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Old March 20th 06, 08:03 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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Default OT Calif. City Bans Smoking in Public Places


wrote:
Smoking inside any buildings where people congregate (whether work
places, public buildings, or businesses, including restaurants and
bars) was made illegal in 1998 (1/1/98, to be exact). But it's never
been illegal to smoke outdoors in, say, a public park or on the street.
(I think the city of Palo Alto tried to ban smoking on the street, but
I'm not sure it stuck.)

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I am extremely happy that people
can't smoke in restaurants and bars (although some bars don't enforce
it), and I'm certainly glad they can't smoke in workplaces where I would
be stuck breathing it. But not to allow people to smoke outdoors seems
kind of extreme to me. Is second-hand smoke in an outdoor location that
much of a threat?


Yes.

Doesn't the wind blow it around and disperse it?


Right into your face.


I could understand banning smoking in, say, an outdoor amphitheater.
People are packed in together and can't move away from smoke easily if
they happen to get stuck next to a smoker. But if someone's walking
along a path in the park with a cigarette lit, I find it hard to believe
that is dangerous to other people's health. It's unpleasant, sure. But
just because something's unpleasant to some people doesn't mean it
should be illegal.


If you can smell it, you are breathing it. If you are breathing it, it
is doing harm. Concentration doesn't matter. And I have had a HUGE
face full of second-hand smoke on a a hiking trail. (Why someone needs
to smoke while hiking is beyond me...)



It bothers me that we demonize smokers as much as we do. We always seem
to need a scapegoat.


No, we need clean air to breathe.

It's one thing to protect people from real dangers
of second-hand smoke, which I completely agree with, and another to act
as though smoking itself is evil and should only be done behind closed
doors. Unless there's a real danger to people's health from casually
breathing smoke by a passerby out on the street (and I don't know all
the facts, so I'm reserving judgement about that), I think this is a bit
extreme. And I say this as someone who (1) generally supports laws that
protect the public, and (2) can't stand cigarette smoke. A good thing
can sometimes go too far IMO.


I am glad one city did the right thing and I wish the rest of the
nation would follow suit.

-L.