"To 2nd Hand Smoke or Not to 2nd Hand Smoke"

I don't mind your disgusting habits.
Do you care that you’re killing yourself slowly each and every day?
I don't mind if you don't.
Don't you care that your breath stinks?
I don't mind if you don't.
Don't you care that your clothes reek?
I don't mind if you don't.
It's your life and your choice.
I do mind however when I have to be subjected to it. Your smoking is detrimental to your health and completely voluntary. The only person holding a gun to your head, or more accurately to your mouth, is YOU!
This article by Pete Marcus focuses on the upcoming smoking ban and how it will affect businesses that have to cease their current smoking policy. My argument is that if the restaurant is non-smoking, the smokers can still step outside for a cig, the future cancer patient has an option. They can still enjoy dinner at their choice of restaurant. But if it is a smoking restaurant, the non-smoker has to subject themselves to known carcinogenics. I understand this is a free country and you should be able to smoke where you please…or at least it used to be that way. The other part of my argument regards the health and safety of the individual, which is why America and other nations are moving towards a non-smoking society.
I have had the conversation with smokers and non-smokers several times. Why is it that people believed that cigarettes and drinking are a natural combination? They think that the first alcoholic drink mankind every swallowed was accompanied by a cigarette. Smokers can play the card that states, "society has accepted over the past century that smoking and drinking go together". I will concur with them. I will also say that Hollywood for a long time glamorized the smokers in movies, it was cool to smoke then and in some circles now it still is cool. That was a long time ago before health studies concluded the ill effects of nicotine. Since society has said that it is cool to smoke, it is now saying that it is not. We are at a pivotal time that change is inevitable, and there will be people opposed to that change.
Drinking in moderation is fine; in fact the occasional glass of red wine aids digestion and has been proven healthy. I don't recall any study that has found "a cig a day keeps the doctor away". Perhaps it has something to do with people telling other people what they should and should not do, especially if it's the government commanding you to do or not do something in particular. I think people in general want that feeling of power; they would rather give orders instead of taking them. For example, I was riding the bus the other day seated up front close to the driver. A salty middle age female with a scowl that would make Ghengis Khan proud began to exit the bus. The driver let out a typical pre-programmed statement, "Have a nice day". She turned her head and fired back to him, "Don't tell ME what to do!"
I had one guy actually tell me that if I don't like the smoke, then I shouldn't go to those places. Why should I be limited to my choice of restaurant because people there choose to live an unhealthy lifestyle? Why is it that they think it is ok to subject others to cancer causing agents that they freely accept? Let's think about this, no more smoking on planes. No more smoking in public buildings. No smoking within 20 feet of the entrance of a building. No smoking while you are waiting in line to get into a theatre. Have you noticed that the smokers complain vehemently because they have to walk 10 to 30 yards perhaps to step outside and smoke? Why is that such an inconvenience? Get your lazy, overweight, soon be heart diseased ass off the barstool and go outside.
The cover shot for this article is a few people with a sign that reads,"Marlee Restaurant and Lounge, a neighborhood bar has been a smoking bar since 1957. Why change now!!" Perhaps these people come out of their caves occasionally to go to work and obviously to go to the Marlee Restaurant and Lounge for their recommended daily allowance of nicotine. When or what does it take to get these people to read the writing on the wall? They can't see the writing through that thick plume of dirty air. The cancer developing in their hearts and lungs must also be causing glaucoma.
There is a trend of non-smoking that is not only included in the US in major metropolitan areas or health conscious cities like Boulder, smoking has been banned in public places in Ireland since March of 2004. England has rules on smoking enacted by the Health department (did you hear that, a governmental agency that is looking out for your health). Smoking in cabs is not permitted as well as sporting events that have a "substantially enclosed area". In fact, even though Chicago area restaurants have until 2008 to allow smoking, some are banning it voluntarily. And restaurants that have imposed the ban said that they have not seen a change in their business. I understand that Denver is not Chicago and the Marlee is a small neighborhood "mom and pop" kind of place. It seems that the trend for non-smoking begins with the higher end restaurants and is working it's way down to the more casual places that perhaps one day find it's way to the "dives" where alcohol, smoke, depression and emphysema go hand in hand.
Thank you I think the smokers will not do anytime soon. In 5-10 years a healthier America will wonder how smoking was ever allowed in restaurants.