The tobacco habit

Calgary's Aldermen have been working on a new smoking bylaw. The gist of it so far is that restaurants would be forced to become either adult only and allow smoking, or ban smoking. Calgary already has a smoking bylaw that regulates where people can smoke. I now find that the place I'm most bothered by cigarette smoke is on the street. The bylaw wouldn't change that.

For the record I don't smoke, and I find the smell of burning cigarettes to be offensive. None the less, I do not support the blanket smoking bans that various governmental jurisdictions have imposed on restaurants and bars. People that go into such establishments, especially bars, know there is liable to be smokers inside. The existence of a non-smoking section does not guarantee the people in it will not smell tobacco smoke. People can choose to stay inside, or move on to one that advertises itself as smoke free. The people that work there knew what they were getting into when they started, and can change jobs if they are concerned. Such prohibitions are not the way to move toward a smoke free society because they focus on the people that are already addicted.

Any rational person that can quit smoking has already done so. Every smoker knows the habit is bad for them, and those around them. Increasing the price of cigarettes won't make them quit. Limiting the places for them to smoke will only force them to go to where they can, and will only damage the business's who have been working under existing legislation. Outside hospital front doors you'll see smokers puffing away, wearing their bathrobes and towing IV poles, some sitting in wheelchairs. They do this even if smoking was the reason they are in the hospital. Now that's a habit.

Short of putting a bounty on them there isn't much we can do to make smokers stop if they don't want to. The goal should be to prevent anyone from starting to smoke, with the main focus on teenagers. It's illegal for them to buy cigarettes, but they don't seem to have many problems getting them. Retailers are supposed to check ages. The people enforcing the regulations occasionally send around a young-looking person to see if their identification is checked, and they usually find a few violators. This should happen more often, and the penalties for selling to a minor should be drastically increased. In the end, an offending retailer's license to sell tobacco should be permanently suspended.

Needless to say, minors should not be permitted to work in any establishment that sells tobacco products. I don't know if cigarette vending machines still exist, but if so they should be banned. High schools should be given the resources to confiscate and destroy tobacco products from minors by searching lockers, purses, and persons. I could support a total ban on tobacco product advertising. It wouldn't hurt my feelings in the least if lawsuits drove the cigarette manufacturers into bankruptcy.

Although people addicted to tobacco will find the money to buy it, price is a deterrent to young people. I see no reason why the price of cigarettes should not consist mostly of tax, providing the entire tax load is paid at the manufacturer level. When they resell to legitimate retailers they get some of that money back. This would reduce the games played by selling to Indian Reservations, and them smuggling the cigarettes elsewhere. The tax money raised should go directly into healthcare and programs to stop or reduce smoking. In fact, we should find ways to allow a smoker to deduct from their income tax the cost of taking programs to help them quit smoking.

We know beyond any doubt that smoking is a contributing factor to many medical conditions and diseases. I'd love to find some way of increasing the health care premiums paid by smokers, or reducing the number of medical procedures they have access to, but in the real world it seems impractical. In my dreams people that light up a cigarette during a hospital stay would be automatically discharged.

If we can reduce the number of people who start smoking it will gradually become uneconomic to sell tobacco products, which means that it will be harder for non-smokers to find the products. There will gradually be fewer people exposed to cigarette smoke in their formative years. More and more businesses will find it worth their while to advertise themselves as smoke free during the transition. People now expect public indoor spaces to be smoke free, and it will gradually become the norm for all indoor space to be smoke free. Even certain public outdoor areas will be expected to be smoke free. This isn't going to happen quickly. It takes time for people to change a habit as addictive as tobacco. Legislation changes should be made gradually, nudging people toward a non-smoking world. Changes that would impose large costs on a business, such as requiring specially ventilated space, should be applied to a new business. An existing business would be grandfathered as long as the owner doesn't change, or there are any other renovations done.

In short, I'd love to smell a non-smoking world. However much I dislike it, tobacco has been a legal, if restricted product, so changing the rules abruptly is almost like retroactive legislation. We need to nudge people that way, not trample them.