Smoking

[Fran]

A smoking ban in public places is being proposed in the UK. A part of me is breathing a huge sigh of relief. I hate being in smokey places or anywhere near someone who is smoking (even in the street). Being in a smoke-filled room makes my eyes smart, my hair and clothes stink, my lungs hurt and is potentially very damaging to my health (the extent of which is still under debate). Whilst I realise that I can choose not to go to places where people are likely to be smoking, this severely restricts where I go. This used to exclude most restaurants, all clubs, pubs and bars, and before they banned it, workplaces, cinemas. In the UK they have non-smoking areas, which are not sectioned off by any kind of solid partition so the smoke from the smoking area just drifts over...

However, as I do want to live in a free society, and people's freedom to choose is really important to me, I'm wondering if there is a way round this problem; where I can go to clean-air places and smokers can go to places where they can smoke, without government enforcement?

I know that no business is obliged to make any part of their premises smoking or smoke-free; I just wonder if the non-smoking two thirds of the population don't complain enough about smokey environments for businesses to consider creating more proper smoke-free places? I read somewhere that since the smoking ban came into force in Scotland, the trade in restaurants and bars has increased rather than decrease - this doesn't surprise me given the percentage of non-smokers.

Any suggestions for how in a free society non-smokers could get their need for clean air met, and smokers a place to smoke without infuriating each other?

[Danneskjold]

...........rectangular hallway

................___________

...............|....______....|Fans pointing towards smoking area.

________|...|..........|...|________

|Smoking areas|Non-smoking area|

|.......o....o......|.....o....o................|

|.........O.........|.........O..................|

|.......o....o......|......o....o...............|

|.....................|............................|

|.....00000000|0000000000........|

|.....________|__________.......|

|....(................|.................).........|

|__/________|________\_____|

Key:

.-------space filler

o-------chair

O-------table

0--------bar stool

The thing next to the bar stools----bar

This just in: I have an incredible attention span.

Edited February 3, 2007 by Jeff Kremer

[Mikee]

Smokers should wear an old fashioned diving bell type of helmet in public. A one way valve would let air into the helmet past the burning tobacco which they would breath into their lungs. Another one way valve would let the air out but though a charcoal filter which would remove all of the smoke. It'd be a little tough to eat wearing one of these but they could suck on a straw for drinks. A new look for "die hard" individualists.

I'm with you Fran. Tobacco smoke makes me a little ill. I do think that people who want to smoke have the right to. But personally, I'd rather be stuck on an elevator with a bunch of farters than be around a smoker. I would leave it up to the establishment owners of restaurants, bars, etc., whether smoking was allowed or discouraged. Then let the market decide. Places of commerce having nothing to do with recreation I think an argument can be made that harm caused by smokers polluting the air is actionable and can rightly be discouraged by law. The harm has to be proven which is the province of the medical establishment. This is the process that has been ongoing for nearly half a century.

I suppose the market hasn't been very good at providing smoke free restaurants and bars on their own. I think it's very hard to make a success out of an establishment like these if you limit your market. Perhaps non-smokers don't go out as much as smokers? The proprietors of these places would rather let the legislators be the "bad guys" on this issue.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I personally go back and forth on this issue. I do have a suggestion that seems rational to me.

In common use areas like streets, sidewalks, etc., there are laws against urinating and defecating (and other anti-hygienic activities) on them. I don't know what the law is concerning restaurants, but I imagine that whatever goes in this respect for common use areas also goes for businesses open to the public, so it could be illegal under the same laws to urinate and defecate on the floor of a restaurant (I would have to check to be sure).

I don't know why air is any different than the ground as a common use area. So here is my suggestion. Whatever laws are in place for common use areas for smoking should extend to private businesses open to the public, unless there is a notice to the contrary by the owner.

As matters stood before the anti-smoking laws that are now proliferating, a person could smoke anywhere unless a "No Smoking" notice was posted. Now that it is becoming illegal to smoke in common use areas, why not accept this as the norm, but have places where "Smoking Permitted" is the owner's option?

It's a subtle difference, but a real one. Before, a person had a right to smoke in a private business open to the public unless the owner decided otherwise. The smoker's right was protected. Now a person (non-smoker) could have the right to breathe clean air in a private business open to the public unless the owner decides otherwise. If nobody says anything, the default is no smoking. But with a notice posted, smokers could have establishments that cater to them by businesspeople who want their business.

And I believe the right of the business owner to decide should be protected in law.

Michael