In defense of smoking

With the recent election cycle and the recent passing of various smoking bans in several states, it appears that the anti-smoking movement is growing. To me, it’s great that people don’t want to smoke, and are becoming more aware of the health effects and diseases associated with tobacco products. I don’t smoke, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone else to do it. However, I think it’s wrong to make people stop when it’s a perfectly legal product, okay to buy but not use. Furthermore, the increasing strictness of the bans in several states invades both individual freedom and encroaches on the personal responsibility of Americans.

An example of such a ban can be seen in Ohio, which on Nov. 7 passed a ban on indoor smoking in bars, restaurants and majority of workplaces. It would seem that forcing private establishments habitable to smokers to prohibit smoking would be a health benefit for the workers as well as the clientele of such establishments. However, applying that rationale to other areas of life would begin to show the wrongness of such thinking: We could ban all donuts and deep fried foods and achieve the same ends as desired in banning tobacco, and the health of Americans in general would improve. Also, we could legislate exercise regimens so as to improve the health of the American population. From a health perspective, banning tobacco, a perfectly legal product, from certain places to improve the health of Americans would also commit us to ban other legal but unhealthy things in certain places and locations.

A retort to this argument would be that the effects of secondhand smoke, that is, the smoke that is inhaled by those not actively puffing a tobacco product, affect others besides the primary smoker, and that bars and restaurants that permit smoking expose customers and staff to the effects of carcinogenic smoke. I can understand that rationale in public facilities and hospitals: They should be as clean as possible to cater to all Americans. As we would require a handicap ramp to allow those who have difficulty walking to a government building, a tobacco-free government facility is essential for those who may have trouble breathing or are allergic to smoke. However, a private business certainly should reserve the right to decide what behaviors to allow inside their facilities, and that as long as those preferences are communicated to prospective hires and clients, that right should remain within the owner’s discretion.

When I apply for a job in a restaurant, should I be surprised people want to smoke? Why aren’t the workers complaining about smoking in businesses actually checking with prospective employers before working there? No one is entitled to a job. Employment is a contract between a business and a worker, and we cannot advocate a society in which the workers dictate personal decisions reserved to the owner of a business, especially in a field where a large number of bar-hoppers and restaurant attendees also happen to be smokers. Should we let those workers complain about the decor or music playing as well?

Also, the argument that customers should have the right to go to a smoke-free establishment is infringing on the rights of the owner. When you walk into a place you’ve never been, you have at that point the option to stay or go. Many will base a decision on whether to leave a place based simply on the looks of the customers who are in there, and smoking should be another of those factors left to the preferences of the customer. If they are cool with smoking, fine. If not, they should leave. That’s tough luck.

A problem that exists today is that so many people are concerned with themselves and what they want that they begin to be ignorant to the rights and decisions that others have the freedom to make. I don’t walk into Taco Bell and demand a hamburger. They choose not to sell them, and I respect that they can make that choice as a business. Likewise, if someone wants to allow smoking, I shouldn’t complain because I don’t like smoking. I should take my business elsewhere. If someone doesn’t agree with you, passing a law forcing them to stop so you can go to certain places doesn’t fix anything. Eventually, people will stop smoking, but that isn’t something that should be forced on people, and as with many things that aren’t good for society, it really isn’t anyone’s business to tell them what to do with their own lives and property.