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Originally Posted by Mr Flopnuts
Yes, yes there are. In WA state I know for a fact that you CAN NOT smoke indoors in any public place. People have tried to do the private club thing, and have been fined by the government. It's not an option for a business owner. Again though, my stance has nothing to do with "my right to smoke". It has everything to do with telling a business owner he may not permit a legal activity on his property. My stance again, is ban smoking, not where it can be done. I wouldn't like a ban on tobacco consumption, but it would be more justifiable than telling a man that it's okay for people to cuss in his bar, but not smoke. Neither activity is illegal.
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Well, it sounds like the state of Washington has a problem with private property.
Public businesses, by definition, cater to the public. The public consists of both smokers and non smokers. Public businesses have, imo, the obligation to respect the rights of all the public. Smoking harms others who don't smoke (even those in the public who occasionally choose to patron public businesses with the expectation of not being poisoned). By establishing outside smoking you are both respecting the health of non-smokers and also the right of patrons to smoke. When smoking is the source of the problem, why punish those who don't smoke? How is it any different than public health ordinances?
The choice to smoke belongs to the smoker. But that doesn't give he or she the right to impose the negative consequences of his or her choice onto others, IMO. Why should the rights of smokers and their unhealthy habits be protected when it imposes on the rights of non-smokers to enjoy their community without the risk of being harmed? Why should the non-smoker have to stay home? Why should the smoker have more rights than the non-smoker?
Hell, I should just go take a crap on the kitchen floor of a restaurant and say that I am doing so because it's my God-given right. Even though there are established areas for taking shits and pisses I should have the right to impose my urges on the rest of society, right?
If a business owner makes money off of the public he has to abide by the laws of human dignity. NO ONE person has the right to negatively affect the lifespan or quality of life of another person. Smoking may be legal but it isn't God. And even though the republican party has established that profit IS God, apparently the tobacco industry and the drug companies haven't quite yet convinced the states that profit is God.