From the BBC news:
Bans on smoking in public places have had a bigger impact on preventing heart attacks than ever expected, data shows. Smoking bans cut the number of heart attacks in Europe and North America by up to a third, two studies report. This “heart gain” is far greater than both originally anticipated and the 10% figure recently quoted by England’s Department of Health. The studies appear in two leading journals – Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Father Orthoduck is aware of the earlier studies that showed that second-hand smoke increased people’s health risk, particularly children’s risk of asthma. But, since the first studies additional studies have been done. Now the results are in. Not only does smoking harm people, second-hand smoke harms people, and harms them much worse than anyone thought.
So, if you are a smoker, Father Orthoduck urges you to enter a smoking cessation program. More than that, Father Orthoduck urges you to only smoke where there is no one else present so that you may harm no one else by your second hand smoke. Smoking cessation is difficult, but quite possible. Please consider the options and do whatever is necessary to quit smoking. It is about your health and the health of anyone around you.
The thing is, we already know that smoking and seconhand smoke is bad. There are countless health resources out there that say so. My problem with this study is that no one will refer to those resources if the law becomes the focus. Forcing people to not smoke in certain places won’t make them quit. The health implications, and knowledge of, will.
The law will not prevent anyone from smoking as long as tobacco is legal. But, the law can prevent people in public places from begin exposed to a higher risk of cancer. So, Father Orthoduck is quite in favor of laws banning smoking in public places.
But, here is the problem Father Orthoduck sees with your answer. If tobacco is such a proven killer, then why is it legal? Or to put it another way, if we are saying that the law cannot force anyone to quit a dangerous habit, why do we make drugs illegal?
Unlike alcohol, which can be safely consumed in smaller quantities, and there are many studies that show that, as well as possible health effects, there is NO study that shows tobacco in any type of positive light. So, why is it legal but drugs are illegal? There is a discrepancy in this country on that issue that has never been quite addressed. On top of that we still subsidize tobacco farmers, thanks to our good southern congressment. Father Orthoduck thinks there is quite a discrepancy here.