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by Alonzo Garbonzo on March 17th, 2005

Alonzo Garbonzo

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Smoking is prohibited almost everywhere now. Don't smokers have as many rights as those who don't?

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  • by Alonzo Garbonzo on March 21st, 2005

    Alonzo Garbonzo

    After surgeon general reports linking smoking with lung cancer and heart disease, America gradually became a non-smoking culture. For the first time, smokers found themselves outnumbered. Non-smokers began to question the assumption that they had to tolerate annoying behavior from an inconsiderate minority. Getting smoking banned simply because most people don't like it is not a good enough reason, however. Even many non-smokers say there is no such thing as a right to breath smoke-free air. The only right involved is that of the smoker, and any request to refrain from smoking is gross violation of a smoker's god-given liberties.

    Non-smokers' rights groups focused on the health issue instead. Whether there is validity to the claims that second hand smoke poses a threat to health, prohibitions on smoking are a good thing. In the workplace, for example, nonsmokers (the majority of workers) are free to concentrate on their work without the distraction of coping with smoke fumes and squabbling with obstinate smokers. Even a few smokers can make a plane flight miserable for the majority. Civil liberties buffs are horrified at the idea that smokers are being asked to smoke only in the privacy of their homes and cars provided their smoke does not drift into someone else's air space. What's next, a ban on chewing gum? Meanwhile, nonsmokers still have to put up with unsightly cigarette litter to be found just about anywhere smokers gather.

    Comments

    • A fair, well-balanced answer. And I speak as a smoker! (One who IS considerate of others, I should add!)

      mister_c

      by mister_c on June 30th, 2005

    • i get what you say about airplanes and work, very sensible.

      2022

      by 2022 on September 4th, 2005

    • Great answer, Pretty much says it all. Excellent point about that unsightly litter.

      Jodie44

      by Jodie44 on October 17th, 2005

    • good answer

      Alatea

      by Alatea on December 6th, 2005

    • http://www.cigarettelitter.org/

      Anonymous

      by Anonymous on September 24th, 2006

    • The existence of cigarette litter is not an argument against cigarettes, it is an argument against littering. We do not ban alcohol because a person who drinks crashes his car into a nunnery. We ban driving while intoxicated.

      NeverWas

      by NeverWas on December 20th, 2008

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