Anti-Tobacco Legislation in the United States

It's seems that in today's society more and more of our personal freedoms are under increasing attack. Seat belt laws are being enacted by almost every state in the county, using cell phones while driving is coming under fire, smoking while children are in the car (something that I understand, but government should not be trying to regulate such things), amongst other outrageous laws that Congress wants to enact are ruining citizens freedom of choice.

I can understand why smoking bans sound good to the government: they help to prevent ordinary citizens that are non-smokers from being around people in public that are smokers. But what if you are someone that does not drink? Do you think that there should be a ban on alcohol to prevent people from becoming drunk and disorderly? Looked what happened when the 18th amendment of the Constitution was passed in 1919 banning the sale and consumption of alcohol. This newly ratified piece of the Constitution basically led to an underground movement all over the country that drank illegally, caused people to make alcohol in their bathtubs that was poisonous and lethal, and led to a whole crime network that lasted until the law was abolished in 1933. I don't quite think that a mass amount of smoking laws would create such a radical movement as alcohol, but at the same time I believe that smokers would seriously protest their rights to be allowed to smoke.

Currently, smoking laws have just about banned all smoking in public places and even places outdoors in a lot of states. Cigar bars in this country, especially in Boston, are coming under serious heat. The health director for Boston's belief is that closing down the cigar bars will help to "de-normalize" smoking and encourage people from taking up smoking. My problem is that smoking should be allowed in cigar bars. That is what cigar bars are built for, people that want to smoke cigars. If you are not a smoker and go into a cigar bar and becomes bothered by the smoke, then that is your fault. You went into that establishment knowing what was going on inside the bar. There are places for non smokers, so it is only fair that there should be a place that smokers can go. It's not fair that Boston's health director is singling out tobacco use as the main health concern in the city. Personally, any kind of disease you can get from alcohol is just as bad or even worse than from consuming tobacco.

The CRA, or Cigar Rights of America, is an organization that is trying to combat the ensuing amount of smoking bans in this nation. The organization's belief is that smokers should have just as much the right to choose to smoke as non smokers do to not smoke. Smoking is a personal choice, and that these personal choices should be protected. The best way the organization advices to combat anti-smoking legistlation is to contact your representative via email. Handwritten letters get even more attention by politicians because someone took the time and effort to sit down and write out a letter about an issue that is important to them. The CRA's website is http://www.cigarrights.org/, so go check them out tell them that you support there cause.

The last thing I want to metion is the Tobacconist Preservation Act. If this act were passed, then all people that work at smoke shops would be allowed to smoke on the job. This protects a tobacconist do there job. Sometimes tobacconists need to sample there products, and this act would help them in doing and keeping their job. If we don't allow smoking in smoke shops, where else are we to legally smoke? It only makes sense to me that smoking in smoke shops remain a legal procedure. You can sign a petiton for the act at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/the-tobacconist-preservation-act.

I hope that this country starts to realize how many personal freedoms they are taking away from honest citizens that just want to relax and smoke with other buddys out in public. Please contact your representatives and senators and tell them to lay off the smoking bans. If you do not smoke, then at least protect other's rights.

Until Next Time,
Keeping Lighting Up