January 4, 2009 5:46 AM

Yet another victory for my lungs

Outdoor smoking ban under consideration in San Luis Obispo

First smokers were banned from lighting up inside, now San Luis Obispo considers putting a stop to smoking outside. In 1990 the city passed a ban on smoking in public buildings, including bars and restaurants. It was the first of its kind in the country. California adopted a statewide law in 1994, adding bars to that list four years later. San Luis Obispo City Council members are considering a ban on outdoor smoking in public places. It is an issue that has some smokers fuming. Talk of a ban on smoking outside in San Luis Obispo has some smokers fearing some of their personal freedoms are vanishing.

It will be a great day when smokers are exiled to hermetically-sealed smoking pods in order to feed their addicition. Some may see the actions that San Luis Obispo as the creeping influence of the "nanny state". I view it as a victory for the lungs of non-smokers. If and when smokers can indulge their addiction without polluting the air non-smokers require to maintain their existence, hey, knock yourselves out, y'all....

While some see the insidious hand of government at work here, I would argue that one of the primary functions of government is to protect the public health and the safety and well-being of those it governs. Smokers all too often don't care about anything but feeding their addiction.Second-hand smoke doesn't respect boundaries. Why, then, shouldn't government set limits as to when and where smokers can launch the toxic byproducts of their addiction in to the same air that all of us- smokers and nonsmokers- must breathe?

This isn't an issue of infringing upon the "rights" of smokers. it's about protecting the public and ensuring that those who don't want to smoke vicariously aren't forced to simply by being in close proximity to a smoker. If laws like those proposed in San Luis Obispo make it more difficult for smokers to feed the beast...well, perhaps it's time for smokers to recognize that there is, and should be, no absolute "right" to smoke. There is, however, and absolute right- and necessity- to breathe. I, for one, refuse to tolerate a situation that condones the pollution of air that I need to survive with carcinogens and toxic heavy metals due to second-hand tobacco smoke.

If you must smoke, perhaps it's time to find a way to indulge your addiction without adversely impacting the health and safety of those around. Your "right" to smoke ends when it impacts my ability to breathe clean, untobaccofied air. Capice?? If you absolutely must suck on cylindrical objects...well, I have a solution, but this IS a family show.... ;-)

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 4, 2009 5:46 AM.

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