Hacker News Reader

Comment by irrational | Hacker News Reader

What about from country to country. I'm from the US and, at least where I live, it is rare to see someone smoking. Second hand smoke has basically become a thing of the past. But this past week we went up to Vancouver BC and we were shocked at how many people were smoking. It seemed like you couldn't go 10 feet without walking through another cloud of second-hand smoke. Apparently the anti-smoking campaigns of the US never made it up North ;-) Or maybe their socialized medicine makes it so that they don't have to worry about health consequences as much. I don't know. I just wonder if the life expectancy is lower in Canada (or at least Vancouver) since smoking seems to still be A-OK.

View on HN

Vancouver here. I'm curious ... What neighbourhoods did you spend your week in?

Vancouver (and Toronto), when looking at the urban centres, boast lower-than-national rates of smoking. Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-583-x/2011001/article/11575-...

There haven't been "smoking sections" in Vancouver restaurants or bars for years (decades?) and we even ban smoking in public parks ... so I'm surprised to hear your observation. I recognize that I'm likely normalized to my home city but I do travel a lot and it doesn't feel like I come home to any more smoke in my city than I'd experience in San Francisco or Seattle.

One observation that I stand behind is ... in both Canada and the USA, suburban and rural smoking rates are higher than urban.

BUT ... the theory suggested here about tourists and immigrants bringing their habits with them is good. And Vancouver is a tourist destination, which is why I was curious about the neighbourhoods you noticed the smoking in.

I don't know the name of the neighborhood(s). I was primarily in the neighborhoods bordered by Stanley Park, Waterfront Station, and Gastown.

I wonder if you were in heavily Asian areas of Vancouver? It's my impression that smoking is most popular these days in Asian countries, so more recent arrivals would be more likely to still be smokers.

I have never noticed a particularly large rate of smoking in the areas of BC I've been to.

Less cigarette smoke is definitely a perk of living in the US. I was shocked to see the amount of smoking in Switzerland when I visited recently. I'd put it at the same amount as in India (where I am from), probably. I also remember a lot of smokers in Germany when I lived there for a couple of months in 2010.

Smoking is more prevalent in the Pacific Northwest region than it is in, say, Silicon Valley. It is still less common than some other parts of the US. This was very noticeable to me when I moved to Seattle from the Bay Area. In the Bay Area (and many other parts of California), smoking is approaching extinction.

It is a regional culture thing. Most smokers in the Pacific Northwest are strongly biased toward the lower economic strata. By comparison, in many parts of New England (for example) there are quite a few smokers in the upper half of the economic strata.

I've lived in and around Vancouver for years, and I find there is very little smoking there. Not sure where the GP's data is coming from, but he/she is drawing very broad conclusions from a very limited dataset.

If anything, (many) Vancouverites have the stereotype of being super-healthy, yoga-practicing, organic eating folks who actively shun unhealthy things like smoking. Unless it's weed :)

edit: I was talking about the GP's comment, not your's specifically.

Maybe. I actually live in Portland, Oregon and I rarely see anyone smoking. I honestly can't remember the last time I smelled second-hand smoke in Portland and the suburbs.

Your evidence is very much anecdotal.

Do you have numbers to back up your claim?

There was no general claim, he shared his first hand experience.

True, irrational shared a first hand experience and then proceeded to speculate as if that experience was evidence that smoking is more prevalent in Canada than in the US.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com