General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Real Motivation Behind Park And Beach Smoking Bans [View all]apnu
(8,771 posts)The Anti-smoking movement that really solidified bout 10 years ago has become, more or less, accepted by most people in most urban places. I can't speak for rural places, I'm not out there much. But the movement is one of the few modern examples of a truly bi-partisan effort. 10 years ago I smoked and over half the people I knew and worked with smoked. Now maybe 2% of them smoke and that number dwindles every day.
People have woken up to the fact that smoking gives us no benefit what so ever after your body becomes immune to the smoking buzz. And so they don't want it around them, even in outdoor places like the beach.
I'm an ex-smoker, as I said and I quit over 7 years ago after smoking for 13 years. I'm an avid cyclist and commute to work by bike. But the bike racks by my workplace are also the place where the outside ashtrays are. In my town there's a ban on how close you can be to an entrance and smoke. I regularly have to wade through a smog to lock my bike, while I'm winded from a hard ride. And let me tell you, that sucks. I don't want it anywhere near me and i don't want to have to fight my way through a cloud of smoke to get into a restaurant, store or my place of work.
Anyway, I agree that the science about outdoor smoke is dubious, but that's just an excuse used to give the public what it really wants. The anti-smoking lobby and the cancer groups are silent because, as far as they are concerned, if its working, don't mess with it. Why should the American Lung Association come out and attack a study that's helping them rid the world of smoking?