OPINION: Yes, smoking is bad, but smokers shouldn’t be demonized
One of Mayor Bloomberg’s most lasting legacies has been his crusade against tobacco use and cigarette smoking. Bloomberg was responsible for the law that banned cigarette smoking in bars and restaurants, doing away with the once-familiar “smoking” and “no-smoking” sections, as well as a similar law to ban smoking from public beaches and parks.
He also raised the cigarette-buying age from 18 to 21 and wanted to have cigarettes sold only “under the counter” in stores, although the latter idea proved a little too much. As if that weren’t enough, the Department of Health’s site contains advice on how landlords or co-op boards can make apartment buildings “smoke-free”: not just the common areas, but individual apartments, an idea that I feel dangerously infringes on individual freedom.
Before we go on, note that I have asthma. While it isn’t active now, it was serious for about 10 years, making me go to the emergency room once or twice a month and getting me admitted to the hospital on at least a dozen occasions. Of course, I’ve never smoked (outside of a two-week period when I smoked “little cigars” in high school). So I have the most to lose from being around second-hand smoke and smokers. And I personally am bewildered and repelled when I see young people in their twenties lighting up a cigarette, preparing to party like it’s 1955.
Yes, it’s true—smoking is dangerous to your health. There’s no doubt about it. The U.S. government proved it in 1964 with the release of the famous Surgeon General’s report. Even before that, a link between cancer and smoking had been suspected – witness the 1950s nickname for cigarettes, “cancer sticks.”