Should Smoking Be Banned In Public Housing?

Smoking Banned in Public Housing, Housing agencies nationwide have 18 months to implement ban which applies to apartments and indoor common areas. I think this is a good idea. It could cut down on the number of people who get "free" housing to stop. If people have money to buy smokes or other vices, then they should be able to pay for some of their own food or housing needs.

Sure but it wont make the difference you think it will. It will just result in smokers going outside to have a cigerette. I live in a place where we have had the smoking ban in public places for years and people just go outside now to smoke, even so far as people do it in homes whenever there is other people around just so people arent stuck inhaling it inside and because its the done thing.

People either stop because of how much they spend on it or because of the health effects or some mixture of the two, stuff like this wont make the difference

lol utterly pointless idea and won't do anything. American politicians spend way too much time trying to make the lives of poor people harder rather than fixing the real issues plaguing the country.

Well yeah, it's always a fire hazard. A lot of apartment/indoor areas will catch fire before you know it. Most times anti smoking isn't to stop smokers, it's to stop arsonists.

Smoking is bad for you too, but not as bad as burning alive.

That's...not the right reason* to do this. SMH...

This should be done for health reasons and courtesy, i.e.: a lot of apartments share ventilation, thus smoke can crossover causing health problems; people generally don't stay in apartments for too long so the next [possible non-smoker] to move in might have a stinky apartment; fire hazards and smoke damage; and so forth.

I do think it is a good idea, but not for the "AHA GOTCHA FREELOADER!" reasons. If we do ban it, it should be for health and quality of life reasons.

*not sure if you were or are a smoker, but I don't think a non-smoker can understand what an indescribable luxury smoking is to the poor. And it is exactly that...an affordable luxury. The poor and even middle class can't afford nice cars, good food, or good housing (that'd require such a huge increase in their pay, any talk of "saving money from not smoking" is moot)...but they can afford a pack of smokes, and oh man, when you get done with a shitty day of underpaid work and go home to your terrible free housing and eat your can of beans...that cigarette is the only thing keeping you together, I tell you what.

I used to make 10 bucks (as a Californian, that's nothing) and smoke, and I can tell you that and beer were the only nice things in my life (the beer also free from my job). It wasn't until I got a job that literally paid me triple what I made that I quit smoking, ironically; I could barely afford the cigarettes prior, but then when I could more than afford them I quit. Funny...

Anyway, my point is that I don't think you can really underestimate the value of the cigarette to the lower class, and you shouldn't view it as "wasted money" because they probably sacrificed a lot to get that cigarette.

I like how he thinks people who use public services like social housing don't pay into these same services. Or that they're only using their welfare money to smoke up lol christ conservatives really are delusional.

Oh man. Looking at it black and white (no racist pun intended), it sounds like a good idea but what about their feelings.

Nah, I think the Government needs to screw off telling people what they can and can't put in their bodies in regards to physical areas.

The laws restricting smokers to designated areas is stupid, people should smoke where they want to and if you don't like it you should just walk away, with the obvious exception of schools and a few other areas.

@luckylucious: Now while I agree with some of your points (I'm a longtime smoker myself). Saying that we should be able to smoke when and where we want is stupid. We choose to smoke because it relaxes us or whatever you smoke for. But to subject non smokers to our habit is selfish. We know the risks, hell I knew it when I started. But EVEN IF I was allowed to smoke indoors and someone asked me nicely to stop I would. It's called human decency. Knowing full well the health effects on myself and others I would do what they ask. I would LOVE to smoke anywhere I wanted but it is really that hard to go outside for 5-10 min?

You are not old enough to have seen real food stamps such as this.

People would go into the convenience store with a food stamp just like this, but a nickle piece of candy to get the $.95 in change. Anything larger, they would get these back in change plus coin change. They would leave and come back in a few minutes later to use a second food stamp to get more change. They would leave and come back in a few minutes later to buy a pack of cigarettes or a beer with said change. It is harder now with the EBT cards, but it is done.

I used to smoke too and quit for multiple reasons and do not look forward to my later years after knowing what my Pops went through and hearing him telling his oncologist that he was ready to die. It isn't easy to hear a loved one sign his own death warrant, but I know why he did it. He was tired of the tests and treatments.

I figured out that I was spending around $1200 a year on cigarettes when I quit. a pack of cigarettes in NYC are about $12.85 now or about $4700 a year. That would be a lot of non-food items for those get food stamps. If the new rules spur people to quit, good for both health and monetary reasons as well as the reduction in fire hazards.

Well yeah of course there would be limits, of course school districts and other public areas where families may be is a little ridiculous, but its not like you'd want to smoke there anyways.

Pleh, people not getting high on weed in 2016.

I think it's a good idea to not smoke cigs or weed in apartments. They stain the walls and make a mess on the floor.

@luckylucious: Well I would too. It's all about where I'm at. If I'm outside....**** off. But If I'm somewhere where it can directly impact other people, I would be nice and step outside.

@WhiteKnight77: yeah it's definitely expensive on a yearly basis when you calculate it out, but on a weekly scraping-enough-change hey-I-can-skip-lunch-today basis it is worth it to some people.

Also...13 dollars! Damn I thought California had it bad (we just passed a law to add $2 tax on cigs, meaning my go-to brand of American Spirits would be about 9-10 dollars now (it was about 8 when I quit 2 years ago).

Smoking should be banned all together apart from in your own home what you own. Bad enough going for walks and getting a gob full of smoke or now vapour.

I personally don't care if people smoke every damn day. They know the risk when you smoke and they have chosen the quicker death way and hey, smoke at your own risk right?

Though I am surprise that not everyone in the world is using E-Cigarettes as an alternative to Tobacco. Sorry but banning Cigarettes will never happen, the Government knows it makes them money when people throwing there life away and there tax money adds to the richest of the richest. I admit that I HATE seeing people smoke and I even hate it more to see my 2 doctors I work with smoke for that matter!!!

