I'm not a smoker, but this is going far beyond the bounds of what is right and wrong....
Smoke-free zones extend outdoors
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
Smoking bans are moving outdoors, challenging the rights of smokers who puff outside buildings and on sidewalks.
On Tuesday, Washington state voters will consider the first statewide ban on smoking within 25 feet of buildings that prohibit smoking. That would mean lighting up near offices, stores, theaters, restaurants and government buildings could bring a $100 fine.
The effort follows widespread success of indoor smoking bans by more than 2,000 cities and towns. The Chicago City Council is considering banning indoor smoking in all public places. New York City, Austin and Columbus, Ohio, already have.
Limits on smoking outdoors have taken off in the past two years, says Maggie Hopkins of the American Non-smokers' Rights Foundation. She says restrictions are in effect in 361 communities. The laws threaten to make it even harder to smoke during the workday or a night on the town. Among developments:
• California now bans smoking on many beaches. In September, Orange County became the nation's first county to ban smoking along its entire coast. San Francisco banned smoking in parks July 1.
• Local governments in Alabama, Ohio and Indiana are expected to vote this month on outdoor smoking rules that would push smokers 10 to 25 feet away from buildings. A proposal in West Lafayette, Ind., is typical: It would ban smoking within 15 feet of entrances and at ATMs and bus stops.
• Iowa hospitals are banning smoking anywhere on their grounds, a move supported by the Iowa Hospital Association. Even smoking inside a car in a parking lot will be prohibited at many hospitals.
"We feel an obligation, as a health care leader, to set high standards for a safe and healthy environment," says Sid Ramsey, vice president of Iowa Health System, which owns three hospitals and will ban outdoor smoking starting in July.
The hospitals' 5,300 employees will be forbidden from smoking anywhere during work hours. Patients and visitors will have to trek off hospital grounds - one campus is 44 acres - to smoke.
Smokers' rights advocates say outdoor bans go too far. "People should have a choice whether they want to engage in risky activities," says pipe smoker Jacob Sullum, author of For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health.
"If you ban smoking outside near a door or window, essentially you have no place to smoke except your own home - and maybe not even there," Sullum says. "What's next? Smoking in a house with children will be considered child abuse. Smoking around pets will be cruel to animals."
Smoke-free zones extend outdoors
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
Smoking bans are moving outdoors, challenging the rights of smokers who puff outside buildings and on sidewalks.
On Tuesday, Washington state voters will consider the first statewide ban on smoking within 25 feet of buildings that prohibit smoking. That would mean lighting up near offices, stores, theaters, restaurants and government buildings could bring a $100 fine.
The effort follows widespread success of indoor smoking bans by more than 2,000 cities and towns. The Chicago City Council is considering banning indoor smoking in all public places. New York City, Austin and Columbus, Ohio, already have.
Limits on smoking outdoors have taken off in the past two years, says Maggie Hopkins of the American Non-smokers' Rights Foundation. She says restrictions are in effect in 361 communities. The laws threaten to make it even harder to smoke during the workday or a night on the town. Among developments:
• California now bans smoking on many beaches. In September, Orange County became the nation's first county to ban smoking along its entire coast. San Francisco banned smoking in parks July 1.
• Local governments in Alabama, Ohio and Indiana are expected to vote this month on outdoor smoking rules that would push smokers 10 to 25 feet away from buildings. A proposal in West Lafayette, Ind., is typical: It would ban smoking within 15 feet of entrances and at ATMs and bus stops.
• Iowa hospitals are banning smoking anywhere on their grounds, a move supported by the Iowa Hospital Association. Even smoking inside a car in a parking lot will be prohibited at many hospitals.
"We feel an obligation, as a health care leader, to set high standards for a safe and healthy environment," says Sid Ramsey, vice president of Iowa Health System, which owns three hospitals and will ban outdoor smoking starting in July.
The hospitals' 5,300 employees will be forbidden from smoking anywhere during work hours. Patients and visitors will have to trek off hospital grounds - one campus is 44 acres - to smoke.
Smokers' rights advocates say outdoor bans go too far. "People should have a choice whether they want to engage in risky activities," says pipe smoker Jacob Sullum, author of For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health.
"If you ban smoking outside near a door or window, essentially you have no place to smoke except your own home - and maybe not even there," Sullum says. "What's next? Smoking in a house with children will be considered child abuse. Smoking around pets will be cruel to animals."
