should smoking in public be legal in all 50 states? If so explain why.?

Question

I think smoking in public should be legal because if they sell ciggarettes in most stores in stuff you should be able to smoke in most public places.
By the way I do not smoke ciggarettes.

Answer 1

I love it when people who don't know what they're talking about make outrageous claims.

Despite what other answers have been given, listen up, people:

THERE IS NO, I REPEAT NO clinical proof that "secondhand" or "passive" smoking causes cancer. NONE.

Given that the EPA's claims were made up on the spot, essentially out of thin air, and the study by the WHO (the Magna Carta of non-smoking advocates), which was "cherry picked" to produce the desired data, ignoring ALL established parameters of proper scientific technique, including the use of proper control groups.......this is simply ludricrous.

A few years back, there was a report that peanut butter caused cancer in laboratory mice. It was later determined that the mice had been force-fed peanut butter in an amount such that the average human would have had to consume 14 GALLONS of PB a DAY to even come close to achieving the same results. And even if it were POSSIBLE to consume that much peanut butter, the subject would have died from far worse and more immediate complications than cancer.

It's all about Relative Risk.....the 30 minutes that you spend in your car going to work in the morning, breathing exhaust fumes and smog are SIGNIFICANTLY more toxic to your system than the errant smoke of a cigarette from 50 feet away in a restaurant you visit once a week, month, whatever. You are at greater risk of being hit by a car walking to your MAILBOX, perishing in a hurricane, or dying in an airline crash than you are from contracting lung cancer from second-hand smoke. Ask yourself again, what is the RELATIVE RISK?

If you just don't like it, or it bothers you....say something. I don't know a single smoker who wouldn't say "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was disturbing you," then kindly put it out, or go outside.

I have worked in the restaurant industry most of my life, and there are a lot of good people who are going to lose their businesses, their livelihoods.....and the people who work for them will find themselves unemployed. All because of a righteous few who want to decide for everyone else what they can and can't do.

If you don't like porn, don't watch it. If you don't like a particular politician, don't vote for him or her. If you don't like what some talking head on FoxNews or MSNBC has to say, don't listen.

If you don't think a restaurant or bar owner should have the RIGHT, in AMERICA, to decide whether or not his customers may partake in a LEGAL, TAXED, and REGULATED action, in his OWN PLACE OF BUSINESS......then DON'T GO!

There are plenty of non-smoking establishments out there for people to enjoy. Find one. They'll be THRILLED to have your business, and you can all sit around and preach to the choir. In the meantime, the rest of us can concern ourselves with other more pressing issues......oh, I don't know......like crime, maybe?

Answer 2

Truthfully, I think smoking is a detestable habit, I am a former smoker, but I feel fully that smoking (and all drugs) should not be restricted. Taxed heavily to pay for treatment costs but no regulations other then quality controls.

I don't like smelling smoke so I eat in restaurant that are non-smoking or provide "true" non-smoking areas. But I have no desire to create a slippery slope where we legislate a person's behavior because of "health" concerns.. The Nanny state mentality in the US has to be stopped, smoking it just one small of example of where it needs to be stopped.

Answer 3

I'm about to shock the crap out of a lot of people by saying this but.....I'm a smoker, and I feal that it shouldn't be legal anywhere.I agree with the new law. Just because I'm a smoker, doesn't mean that I have the right to put other peoples lives at stake just because I take that chance with my own life. You mentioned that you didn't smoke, please stay that way, because it's so hard to quit once you start. You shouldn't be saying things like that about wanting it to be legal for smokers to smoke where ever they want, because there are a lot of innocent people that don't smoke who's life's would be at stake.

Answer 4

I used to smoke, but I would always be considerate and avoid smoking around non-smokers.

Smoking in public should be legal, but I do feel that smoking in areas such as restaurants, bars, and areas in and around buildings should be restricted to designated smoking areas.

I quit smoking for a reason. Because I don't like it. I should not be forced into a situation where I have to walk through it.

Answer 5

Smoking in Public places, such as City, or Government Buildings should be outlawed, with the simple reason, the Government is paying for a lot of health care, (Social Security, SSI, or Welfare), and to have people "smoke" in buildings and infringe upon others with second hand smoke..(yes, it DOES cause CANCER!!), should not be allowed.

Nor, should anyone "suffer" from second hand smoke in public restraunts or restrooms.

I have asthma, and it infringes upon my "right" to breathe clean air! No, you DONT have the right to pollute my air space, or others! Besides the health risks, theres the dangers of smoking and fires..(how many fires are started each year by ciggarrettes?).

If you want to smoke, then do it in your own home, PROVIDING, you DONT HAVE CHILDREN!! (Yea, infringing upon THIER lungs and dminishing thier lung capacity because you want to smoke should be criminalized!! -->My Parents smoked and I was in the same house, and could see the "cloud" as they smoked when the sunlight hit it...so, I know!).

I wish you well..

Jesse

Answer 6

Yes it should! I’m all for those who wish to smoke and for awhile, while I was a smoker I disapproved it greatly but now I see why it is necessary that smokers try not to smoke in public. Second hand smoke is a killer for everyone especially children! If ppl want to give themselves lung cancer and everything else feel free but innocent ppl shouldn’t have to endure those nasty habits. Its like if I say I have a bad disease that u can catch slowly so I will scratch and bleed near you!

Answer 7

It's crazy to say that we should pass yet another law that we don't have the manpower and money to enforce. There are much more serious "offenses" that need to be controlled. People die every day from car accidents and the government ends up footing the bill for many of those un- or under-insured. Using much of the logic presented here, we should ban driving. C'mon people!

Answer 8

Because we live in the land of the free! I do smoke but I'm not a rude smoker, I DON NOT REALLY SMOKE IN FRONT OF PEOPLE IN PUBLIC, but if I'm at Starbucks and I'm having coffee and I want a cig I should be able to without getting looks, I dunno I I'm kinda torn cause I understand both sides, but we do live in the land of the free so we should be able to do what the heck we want .. within reason.. like we should be able to smoke in public

Answer 9

I don't think it should be legal. The last time I check you can die from second hand smoking. I live in Florida and its no longer allowed for ppl to smoke in restaurants and if you go to Disney World they have designated areas for ppl to smoke. Which is good because like that everyone that smokes there can finish killing themselves and not others.

Answer 10

I'll be brief: I don't know of *any* private citizen who voted on this highly public issue. Anti-smoking laws were put into place WITHOUT a popular vote.

So long as tobacco is a legal product, there logically should be no unreasonable restrictions on its use.