You asked for our input on this new legislation, so here it is. I won’t defend my choice to smoke as intelligent, either financially or medically. I will say it’s an addiction, though that is the least of my worries when it comes to papers and exams. I fully understand how repugnant the smell of smoke is to a non-smoker (I was one myself until I was 22 and hated the smell).
Let’s be fair though. How much of your life do you spend in a bar, preserving your liver in alcohol? Hopefully, not more than a couple of hours a week. Is second hand smoke going to cause cancer? Last I checked, the air quality in the GTA wasn’t so great, so we all might actually be better off with a bit of tobacco and a filter between us and the air. I don’t expect to be allowed to smoke at McDonald’s. No one wants to smell that while they eat. But clubs are private businesses. If they want to allow their patrons to smoke, then that should be their choice. Smoking isn’t illegal. If you don’t like the smoke, go to a non-smoking club. They do exist.
Some clubs have now tried to build smoking rooms to comply with the new laws, but the government plans to ban smoking rooms in 2006. Why? Because we now don’t have a right to smoke at all? At the place I work, we’re only allowed to smoke in back of the building. The company doesn’t want “our type” seen from the street. Enough is enough. Why aren’t we fighting back? There are a lot of smokers in the GTA. If I want to kill myself with tobacco, that’s my choice.
Why are the taxes on cigarettes so high? Oh, that’s right – we’re a burden on the healthcare system. What about those burdens that can name every kind of potato chip and every special at Mickey D’s for every day of the week but wouldn’t walk a block to buy either? Where are those taxes? We’ve somehow been brainwashed to believe it’s acceptable to force our health values on others on a whim, while ignoring other groups.
If the government REALLY wanted us to quit they would raise taxes-REALLY raise them. Not by 15 cents. They incrementally increase the taxes slowly so that we won’t quit, but will fill their coffers with our dollars. If they raise the price by $2 a pack, then that would be enough of a shock to our systems to maybe do something-but that’s not what they really want. We all know what they REALLY want.
Dan Perry
