Banning smoking in public places should be more straightforward
I was kind of surprised to read how much discussion has been required to advance Rock Hill’s proposal to ban smoking in city parks. To me, it’s so straightforward: Yes, you should prohibit people from doing something that is unhealthy (read: second-hand-smoke-inducing) to people around them.
Let me say I don’t think smoking itself should be illegal — people should be allowed to do whatever they want to do to their bodies.
Let me also say I’m biased — I’ve been on medications for asthma for four years and am overly sensitive when I encounter unclean air.
It’s hard enough to go jogging down South Boulevard or biking along Providence Road without inhaling exhaust from passing trucks and buses. It’s hard enough breathing in clouds of dust kicked up by construction and puffs of pollen released by plants when the seasons change.
And I recognize that nicotine addiction is real. I recognize that smoking is one habit for coping with stress. But I’m disgusted when I roll into work on my bicycle and someone is smoking right by the bike racks.
And it’s not the act of smoking that disgusts me, or the person smoking — it’s the fact that I’m doing something healthy for myself and am suddenly stuck inhaling cancer-causing agents. The way I see it, something is being done to my body without my permission.
Is it really so complicated to regulate public smoking?
Council member Kevin Sutton’s comment on the issue was a tad over the top, if you ask me. He said, “We sell soft drinks, we sell hot dogs, we sell nachos at concession stands. If government is going to come in and save the world and protect us, we should outlaw bacon to our city employees. At some point, people have to live their lives. They shouldn’t infringe on others.”
Except — someone eating bacon in front of me doesn’t affect my health. Someone smoking in front of me, though, might.
When it comes down to it, reading about Rock Hill’s great tobacco debate makes me grateful to be in Mecklenburg County, which in 2015 introduced a “breathe freely” initiative and declared all county buildings, vehicles and grounds smoke-free, and county parks and greenways tobacco-free.
That year, Marcus Plescia, Health Director of Mecklenburg County, spoke at an event in Marshall Park uptown and said, “There is nothing more powerful to have an impact on chronic diseases than to lower tobacco use rates.”
I’d say there is nothing more powerful than to be able to take a deep, clean breath in, and a deep, clean breath out.
Photo: Katie Toussaint
This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Banning smoking in public places should be more straightforward."