Lets turn that upside down. Do you believe that smoking is always and forever a BadThing(tm)?
Because I believe in a free republic, where, when I don't cause my neighbor harm, I can do whatever I want, including smoking.
In your world, where is the line drawn? What is acceptable, and what is not? And who decides?
Yes, smoking is a personal choice. Whether you chose to see it as good or bad is also a personal choice.
That is does cause damage to an individual, that's pretty well established.
Whether that damage is acceptable to the individual based on the return that they get from the nicotine?
That's up to the individual.
In a free republic.
In a facist state, not so much.
/johnny
Ok, we agree that smoking causes awful damage to the one smoking. We aren’t so different after all. :-)
I think we’d probably both agree that secondhand smoke isn’t any good for the non-smoker being exposed to it. So, if we know that smoking next to an asthmatic or even our healthy family members is harmful, then we’ve crossed the line as to what is a harmful thing that is being inflicted on another.
If someone wants to smoke tobacco, I am fine with that. I truly don’t believe most smokers have any idea what type of health problems they are setting themselves up for, but that isn’t the issue. I am all for smoking, when you aren’t causing harm to others! I am not a smoker, but I generally don’t mind being around cigarette smoke. There are others, however, that find it very irritating, and wouldn’t be as gracious.
Because I have seen adults with COPD and emphysema struggling for breath, and because I’ve seen toddlers admitted dozens of time for asthma (and whose parents continue to smoke in front of them), I do consider smoking a bad thing. Will smoking a few now and then hurt? Probably not. Can it harm those with asthma or those whose respiratory systems are easily irritated? Of course it does. So, should those people NOT be protected from the hundreds of toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke?