[I-ambush]

As a physician, I would be the last to encourage anyone to smoke, but of all the obnoxious and self-destructive behavior the government protects, even encourages, as a "right," smoking seems a strange one to get puritanical about.

[SheLion]

As a physician, I would be the last to encourage anyone to smoke, but of all the obnoxious and self-destructive behavior the government protects, even encourages, as a "right," smoking seems a strange one to get puritanical about.

I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say here.

[DumpsterDiver]

but of all the obnoxious and self-destructive behavior the government protects, even encourages, as a "right," smoking seems a strange one to get puritanical about.

I think that's the fun part of it for a lot of these do-gooders. They get to flaunt their (self-proclaimed) moral superiority.

Something I read somewhere:

Q. What good are smokers, anyway?

A. They give people of no merit a reason to feel good about themselves.