JUST SAY NO TO SMOKING (2-2003)

At the place where I work, employees are not permitted to 
smoke inside any of the buildings. In fact, they are not 
even allowed to smoke anywhere on the grounds except in 
scattered designated smoking areas, all of which are at 
least 20 feet from a building.

We non-smokers sometimes find it marginally amusing to see 
a group of smokers huddled around the large concrete ash 
bin in below-freezing weather puffing away. I’m sure most 
of those in the huddled masses curse the day they ever 
started smoking.

The younger smokers, or those who have not yet started, 
should take heed. This type of scenario is up and coming. 
In some places, it has already come.

Many cities across the country are considering adopting 
smoking bans in public buildings. Some localities, such as 
California, even prohibit lighting up in bars. Dallas 
became one of the latest cities to pass a smoking ban. Some 
cities in Indiana are now taking up the debate.

Years ago, when the majority of middle-aged people began 
smoking, it was permitted pretty much everywhere, even in 
hospitals. Patients could smoke right in their rooms. You 
could even smoke on airline flights, in any restaurant, or 
even in elevators. Not any more.

With evidence mounting that second-hand cigarette smoke may 
be almost as harmful to non-smokers as smoking is to 
smokers, companies and local governments are beginning to 
take action to protect those who choose not to smoke.

Smoking is, and should remain, a legal habit. People have 
the right to smoke if they want (or even if they don’t want 
but are hooked). But they do not have the right to force 
others around them to breathe their pollution. That is the 
purpose of smoking bans in buildings.

If you have recently begun smoking but are not yet hooked, 
or even if you are considering picking up the habit, you 
should consider the huge number of negative consequences. 

Would you choose to be a social outcast, standing outside 
in the cold or summer heat just to puff away on a weed 
rolled in paper? Would you choose to spend hundreds of 
dollars every year for the rest of your life for the 
privilege of slowly killing yourself? Would you 
deliberately decide to stink up your clothing and your 
breath, to yellow your teeth, and to give yourself a 
chronic cough just for the sake of sucking on a cigarette?

That is a lot to give up for whatever perceived benefits 
you think you might get from smoking. And consider this, 
the huge majority of smokers would choose not to start if 
they had the decision to make over. Kids and teens who are 
only just now considering the habit still have that choice. 

The more intelligent among them will make the correct 
choice when it comes to lighting up. They’ll say, “No 
thanks.”