Ok, I haven't smoked cigarettes in over 20 years, and I hold no brief for smokers.
However, the city I live in has gone bull-goose looney on the subject of second hand smoke. Smoking is now prohibited within 6 meters (about 20 feet) of any door to a public building, and one district has banned smoking on sidewalks and in parks.
What's the problem you say? Well, for one, the cynical hypocrisy of a government that draws tremendous revenue from tobacco sales in the form of taxes treating said revenue providers like utter pariahs. For two, the blatant, panty-wetting exaggerations over second-hand smoke. Granted, prolonged exposure to second hand smoke is unhealthy, no argument. But the key word there is prolonged. If I walk by a couple of smokers outside a door and inhale a whiff of smoke, my chances of busting out a tumor are relatively slight. However, my daily commute is 30 minutes in stop and go traffic breathing enough carbon monoxide to full an oil drum. And the same government that generates revenue from smoking, while telling its citizens that smoking is the greatest health evil, cancels transit routes and refuses to expand rapid transit to deal with an increasingly gridlocked city.
