To Smoke or Not To Smoke? It's Not Really Up To You Anymore

There was a time when one could light up anywhere they wished. One could be at peace smoking in malls, coffee shops, bars and even airplanes. Ah, the good old days! Smoking was such a common occurrence and so widely accepted throughout most of the 1900’s, advertisements for the death sticks littered magazines, even more so than alcohol ads.

Then results from numerous studies on smoking and the effects of the chemically filled cigarettes started popping up but one still knew where they could smoke and more importantly; one knew where others would be smoking so they could avoid smokers and the stink of burning tobacco-laced chemicals if they so pleased. Once these studies proved that tobacco smoke causes a variety of illnesses and diseases that could lead to death, the government ignored the warnings for as long as they could before taking actions against the feared smokers.

Instead of banning cigarettes outright, as they would any other item that posed a health risk, the government simply created and increased a tax on tobacco products, made the tobacco companies add warnings to their products, and forced businesses to have separate smoking areas for their customers. After continued pressure from the public, or at least a portion of the public, all levels of governments have imposed various bans on smoking in public establishment (bars, restaurants, etc…).

With smoking being banned indoors, this activity now takes place outdoors on public streets where unsuspecting passer-by’s are exposed to the toxic mix of pollutants released from the ends of the tobacco tubes. These pedestrians, in the end, become smokers themselves even though they spend no money on cigarettes or put no cigarette to their mouth just because they inhale tobacco filled air just by walking outside.

Where is the government in all of this, you may ask? Trying to rub the green from their eyes after counting all the tobacco revenue they collected. And where are the tobacco companies? In court defending themselves from the countless lawsuits filed against them. In my opinion, these lawsuits should be directed at the government and not the companies that are just trying to sell a product in our democratic society. After all, if these cigarette products are so dangerous as to lead to death, should not the government ban them in the interest of public safety?

On second thought, maybe the smokers of the world are all criminals. Suicide, or at least, attempted suicide is against the law. Studies have shown and the government agrees that smoking could lead to death; therefore, anyone who purchases cigarettes is attempting suicide. I will take this one step further still, keeping in mind that many agree that smoking kills. With smokers forced outside where anyone passing by may inhale the toxic fumes, these smokers are also guilty of attempted murder. Since the government is responsible for forcing these deviants outside and giving them the opportunity to kill others, not to mention allowing the sale of these deadly in the first place, they must be guilty of something.