Smoking Should Be Banned in Any Public Area

I had smoked all of my "adult" life, up until 5 years ago, and I have to say that in order to appreciate what non-smokers are saying about second hand smoke . . . you have to be one. And not just for a week or two, but be totally smoke free for at least 6 months.

When smoking and non-smoking areas were introduced; they weren't. Everyone played a stupid game called "now we have a non-smoking area", when in reality the businesses just labeled tables and seats in the same exact smoke filled room as non-smoking. Of course smokers back then didn't fight it because they still had their smoking areas. But if any of them really had wanted to continue to smoke, they really could have seen this all over ban coming, and someone could have figured out better smoking areas. Even in the establishments that really did try to block off smoking, it really never worked because if you only let people smoke in the bar area and there was even only a door way opening, guess what, the smoke came out. Even in outdoor areas you have to make sure you are at least down wind and 20 feet away from the smoke or you will wind up smelling like a pack a day smoker. When everyone went from smoking inside the buildings to smoking outside, it was another joke; there were "gangs" of smokers at the entrance to every building and dirty ash trays and cigarette litter all over. I was a smoker back then and even I had to laugh at how ludicrous it was.

I totally give kudos to the smoking bans because without them I never would have quit smoking! It made it a lot easier on me having every person and environment smoke free. I think that smoking has been part of human behavior that has been totally ruled anti-social. I don't need to pander to anyone about the "children" or "elderly" or even go on and on about the health issues. We are aware, now. It is the "nature of the beast" that smoking is something that is hard to get away with doing if you are in any public arena and even if you smoke at home or in a car and then come to work or go out, yes, you really do smell horrible. Putting cologne, etc. on just makes the smell even more nauseating. And, no, you really can't smell it, if you smoke; like I said earlier, go 6 months smoke free (by then you are out of the water and on your way to permanent smoke free life) and you will begin to smell the difference big time.