I feel ya on that one Planet. Going to go see my home girl and her house smells heavy on Weed, the smell get's it on my clothes and I hate that shit.

I could support a ban on smoking but my reasons would be for the health of the non smokers. They shouldn't have to breath in the second hand smoke or put up with the stink that cigarette smoke leaves behind.

I find it almost comedic that you've connected these dots and are using this reasoning.

Ive found that people who say things like this, who use the anecdotal stories you will go on to use, are either in a position where they probably should qualify for some kind of assistance but most likely live in a red state, was once declined, and they now have sand in the vagina about the people who did qualify. So they try to nit pick the shit out of everything and think one example of even poor usage of say, stamps, is some general thing. OR, they are privileged enough to never come near needing food stamps, but are obsessed with where our tax dollars go and decide to attack the people without money and power. A lot of racists tend to come out when making these arguments as well. Its as if people cant help themselves but to say you only get FS because you're black or have black family members, even when they themselves are trailer trash living next to you and on FS as well. There is always these excuses to how they legitimately need it and wont waste it (while buying shit food) but everyone else, especially them colored folk, will.

Dependents do what they are told or the money gets cut off.

It is that simple.

Don't like it? Don't take the money.

When you live on someones else's sufferance you abide by the rules they tell you to abide by.

I didn't even take unemployment the last time i lost a job i just went out and got another job. You take that money and you give up a part of your independence.

If non-smokers have to live with smokers, then yes, I agree. It's for health and safety reasons. I would go so far as to say it should be banned in regular apartments and townhouse complexes as well.

Earlier this year, my apartment complex sent out an email discussing a ban on smoking in apartments as well as common areas so pretty much the whole complex. I think it is a good idea. I can walk out in the morning on my way to work and choke due to the smoke that wafts around the building. I also have to keep my windows closed due to a woman on the 1st floor who smokes outside that enters my apartment.

As far as public housing, I see no problem with prohibitions for smoking. Find a different way to relieve stress.

Is this going to work out along the same lines as keeping drugs out of public housing?

Did you know that most of these so called poor people who smoke also have a fridge!

Yeah, you shouldn't have to put up with that. I hope your complex enacts the ban.

CRAZY IDEA ban smoking period it's addictive and kills people.

Sounds good on paper. But another law with an idealistic society in mind. And not a realistic one.

Whose gonna enforce it ? And do so consistently. The politicians who voted for this, are certainly out of touch with law enforcement. And the people who live in housing as a whole. How many cops are seriously going to give someone a hard time over a cigarette in their home. Or will even go to a call regarding someone smoking a cigarette over other emergencies. With the potential of another Eric Garner situation or similar viral video over nonsense. NYC actually passed a smoking ban in city parks some time ago. And as someone can imagine, that law was quickly a massive faliure. So I expect the same for this law.

If people want to kill themselves let them, just don't smoke that shit where other people have to breathe it.

I try my best not to smoke near anybody and I support this ban. The only thing that annoys me is when people do a fake *cough cough* cough* when they inadvertantly walk through a cloud of my smoke. I can do my best to minimise blowing that shit in your face but dont get all passive agressive with me because the fucking wind blew.

Im a smoker and I dont particularly like other peoplse cigarette smoke in my face either, so dont treat me like an asshole that cant feel empathy. Just crack on with your day and appreciate I cant contol the wind.

So the fact that it makes people sick before it eventually KILLS them is no big deal. Not to mention it stinks. It not only impacts the idiot smoking but the people who care about them. It also raises the cost of medical insurance and the cost of the nasty cigs.

Yet despite all the evidence the gov continues to allow the sale of this poison. Why because they tax it and the medical field also loves sick people.

And? It's called free will. It's not up to you or the government to tell people what they can or cannot do to themselves so long as they aren't harming anyone else.

Feel free to try though, the "war on drugs" has been suuuuuper successful up to this point.

However, it is up to the government to tell people what they can or cannot SELL if it is determined to be harmful enough. The point is that SELLING it is harming people and that therefore its SALE should either carry restrictions or be prohibited outright. That's not a new thing. If I'm opening up a restaurant or grocery store, I can't sell spoiled meat.

Now, that's not to say that I think that smoking should be banned. But don't act like it should automatically be legal just because people are in charge of their own bodies. That's a crappy argument. There are absolutely a bunch of things that are banned (and for good reason) in the interest of public safety. Not because the government is telling you what you can and cannot do with your body, but because the government is telling you what you can and cannot sell to another person.

Well said.

Communal areas.....yes. Private areas.....no.

I think they should ban sex in public housing. Might cut down on future people in need of public housing.

To those of you advocating banning smoking completely: Never going to happen. Government at all levels makes too much money off them. In fact, just like gasoline, government makes more money off every pack sold than the manufacturer, the distributor, the retailer, everyone else involved.

Eh the government could also add more tax too other products to make up the money.

There are so many other things that are harmful in the long run to people. Fast food, for example. We know the effects fast food have on people, and by your logic, we should ban that as well, just for the sake of rising medical insurance costs. But, welcome to America, where you have freedom to buy practically whatever you want, even if it kills you.

Don't even get me started on alcohol....

Oh, no doubt. One thing the gubmint excels at is taxing.

But given how few people now smoke, and their social status as the undesirables of society, it seems an ideal constituency to abuse.

It should be banned in public.

Private property only, and this includes businesses that want to allow it (don't like it? take your business elsewhere).

I think it's ridiculous that a bar can't let smokers smoke inside, but they can just stand out in front of a grocery store, five feet from the entrance, and blow a cloud of smoke in the face of everyone that enters and exits the building.