me which has live music on Friday nights, and occasionally friends of mine play there -- but the place is so poorly ventilated that, when you open the front door, a literal cloud of smoke comes out of it. I can't spend more than fifteen minutes there without my eyes starting to water. So I just don't go there anymore. Too bad -- a lot of the bands are good. I wonder how non-smoking band members stand it!

[GodSistah]

LOL @ "Smokers should be banished to Smoke Island".

I'd have to take up smoking to hang out with the cool people! :cool: Lungs be damned!

~Andrea~

[Dee]

Don't you dare!

I don't know what other former smokers experience, but I never fully lost the desire. One of the stupidest things I ever did was cave and have that "just one" after stopping for a dozen years. I wish someone would have bounced a cast iron fry pan off my forehead instead.

Believe me Andrea, smoking is not cool.

[GodSistah]

:)

I was just kidding...I meant marijuana island! :p

~Andrea~

[ponytail]

I can think of worse fates than being banished to Jamaica!:D

[Dee]

Public smoking bans hit Ont., Que. (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/cbc/s/31052006/3/canada-public-smoking-bans-hit-ont-que.html)
Wed May 31

Smokers in Quebec and Ontario will be spending more time outside as laws that ban smoking in all enclosed public places kicked in at midnight Tuesday.

The Quebec government has vowed to crack down immediately, with inspectors fanning out to check bars, restaurants, bingo halls, shopping centres, and other facilities - even tents and churches.

Any business owner who allows illegal smoking will be fined $400 for a first violation of the new law.

Ontario, on the other hand, plans to phase in its legislation gradually. Although its law is also tough - banning cigarettes even in enclosed smoking rooms or partially roofed patios - the province plans to initially hand out warnings instead of fines to violators.

As well, people in many Ontario municipalities - including Ottawa and Toronto - have long faced bans on smoking in many public spaces.

Quebecers, on the other hand, have rarely been forced to butt out.

Many bar and restaurant owners in Quebec have fiercely opposed the crackdown, predicting the new law would bring financial disaster, lead to job losses, lower video lottery terminal (VLT) revenues and slimmer profits for bars and restaurants.

But the provincial health minister, Philippe Couillard, dismissed concerns that a smoking ban would damage the economy and put bars out of business.

Couillard said the province hopes that banning tobacco use will drop the percentage of Quebecers who smoke to 20 per cent, from 23.

The ban is sound fiscal policy, because any reduction will help the province reduce health-care costs, the health minister said.

He also dismissed the dire warnings that many bars and restaurants would fold because of the new ban.

He recalled the banning of cigarettes from drugstores in Quebec. At the time, retailers warned it meant imminent bankruptcy, Couillard said - but the financial disasters never materialized.