Let's Talk About: Smoking.

For the past year or so, it seems smokers have come under some serious fire from nonsmokers concerned about their health and well-being. Perhaps I am completely biased, but I'd like to think I would feel this way even if I were not a smoker.

Any sort of regulations on smoking (other than an age limit) are absolutely absurd. The use of tobacco is, to my knowledge, still legal in the United States. In fact, the tobacco industry is one of the most unshaken markets. Think about it...smoking and drinking are two things that, even in a time of economic hardship, people will still do. No matter what! Because tobacco and the consumption of is totally legal in the States, how can a government begin to tell its' constituents where they can and cannot perform this activity?
I suppose you can argue the consumption of alcohol is limited to places with licenses or the privacy of your own home but tobacco and alcohol are completely different things. Tobacco has never gotten me drunk and if you've been high or in some altered state after smoking a cigarette, I'm clearly smoking the wrong brand!!

I acknowledge the fact that I, a smoker, am in the minority. Those silly little "Truth" commercials are right when they state most people do not smoke. I would never disagree with this. I would like to point out, however, that I have every right to be upset about these smoking bans. I am a person too, an American citizen nonetheless, with every right to get upset about not being able to smoke where ever I damn well please.
Remember that right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that makes America such a great place to live? Smoking makes some people happy. I know my smoking makes you unhappy and that is why it is now banned. I really do understand. But the nonsmokers must understand where smokers are coming from as well.

While the ban, which passed in Ohio last November, prohibits me from smoking in public places, it will not prohibit me or any other smoker from smoking when we damn well please. All we have to do is walk outside to light up. This is not a big deal to me unless nonsmokers make it so we can't smoke anywhere but in the privacy of our own homes. (In which case, I'll start taking college classes online, use the phone and Internet as my means of communication with the outside world and barricade myself in my room.) Surely the place I call "home," the place I pay rent to use as I wish will never be a smoke free zone.
I do have friends who rent and are not able to smoke in their dwelling. This is absolutely ridiculous. If I pay to live there, you can bet your left tit/nut I will do whatever I damn please there.

Smoking itself has not been banned, thank God. I hope nonsmokers have not fooled themselves into believe people will actually quit smoking because they cannot smoke indoors. If smokers smoked simply for convenience, most of us would have never began. I'm sure my fellow smokers can remember hiding their habit from significant others or parents or friends, or the difficulty in obtaining smokes while still underage. (I don't encourage underage smoking but let's face it...it happens!) None of this is indicative of a very convenient way of life.

Now that nonsmokers have their way, they will never be exposed to my oh-so-harmful second hand smoke ever again! I would feel a bit more sympathetic to their cause if I knew this weren't entirely out of spite, but they are not concerned about their health!!
This new lease on their health will not prevent them from drinking too much alcohol, laying in a tanning bed for too long, Biggie sizing their Wendy's, having promiscuous unprotected sex, driving over the speed limit, without a seatbelt or any other risky behavior which can harm their bodies as well. It probably won't motivate them to get off their lazy asses and hit up the gym every once in a while either! It looks like we do have something in common after-all. Three cheers for self-destruction, so long as we're consenting!

What's more is...these smoking bans are not the end of the nonsmoker agenda. Now, according to the news tonight, employers (specifically Cleveland Clinic) has stopped hiring smokers! The report said they would be issuing tobacco tests to potential employees and only offering jobs to those who were tobacco free.
Are they fucking serious?! Does anyone else not find this to be oh...I don't know...discrimination?! These people are health professionals. They fully understand the risks involved with tobacco use. If they want to smoke, who is their employer to tell them otherwise? A doctor who was in favor of this idea stated something along the lines of "everyone is opposed to toxins so we're trying to limit them in our establishment." Does that even make sense?!

I will allow the nonsmokers to tell me where I can and cannot smoke.
When I'm at work, I will even allow my employer to tell me when I get a break and whether I can smoke on break.
But to tell me you will not hire me because of some completely legal activity I take part in when I am not acting as your employee that does not effect how I serve your company and perform my duties...what?

I feel I do my best to be as courteous about my smoking as possible. I smoke outside when at my parents' house because I know they don't like it. I smoke away from doors where nonsmokers may be coming and going. I even ask passengers in my car if they mind me lighting up before doing so.
I am not asking you give me more breaks at work so I can feed my nicotine addiction. I am not asking you pay me more so I can afford my habit when taxes go up on tobacco products. I am not asking for any sort of special treatment.

I am asking to be treated as a legitimate citizen of the United States with the right to spend my free time as I so choose so long as I obey the law and do not infringe upon the rights of others.

So to all the nonsmokers out there, do me a favor: If you know someone who smokes, get off their back. They hear enough bullshit about the way they have chosen to live their lives. You probably won't have much of an impact on their smoking habit anyway. In fact, when people bother me about it, it makes me want to smoke more!! :)

This is cigarettes we are talking about here people, not crack. Give me a break!


Thanks for taking the time to read.