by Richard Serra

Created on: February 16, 2010

Smoker's rights

The rights of a smoker are increasingly limited and for good reason for those who don't smoke, and should be limited for those who do. It's a matter of who is really right in the end, and if 1,400 deaths a day is what is considered right, then I guess smokers either do not have a conscience, or that the addiction is so great that death doesn't really matter.

For years I along with others had to endure the stench on our cloths when going out for an evening only to find a smoke filled room with no place to hide. Eyes burning, getting harder to breath, smelling somewhat like a skunk in heat doesn't really matter. It's the relief of that killer tobacco that matters and the heck with anyone who doesn't like it.

The tide has turned in the favor of non-smokers who feel they have every right to enjoy clean air, and not having to smell like an ash tray. This is good as more businesses can gain more and more customers lost as they dwindled before as a result of not being able to tolerate the stink and effects of that highly addictive smoke.

You now see them hovering under entrances outside the malls, or places of employment as they are banned more and more in all public places. The smell as you walk through these poor addicted souls is enough to make one hold their breath while walking through them to get into the building.

For the most part they are honest law abiding citizens who are caught up in a habit that by definition is a drug that cannot be easily broken. Do they really have a right to die? Do they really have a right to make the rest of society sick? Do they have the right to cause deaths by fire as a result of carelessness?

Well, in all fairness they have the right to do whatever they want. But to be sure, it shouldn't cost the rest of us. What I mean by that is our insurance shouldn't be equal to what they would have to pay. Also if it's their right, they can exercise that right in an exclusive smoking only environment, whereas they can pay higher premiums for insurance and rental fees if renting to cover the costs associated with the risks smoking presents.

Smokers should have the right to smoke as long as it's in a place that does not affect others, cost others, or in anyway infringe on a non smokers right to live longer than they would if caught in a fire thanks to a careless smoker.

Smoking is downright nasty, and a habit that cannot be abandoned easily, and yet it still is legal. Marijuana is illegal and considered a miracle drug for many who are sick and can benefit by its use. Unlike tobacco it's not addictive, and anyone can stop smoking the weed anytime they want.

So what's the catch? Can anyone correctly spell M-O-N-E-Y? Sure we can, we can spell it easily, but it really doesn't matter. As long as there is money to be made, smokers will have their death weed and cost us all until the day that they die, and at 1,400 deaths a day, it's only a matter of time.

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