Comments:

Zuzu - 2007-03-23 00:42:17
As a former smoker.... when they enacted the laws in California (smoking has been banned in restaurants here for, like, EVER, but was more recently - several years ago - banned in bars and cafes.) It took awhile for smokers to adjust.. but we got the hang of it. While YES it likely did hurt business for a short spell... after the uproar died down and we learned to live with it.. we did, indeed, learn to live with it... businesses bounced back... though I do bet bars with smoking patios do better business. Because I've been on both sides of this issue, perhaps I have a unique perspective. As impressionable young people with addictive personalities, large tabacco was "allowed" to market to us, Hollywood made smoking cool, advertisements made smoking attractive.. many, like myself, with addictive personalities, fell prey to the varying pressures (including those that came from within) and in no time became addicted. Slowly, as a way to "combat" smoking, non-smokers initiate "anti-smoking" campaigns where suddenly the way to address addiction is to ridicule and villanize the smoker. There are really no/few effective programs to support smokers in ending their addiction. Cigarettes are taxed up the hilt and those taxes go to buy children school books, not for smoking cessation programs. Essentially smokers are paying for your kids school books.. which means you benefit from their smoking and yet you (the proverbial "you" - non-smoker) villanizes them. If you look at success rates for stopping smoking, at six months often greater than 90% of people who attempt to stop smoking relapse. The addiction is madly powerful - over three years and I still feel the pull. Even when I did smoke, I supported people's "right" to a smoke-free workplace (as do many smokers.. don't mistake those people who go talk to the government as anyone other than paid henchmen for the tobacco lobby.) While I hated not being able to smoke in bars, I still respected the right of a person to not be exposed to second hand smoke in their workplace, etc. The butts on the ground in front of buildings... I can understand why that looks like nothing short of sloth... but it's more than that. As long as it's legal to sell this incredibly addictive substance and heavily market it to people, then you're going to find cigarette butts littering the planet. If you really want to cut down on the stench and the mess, support humane and supportive programs to help people in overcoming addictions - Don't ridicule them, in other words, help them. I tried for years to stop smoking. I actively sought out programs - there's very little out there. I can't even begin to express how difficult it is/was. My partner still smokes.. I hate it, but there it is.. I also understand the addiction so I feel compassion. Smokers DO have rights.. "they" are not "non-citizens" - they are addicts. In some ways I don't understand the non-smoker concern with bars.. My father is an alcoholic and I've seen the ravages of that addiction in families, over generations. We create a special place for people to go to indulge in that addiction, why not let them indulge in smoking too? I've seen lives and families destroyed because of alcohol.. maybe we should villanize them too.. people who drink.. because they destroy people's lives too. But making addicts the enemy isn't going to change things. Making work places free of drugs and alcohol (including tobacco) is reasonable. Criticizing addicts for presuming they have rights is unreasonable.. in, you know, my humble opinion. - Zu
-------------------------------

add your comment:

back to the entry - Diaryland