Posted on 11/26/2001 8:21:42 AM PST by Mr. Mulliner
Maryland County Declares
Tobacco Smoke a PollutantThe Montgomery County, Md. council yesterday approved one of the most restrictive anti-smoking measures in the nation, setting stiff fines for people who smoke in their homes if it offends their neighbors, according to The Washington Post.
Under the county’s new indoor air quality standards, tobacco smoke would be treated in the same manner as other potentially harmful pollutants, such as asbestos, radon, molds or pesticides. If the smoke wafts into a neighbor’s home -- whether through a door, a vent or an open window -- that neighbor could complain to the county’s Department of Environmental Protection.
Smokers, and in some cases landlords or condominium associations that fail to properly ventilate buildings, would face fines of up to $750 per violation if they failed to take steps to mitigate the problem.
When the nation’s strictest public smoking ban took effect in the Washington suburb of Friendship Heights, assistant director of Cato’s Project on Global Economic Liberty Jacobo Rodríguez, a nonsmoker who lives there, filed suit against the city and the ordinance was eventually retracted.
Robert A. Levy, Cato’s senior fellow in constitutional studies and an expert on tobacco litigation, argues that smoking bans represent meddling, snooping, busybody government at its worst. He says bans are dismissive of the rights of an unpopular minority -- namely smokers -- without any basis in the Constitution, science or logic. “All a nonsmoker has to do to escape unwelcome outdoor tobacco fumes is take a step or two away,” says Levy. “That’s not too much to ask to promote civility without shutting down all social contact.”
“Ordinarily, we rely on common courtesy and mutual respect when individuals relate to one another,” Levy says. “But nosy, intrusive government has polarized the dispute between smokers and nonsmokers. As a result, venom has replaced respect and obstinate behavior has replaced common courtesy. It is government, not secondhand smoke, that has poisoned the atmosphere.”
You just don't get it. All of those things are fine. Just keep your disgusting smoke out of my lungs. If you go out to eat and start throwing food at me, then I have a problem with that. If you go to the park and start flashing me, then I also have a problem with that. Are you able to understand the difference or do you want me to type slower?
And any of the above would have to do exactly what with the intelligent points EricOKC laid out?
Are you able to understand the difference or do you want me to type slower?
Don't you anti-smoking Talibaners ever tire of the ad hominem attacks when you run out of arguments?
But then, you don't really have any, do you?
Let me get this straight. You want non-smokers to run around and beg Smoking Morons not to smoke. Whatever happened to common courtesy? I think I will spit on everyone I see. If they ask me not to spit on them then I may not spit on them(only if they ask me nice). It is my right to spit on them unless they ask me not to spit on them(nice). Who am I hurting if I spit on them? I am the most important person on this earth. If I chose to spit on them then I should do whatever makes me feel good. I do not care about you or anybody else I come into contact with(unless they ask me not to spit on them & if they ask me politely then I will start caring for them as my own). I wish only bad things toward others as long as I am happy and look cool spitting
Your personal freedom ends where my lungs begin.
BUMP
i agree. with freedom comes responsibility. all you have to do is ask me to stop (i only smoke an occasional cigar) and i will -- maybe not joyfully, but i will stop.
don't need a tax dollar wasting law for that.
So is car exhaust, industry and many other things.
Just admit that smoking is disgusting and repulsive and we can all put this thread to rest.
Yeah, and as far as I can see, he serves less of a purpose than my sokes.
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