Non-smoking buildings clearly are for non-smokers. Common sense would suggest that it also includes the surrounding balconies, stairways, front entrances and pathways leading to the non-smoking building. It is in this setting, that if someone is so addicted to smoking that they should be respectful of other peopleâÂÂs rights and smoke some distance away.
I think this request is not as burdensome on the smoker as it is for the non-smoker to have to breathe in he fumes of the cigarette, pipe or cigar. Last time I checked no one suffered eye irritation, sore throat or even lung cancer by being asked to walk some fifty feet away.
Smokers whether they want to admit it or not do contribute to the high cost of medical care in this country. The cost of treatment of smoking related illness is enormous. Since I am involuntarily paying for the treatment of some anonymous person who has decided to harm himself or herself by smoking, I think I have the right to request, at the very least, that they respect my wish to remain healthy.
I understand that by their own act, some people have unwittingly fallen victim to the addicting habit of smoking placed upon them by the tobacco industry. I sympathize with you. I have had family members who had decided to take up the terrible habit of smoking and it has cost them their lives. I understand that it is difficult to break the habit. On the other hand, I have made it a personal choice to stay clear of tobacco and when I request a non-smoking room in a non-smoking facility, I expect that my children, wife and I will have clean air to breath both inside and outside property.
