Originally Posted by
chasm54
Despite the dangers of passive smoking, a single smoker in the open air does not really pose a threat to anyone else's health. One may not like the smell - I don't myself, having been an ex-smoker for a long time. But merely disliking other people's habits is insufficient reason to ban them. Lots of people do things I don't like. But their rights are just as important as mine.
Sorry, I beg to differ. The threat is to the smoker's health. The issue of rights gets to be a bit sticky when one factors in the possibility of public funds being used to pay of health care expenses that were the result of years of smoking. So, I don't really want to debate that. My larger point was that there is a risk in demonizing someone because we don't like their behavior.
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