When will SMOKING BE BANNED? (from public areas in Poland)

Discuss!

the smoking levels here are absolutely disgusting. hard to enjoy a patio without the waft of cigarette smoke.

Any info on Polish anti-smoking laws, campaigns, and statistics?

I'm curious as a vehement anti-smoker :)

As a former smoker who now likes the odd cigar i think they are just right. You cant moan about the patio - you have won the war about the inside of the pub so you can stay inside.

Banning it from patios would simply force non smokers to stay at home which is disastrous for business owners because guess what - people who smoke the most are the same people who eat and drunk the most.

Answering to the question in the topic: it is. Since 2011.


infor.pl/prawo/nowosci-prawne/261047,Zakaz-palenia-w-miejscach-publicznych.html

Smoking is already banned in Public places in Jamaica and most of the U.S.A.
The big arguement was that it would cut down on revenue from the Pub's.
Just the opposite happened. Once the ban went into effect patronage INCREASED because people that didn't smoke
no longer had to be FORCED to breath second hand smoke which is just as deadly.
We can now dress to impress when we go out for a drink without having filthy residue ruining our good cloths. It stinks !
I told the smokers who argued with me about this that I have a bad habit of drinking beer that causes a filthy residue called pee.

Let me INSIST to pee all over your hair and cloths and see how you like it.
It is even against the law to smoke in a private car that is occupied by children in the U.S.
My guess is that the Polish Government will ban it soon and start collecting hefty fines for those who refuse to abide.
I wish you the best in your very constructive crusade Maluch.

People are just enjoying their ciggies, what's your problem about it? must jealousy.

Nobody enjoys a cigarette, addicted smokers feel a sense of relief whilst smoking which suppresses the urge to smoke for another 20 minutes or so. Kind of like eating food when hungry - the main difference being the body actually requires food in order to survive. Smokers feel they enjoy a cigarette, but this is not the case at all.....smoking warps the mind, its just about the most disgusting habit going, totally negative on all fronts.

Obviously his problem is that he is forced to breath tobacco smoke.


The length to which smokers will go to justify their habit is extremely amusing.

which is what you enjoy


I'm don't somke bro

Are you implying that smoking is a habit ? If so you are very wrong , smoking is an addiction and its one of the hardest to quit . Smoking is already restricted in many western countries , and not by antismoking crusaders but other ways , for example in Canada province of Ontario:

"The province has developed a comprehensive Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy which combines public education with programs, policies and legislation to:

·help smokers to quit,
·protect non-smokers from exposure to second-hand smoke, and
·encourage young people to never start.
The Smoke-Free Ontario Act prohibits smoking in workplaces, enclosed public spaces and also in motor vehicles when children under 16 are present. It also bans the public display of tobacco products prior to purchase and prohibits youth-targeted tobacco products such as flavoured cigarillos.

These efforts have greatly reduced tobacco use and lowered health risks to non-smokers in Ontario.

The Smoke-Free Ontario Act is designed to protect the health of all Ontarians by prohibiting smoking in all enclosed workplaces and enclosed public places in Ontario as of May 31, 2006."

mhp.gov.on.ca/en/smoke-free/legislation/

Smoking outside restaurants is permitted in specially designated areas , usually far from entrances .

Some will term it like that i suppose, having been an addicted smoker myself the cigarette you thought you "enjoyed" the most was usually the first one of the day, as you obviously hadn't smoked for a while so the feeling of satisfying the craving was more profound. Nobody can enjoy a cigarette in the strict sense of the word.


But you do lie though...so.

about what?

No ,its nothing like eating , its an addiction . You dont carry 20 steaks in your pocket ( assuming you like steak) do you? :)

One thing about the post with the quote from the dziennik ustaw or wherever saying it's banned in public places; the Polish parliament isn't always very good at drafting laws (this is an ongoing issue) and leave a lot open to interpretation. I very much doubt that the law in question defines a public place. Certainly there are plenty of bars in Warsaw with smoking rooms and a few others that just get the ashtrays out late in the evening.

Though even as an ex-smoker I don't really mind as long as there's some ventilation and prefer the situation in Warsaw to that in the UK where they went too far - even having no smoking cabins at Heathrow which must be a pain for heavy smokers who have to change planes there between long haul flights but don't have a visa to go through the barrier - if I were still a smoker I'd probably go through Schipol or Frankfurt instead, both of which are less anal about the ban.

You've taken that completely out of context and made a false association based on what you misinterpreted from my post.

Just do what I plan to do, I gave up smoking in 1990 when I had lung cancer and a lung taken out. I vowed that on my deathbed (assuming a non exciting death) I would smoke a pipefull of Douwe Egberts best pipe tobacco and a 'White Owl' cigar. "clear the room..I'm sinking fast...now where's that pipe!!!! NURSE!!!!!!!!

Just look around you and OBSERVE for yourself those who are still smoking in 2014.
Most of the educated successful people seem to have made the good choice and quit smoking.
Most of the uneducated unsuccessful people who can least afford to smoke still do.
"Good choices good things happen, Bad choices bad things happen."

Spot on. Nobody I know who has a doctorate smokes. Every unemployed person I know smokes...

I smoked heavily for years and in the end just had enough of it - the effect on the human body is appalling. Inhaling burning dries leaves twenty or so times a day does destroy your lungs and is an addiction. I've nothing against drugs per se - I favour not banning anything (up to and including heroin and cocaine) from sale to over-21s however there's a strong case for restricting tobacco to Amsterdam style coffee-shops...

although i guess if they ban smoking... they will also have to ban breathing the air in Krakow ! :)

Just what I was thinking reading this thread. Ask anybody in Poland why the hell they still allow domestic burning of coal and they look at you as if it's an insane question.

