I grew up w/ a smoker and I can tell you that's not fair. Making restaurants smoke free is fair to non-smokers. Not so fair to smokers, I have a question to the smokers does the cigarette smoke make the food taste better?
People smoke for any or all of a variety of reasons and the reasons are irrelevant to the discussion. No one has the right to tell anyone else what legal activities they can and can't do around them. Period.
If you want to start banning things that are annoying, well, some of us better take a hard look at ourselves, lest we become banned for the same reason. Seriously, though, suppose your neighbor complained that that old Mopar is annoying (and ecologically hazardous). Bye, bye Mopar. It's a slippery slope. And once you let politicians control one aspect of your life, their foot is in the door to work on others, so watch out! Note the recent Chicago law that bans fois gras because preparing it is cruel. These people have obviously never been to a meat processing plant, because if they did, we'd all be eating only vegetables. Then again, some wacko group published a "scientific study" that stated they plants feel pain when they're picked, so maybe we should all just live on water.
Since no one can prove that smoking is physically harmful to others, that point is moot. And if it ever does get proven, then it should be outlawed altogether. It is asinine to declare something hazardous, but allow its use to make money off of it. In the private sector, that would be enough to put a company under from the legal fees alone, let alone fines and penalties. I do not accept from (and will not vote for) any politician that can't agree with that premise.
Can you imagine opening up your house and garage for some stranger to go through and dispose of anything they feel is harmful/dangerous/annoying/wasteful, etc.?
So, barring physical harm, we are left with the issue of annoyance. There are restaurants around my house that allow dogs inside. I don't like dogs, SO I DON'T GO TO THOSE RESTAURANTS. I take my business elsewhere. I don't complain to the media and everyone else that it's not fair that I can't go there. That would be a lie. I CAN go there, but I choose not to.
Look, if this were something that everyone wants, as has been suggested, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Restaurants would simply put up the "No Smoking" sign and become rich overnight. But there will always be people who live to tell others what to do, so we'll always be having these types of conversations and fighting these types of battles. And I remind all that I am not and have never been a smoker. Just someone who respects others' rights in their "pursuit of happiness".
Mike
