Smoking; Is It a Right, or a Wrong?

Smoking; is it a right, or a wrong?

"Smoking in definition is the burning of a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe or any other matter or substance which contains tobacco." New York recently enacted legislation banning smoking in all public areas. This smoking ban benefits all members of our society, and should be passed throughout all fifty states. Not only is smoking harmful to the environment, it is also detrimental to the quality of human life. With this law being passed it will help protect citizens all over the Untied States of cancer, heart disease, and other respiratory health problems.

The New York State smoking ban restricts smoking in all public areas, which include: places of employment, bars, food service establishments, this includes enclosed indoor areas open to the public containing a swimming pool, public means of mass transportation, including subways, taxi cabs, and all public and private colleges, universities and other educational and vocational institutions. Smoking is permitted in but not limited to: private homes, private residences, hotels, and outdoor dining areas of food service establishments with no roof or other ceiling enclosure (___).

In the United States most recently an increasing number of states have banned smoking in common areas such as hotels, and bars. With eleven of these bans being in January of 2006, the United States is headed in the right direction if planning to make smoking in public areas illegal throughout the nation.

“California is at the moment the strictest of all states when it comes to this law. California prohibits smoking within 20 feet of any door or window of any government building within the state, including buildings owned or occupied by any government entity, including public universities, or public buildings leased to private firms” (___).

California has taken the smoking ban to a new level. The areas where you can smoke are extremely limited, which is causing much controversy.

Many individuals believe that if you do not want to be around smoke that you can simply avoid the situation by not attending the types of place where smoking would be associated with. “The cute angle utilized by the tobacco scolds is to pretend that the purpose of this prohibition is to protect the health of the poor bar employees. It is remarkable that anyone can say this with a straight face. Many bar employees are smokers themselves. If you are that afraid that that air will make you that sick a bar is not a place for you to work” (O’Shea). Though this obstacle may sound quite simple, it is not as easy as it is made out to be.

How would you be able to avoid these places though? Have smoking only in certain areas such as bars, restaurants, and movie theaters? Obviously, that would not work, because what about those people who are striving for a means to survive in this world, and need a job here and now? or what about those who are worried about the health risks of secondhand smoke? Can they afford to walk around aimlessly in search for employment where smoking is prohibited?

There are many reasons why so many people approve of these bans. The main issues among society, at the moment are both human, and environment health. According to the American Medical Association “secondhand smoke kills as many as 50,000 Americans annually. It is estimated that about 35,000 of these deaths are from heart disease 3,000 lung cancer, and about 12,000 from other respiratory illnesses” (Smoak Jr.). This means that “passive smoking” is the third leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by direct smoking and alcohol.

“On March 26, 2003, New York State legislators approved a state-wide smoking ban. Governor Pataki signed it immediately. The state ban took effect July 24, 2003” (___). This is considered by some to be “New York state's strongest public health policy ever" (Fuschillo). Opponents of this law believe that the government should not be able to control our own individual life choices; “Smoking is a risky activity, not necessarily a deadly one, and adults in a free society have the right to engage in risky activities if they so choose. Thus adults have a right to smoke; or rather, the government has no right to prohibit them from smoking. Just because some people make what most people consider to be the wrong choices, does not mean government should do the choosing" (Saunders). However, the consequences of poor health care choices are often financed by the government through Medicaid and welfare programs. Therefore if the government and tax payers are paying for a persons healthcare bills they should be able to have a say in healthcare decisions. If the United States population was healthier the government would be able to spend our money on more important priorities such