Okay, in the last twenty years, we have seen smoking go from at least being a tolerated activity to bans in homes, cars, bars, restaurants, and pretty much every indoor place, and even some outdoor places.
I don’t mean for this to be a pro/con against anti-smoking laws. My question basically deals with the end game of these laws. What is the general consensus of where they will eventually stop and no longer be an issue. Will they:
Making all tobacco illegal they same way marijuana is illegal? I would say yes except for the large amount of money out there for legal tobacco, but they’ve been taking a hit so far.
Smoking only in your home if there are no children and it doesn’t bother the neighbors. I could see this as the clincher that stops it.
Where do my fellow dopers see the end game, if any?
FYI: On January 2, 2008, I will have been smoke free for one year…
It won’t ever go away. In a strange twist, the government itself has become addicted to tobacco. Local and state governments have been borrowing against the expected revenues from the MSA. All sorts of government officials will talk tough about cracking down on cigarette smoking, while at the same time they know they’ve been taking out bonds backed by future tobacco money to finance various programs. If tobacco companies see revenues go down, the amount the companies pay to the government goes down too. A bit of a catch-22.
Combine that with the clout of the tobacco lobby, and the fact that there are people that depend on the tobacco industry for their livelihood (farmers, workers, et al) and it’s unlikely it will be going away.
The City of Calabasas has already passed an ordinance banning outdoor cigarette smoking. (Although, technically, smoking is allowed anywhere unless there’s a non-smoker within 20 feet…in which case the smoker needs to ASK PERMISSION to keep smoking, or put out the cigarette immediately.) The only place exempt from the ordinance is The Commons, the main shopping district – which is busy, crowded, and the most likely place for shoppers & children to be affected by secondhand smoke – but we don’t want smokers to shop someplace else, do we???
It doesn’t look good, but I doubt a total ban will occur before the next 50 years. I expect bans on smoking in parks, apartment buildings, (both have already happened), if you have kids, and etc.
The next big one is “smoking in your own home/car around a baby”. Then, all kids.