Friday, March 30, 2012
Smoking Ban in Texas: Common Sense
Texas should pass a statewide smoking ban. The ban has been in talks for awhile and even passed by the house but it has not made it through the senate. Twenty-two out of the twenty-nine states with statewide smoking bans have even banned smoking in bars and taverns. The biggest argument against the ban comes from businesses fearing it will have a major impact on their economic growth. The biggest argument supporting the ban is the general health of the workers and patrons of the businesses. I think that Texas needs to worry more about the health issue rather than the financial side of it. Personally, I would not eat or have drinks at a place that allows smoking, along with ninety percent of my friends. I previously lived in a town where smoking is allowed in the bars and restaurants and I would travel twenty minutes anytime I wanted to go out to eat or grab drinks with a friend. Smoking, not only smells bad and lingers in your hair and clothing, it also is very bad for your health. Everyone knows second hand smoke causes cancer so why would Texas continue to allow this to continue? Did people stop flying on airplanes when smoking was no longer allowed? No, therefore I think that the argument that businesses will suffer would not be valid if smoking is no longer allowed anywhere. Health should be the most important focus. If someone dies from secondhand smoke that is one less person that will be eating at restaurants or drinking at bars. It seems like common sense to me; come on Texas!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In a recent blog post by Lone Star Gazette, titled Smoking Ban In Texas: Common Sense, the author Brandy argues that Texas should pass a state wide smoking ban.
ReplyDeleteHer argument is that it should be common sense to ban smoking all throughout Texas "Smoking, not only smells bad and lingers in your hair and clothing, it also is very bad for your health.” Although this might be true, many might disagree. A lot of smokers don’t mind the smell and certainly don’t care that its bad for them so it may be common sense to some but to others its not. I don’t think you can justify common sense as the reason to depriving someone of their personal rights. I think everyone knows that smoking is bad and despite this people still smoke, and they deserve that right to choose for themselves if they want to continue to smoke or not.
Banning something because its “bad” hasn’t always worked. Alcohol for example is bad for you and can be very damaging to your health, and there are no attempts of banning alcohol today. Why? Because they already tried it and it completely failed. Prohibition became an amendment to the constitution and it failed because people were finding ways to do it anyway and it caused more problems than solving them.
“Everyone knows second hand smoke causes cancer so why would Texas continue to allow this to continue?" The government makes a lot of money on taxing cigarettes, if they ban it completely people are still going to find ways to obtain cigarettes and none of that money will go to them but to people who are selling it illegally.
I think there should be accommodations for smokers and non-smokers; there should be designated smoking areas, bars that do allow smoking and non-smoking bars. Not everyones views on smoking is the same, and people who do smoke shouldn't be denied the right to be able to.