01-26-2005, 01:33 PM
Even if tobacco is outlawed, it's gonna be a long, long time before it happens. And probably a lot longer before it sticks.
My University was one of the first to issue a campus-wide smoking ban. It passed as a referendum question (only about 15% of students voted, but those who voted were overwhelmingly in favour of the ban) and was put into effect over the summer this past year. Campus-wide: that's the campus bar, the residences, outside the buildings, everywhere. So now the poor smokers have to walk sometimes several kilometers to the edge of the campus if they want to smoke legally. Many just light up wherever they are, and to the best of my knowledge not a single person has been given a ticket (though in a normal day I usually see 2-3 people smoking somewhere on campus). After months and months of our student union requesting they take a second look at the ban (response was that the union should accurately reflect the will of the students; that the 80% "majority" who voted for the ban proved the ban was favourable; the university ignored the new petition this year with MORE student names than had voted for OR against the ban a year ago).
Simply put, it's stupid and it doesn't work. I'm not a smoker; in fact, I hate cigarette smoke in my face. It bothers me quite a bit. However, if people are intelligent enough about smoking to keep it away from me, then I couldn't care less. I see no difference between the smoker 10 meters away from pedestrian traffic and the smoker 200 meters away. I'm sure that in -40 degrees celcius, the smoker sees a big problem. Our campus is surrounded mostly by forest. The students walking a kilometer or so to the edge of a dark wood at 1 am for a cigarette likely see a difference.
Deebye's case actually reminded me of a case up here in Canada a while back where a doctor refused to see or treat any patients who smoked. To be honest, I'm not sure if or how that one was resolved. What I like about people who take those kinds of steps is that (hopefully) it raises awareness in a meaningful way. Perhaps obesity needs the same kind of attention, but smoking is a horid strain on health care in Canada and people absolutely should stop smoking. But making people stop smoking, even when it really does harm only themselves...
I like the idea of a ban in public places -- restaurants, malls, casinos, etc. Impossible for non-smokers in those locations to escape the smoke. But I have a big problem with someone telling me what I can or can't do in the privacy of my home -- no matter how bad it is for me.
gekko
My University was one of the first to issue a campus-wide smoking ban. It passed as a referendum question (only about 15% of students voted, but those who voted were overwhelmingly in favour of the ban) and was put into effect over the summer this past year. Campus-wide: that's the campus bar, the residences, outside the buildings, everywhere. So now the poor smokers have to walk sometimes several kilometers to the edge of the campus if they want to smoke legally. Many just light up wherever they are, and to the best of my knowledge not a single person has been given a ticket (though in a normal day I usually see 2-3 people smoking somewhere on campus). After months and months of our student union requesting they take a second look at the ban (response was that the union should accurately reflect the will of the students; that the 80% "majority" who voted for the ban proved the ban was favourable; the university ignored the new petition this year with MORE student names than had voted for OR against the ban a year ago).
Simply put, it's stupid and it doesn't work. I'm not a smoker; in fact, I hate cigarette smoke in my face. It bothers me quite a bit. However, if people are intelligent enough about smoking to keep it away from me, then I couldn't care less. I see no difference between the smoker 10 meters away from pedestrian traffic and the smoker 200 meters away. I'm sure that in -40 degrees celcius, the smoker sees a big problem. Our campus is surrounded mostly by forest. The students walking a kilometer or so to the edge of a dark wood at 1 am for a cigarette likely see a difference.
Deebye's case actually reminded me of a case up here in Canada a while back where a doctor refused to see or treat any patients who smoked. To be honest, I'm not sure if or how that one was resolved. What I like about people who take those kinds of steps is that (hopefully) it raises awareness in a meaningful way. Perhaps obesity needs the same kind of attention, but smoking is a horid strain on health care in Canada and people absolutely should stop smoking. But making people stop smoking, even when it really does harm only themselves...
I like the idea of a ban in public places -- restaurants, malls, casinos, etc. Impossible for non-smokers in those locations to escape the smoke. But I have a big problem with someone telling me what I can or can't do in the privacy of my home -- no matter how bad it is for me.
gekko
"Life is sacred and you are not its steward. You have stewardship over it but you don't own it. You're making a choice to go through this, it's not just happening to you. You're inviting it, and in some ways delighting in it. It's not accidental or coincidental. You're choosing it. You have to realize you've made choices."
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"