Story about Smoking in Public Places

Smoking, drinking and gambling are few addictions which are generally looked down upon in most of the world noble societies nowadays. However, smoking is one addiction which is bearing the maximum brunt of it due to many reasons.

The reasons are multifarious, ranging from social, financial, medical and health reasons. Smoking in public, especially, is the most disliked habit due to its detrimental effects on the people who are not directly involved in it but are only present in the vicinity of smokers.Though smokers have their own reservations in terms of their rights and freedom of action, still most of the world countries have now opted for legislation on smoking in public places with a view to limit the hazards caused due to smoking in public. Smokers, therefore, despite their reservations on this legislation are forced to abide by the law of the land in the better interest of the community. Legislation against Smoking in PublicMany countries including United Kingdom, Italy, France, Ireland, Finland and Iceland have carried out legislation to ban smoking in public places with varying degree of severity.

Reservations of smokers aside, generally public have shown support of such policies. According to Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No 11. by U. S.

Department of Health and Human Services, "major opinion polls have consistently shown that the public supports policies designed to reduce their ETS exposure in enclosed public places" (24).The ban on smoking in public places was also enforced to bring a social change as well. According to a report of a surgeon general on "Smoking and Health in the Americans", "legislation can help change smoking behavior in fostering environment in which smoking is socially unacceptable. The effectiveness of tobacco control activity is closely linked to changes in social norms that tolerate smoking"(153).

Smokers Point of View Smokers on the other hand have a varying point of view.According to an article published in The Herald Tribune, smokers also have their rights and they should also have their liberty like anyone else. Furthermore, the ban on smoking in public, especially in bars and pubs may result in decrease in sale and may affect the economy of the country as well. According to Paul Chemama, the national sales director for Altadis, which claims a 25 percent market share with the cigarette brands Royal, Gauloise, Fortuna and News, "We expect sales to fall 5 to 7 percent after smoking is restricted"(Crampton).

According to some smokers, smoking also has some short term benefits. Michael Houlihan, carried out a study titled "Effects of smoking/nicotine on performance and event-related potentials during a short-term memory scanning task" which clearly showed that smoking the nicotine in cigarettes, has a positive effect on short-term memory. According to this study smoking not only increases event related potential but also reduces the response time. ” (Ritzman). Effects of Ban on Smoking in Public Many countries have enforced ban on smoking in public.

The results in most of the cases were quite encouraging. According to recent medical studies / trials published on News-Medical. net, the acute coronary events like heart attack have significantly reduced after imposition of ban on smoking in public places in Italy. The trials suggest that: Arif 2 Researchers in Rome compared acute coronary events in the city for five years preceding a public smoking ban with those occurring one year after the ban. They found an 11.

2 percent reduction of acute coronary events in persons 35 to 64 years and a 7. percent reduction in those ages 65 to 74.Another article published in Medscape Today also provides similar data for Monroe County in which a decrease has been seen in health disorders after imposition of ban on smoking in public places. It says that “Results showed that in Monroe County there was a significant drop in the number of nonsmoking patient admissions for MI in the 22-month period after the smoking ban implementation (August 2003 to May 2005), compared with the 22-month period before the ban (August 2001 to May 2003)”, (Hughes).According to another study carried out by United States Public Health Service in year 2004, "Cigarette smoking is responsible for estimated 21 % of all coronary heart disease deaths (40 % of those under age of 65), 30 % of all cancer deaths and 87 percent of lung cancer deaths in united states. Risk of dying from lungs cancer is 22 times higher for men and 12 times higher for women who smoke than for lifetime nonsmokers”.

This data also suggests the need for an effective legislation to limit the hazards, both due to active smoking as well as passive smoking. ConclusionSmoking undoubtedly has some serious hazards linked with it. Till the time smoking is restricted to private, its vulnerability is also limited to an individual. However, once it is done in public, it raises health concerns for society as well.

The countries which have banned smoking in public have received rich dividends both in terms of improvement of health state as well as reduction in overall smoking ratio in the country. Smokers being a small community have their right of freedom of action but it should not be at the cost of the rights of a larger community of non smokers to breathe in fresh air.