Carry on smoking, you smokers. I will carry on walking my dog on the beach which the snob local government ties to ban him from, and in the meanwhile the moneyed "professional" will carry on racing through our city streets in his new wheeled toy.

Each to his own.

Banning smoking in bars in the US completely trashed the pub business. It never recovered. The DUI stuff, even before, took that viral. You can't drive around the US cities anymore after 9 PM. So now, most people drink at home. I call it neo-prohibition. Same result, slightly different mechanism. People in the US, socially, have become circled wagons. Pffft!

After dark actually especially if you are under 40.


We call it "adult curfew".
Take a guess on the money being generated from this and how many of "them" that it employees from cops, to the court system, to fines, to humiliation classes, to wearing a tether that you are forced to wear on probation not to mention the blow and goes on your car steering wheel that YOU pay for to them, to jail and prison housing, to the judges retirement funds $$$$$$$$$$$.

Anything more than 1 and 1/2 beers or two shots of vodka and you go to jail if you get caught driving.

Poland will catch on soon and start building PRIVATE incarceration facilities $$$$$$ and start making these huge profits also while having the system have TOTAL control over your life. Wait and see.

You do realize Poland has lower alcohol limits? Even the higher limit is lower than the USA. . Have a look on here before you start posting about it again

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_driving_law_by_country

Oh my sensitive !
It is VERY CLEAR in my post that I was referring to building private prisons to house drunk drivers for profit and not comparing alcohol limits with Poland.

My point was of all the money that is being made from some poor guy that drank two beers after working all day and is no more drunk then the little old lady that is driving on her Prozac, anti depressants, oxycodone pain killers and anti anxiety medications legally.

May I repost it for you.


I speak that American figuratively English sometimes which is confusing to you and Har.

True but you are suggesting that these laws are in place to earn money with private prisons. Poland doesn't have private prisons yet we have even lower limits.

Plus I can't see private prisons being created in Poland. We have completely different penitentiary system and our prison guards are uniform service along with military and police.

And even though we have harsher laws somehow I can't say this about Poland:



Walk to the pub, take a taxi or have a friend drive you. Somehow I don't see a reason to drive after drinking. And that poor guy drinking few beers after work has a simple solution- drink and not drive.

As to the thread topic (I know how keen you are on staying on topic Johhny) smoking is already banned and pubs survived. Although I must admit that the ones that have smoking part are doing better during winter.

I am aware of that and that is why I posted,


Coming soon to your town.


I didn't think anyone would notice since there hasn't been an 'O' past out here in months since everyone is trying so hard.

Poland will see what smoking is costing it's health care system and start serious education campaigns against it.
Have you noticed that mostly the uneducated are the only ones still smoking ?

The tax the government gets from tobacco is far higher than the cost to the health service (about 3x last time I looked at that). Its free choice but yes the government could spend more on education.

As for drinking I like it and I often visit the pub but like most normal people I either walk, get the bus or get a taxi and I don't feel that is a terrible hardship. Drink driving laws protect both the drinker and the innocent public. DUI kills about 10.000 people a year in the US including about 1.000 kids. This is Europe and we have public transport here.

Please share your sources with us.
If that is true why would the taxes on tobacco generate 3x more then health service costs ?
My understanding is that Poland has very poor health care and maybe that is why.
Also when you talk of health care costs from tobacco use are you figuring in time off work for smoking issues, all health issues from heart decease, blood decease, high blood pressure, lung decease, blood decease, and all the other deceases caused by smoking ?

How about the cost of cancer care caused from smoking ?
I doubt very much that the tax on tobacco could cover all these health care expenses caused from smoking.
That is why I ask you to please share your sources on Poland's annual expenditures for tobacco related health care and also the amount of taxes collected in Poland annually from tobacco tax.

Many years ago, I worked in a huge office in Stuttgart where everyone except me was a chain smoker.
Made it 3 days, then had to quit. I was diagnosed with fume poisoning by my physician.

At this time, there was a debate over a so-called "non-smoker protection law" that should make it legal for "non-smokers" to ask their smoking coworkers to leave the room when smoking.

I remember the news report about this law being refused by the majority of the government, and the camera team was filming how said majority came out of the parliament and instantly, when passing the doorsteps, lighting up with greedily shaking hands.

Morale of the story?
Smoking, no matter how destructive, damaging and disgusting an addiction, will not be banned for good as long as addicts are allowed to make laws. :P

The figures (which I've come across before) are that taxes on tobacco generate far more than it costs to treat tobacco related illnesses.

This is one reason so many government authorities reacted so negatively to electronic cigarettes.

What I personally don't like about smokers is the fact that approximately 99.9 % of them are littering pigs who simply drop their cigarette butts wherever they happen to be outside.

And that's before you factor in the vastly reduced pensions of smokers and the lower costs of treating them for non-smoking related problems. Putting it simply, smokers die sooner and so cost society less.


That's already illegal. The problem is that it isn't enforced and the fine isn't high enough.

That's the dirty little secret that governments don't want to publicize, they _want_ people to smoke because it's a big source of revenue and smokers cost them less. This is why governments pour money into programs that don't work and attack harm reduction programs (like electronic cigarettes).