Commentary on ‘Ethics of Smoking in Restaurants’

I’m from the Washington, D.C. area, and smoking has been banned in restaurants for a couple of years now.  To be honest with you, I’ve seen more people out at restaurants with their families.  From a sales perspective, restaurants have actually increased sales due to the smoking ban because more families feel they can take their young children out and not have to worry about smoke exposure.

Personally, I believe that because smokers have made that decision to smoke, and potentially cause harm to their bodies, that they should not potentially cause harm to the bodies of others who did not make that same choice.  Why should non-smokers have to boycott their favorite restaurants because they enjoy having healthy lungs? Smokers are well aware they are not only harming themselves, but the innocent people around them, since they don’t care, why not ask them to  step outside when they want a cigarette?  Since you say it should be a choice whether or not to avoid smoke by not going to certain restaurants, then why not allow smoking everywhere including public places such as malls and movie theaters?  They don’t allow it, because it should not be a choice.

If you chose to smoke, you can smoke outside no one is stopping you.  What they are trying to stop is the loss of lives from second hand effects of smoking, the innocent people who chose NOT to put themselves at risk.  If you do chose to put yourself at risk and smoke, do it on your own watch, not on the watch of everyone else who does not.

Talk to the families who have lost loved ones because of second-hand smoke.  They might disagree with you slightly.   A non-smoker should not have to worry about where they can and can not go and what they can and can not do, because they chose to do what’s in the best interest for themselves and their community.