Should Smoking Be Outlawed

Should smoking be outlawed in all public places?

Jade DeLuna, Colleen Guinto, Tonya Levensailor, Siobhan Saxton

BCOM/275

November 14, 2011

Dr Wanda Arnaud-Simmons

Smoking should be banned from all public places. This is a highly debatable topic; the answer can vary greatly depending on who answers the question. Tobacco farmers, infringement of individual rights and health consequences needs to have researched completed to balance the pro and cons and develop a decision just to all parties. In this paper we are debating the impact of public smoking bans related to tobacco farmers, individual rights along, and associated health risks. We will also help to determine if public smoking is a personal or public issue. By the end we will have provided the appropriate information to help the reader develop their own opinion on the topic of outlawing smoking in public places.

There are statewide smoking bans in effect in more than half of the 50 states. The degree of the bans varies by state. When do these bans start infringing on individual rights? Katz (2006) states, “Individual rights are actions that society judges to be moral entitlements of each of its members. These entitlements revolve around life, liberty, and use of property.” A smoker’s right falls under use of property. Statewide smoking bans consider life and liberty of a non-smoker a higher priority than the individual use of property. However, all rights should weigh equally. Smokers have the same rights to life, liberty, and use of property as long as there is no harm to others.

Is it acceptable to ban smoking in public places? There are people who work for the tobacco factories in each country. What would happen to the families that harvest or manufacture tobacco? It is hard to imagine that banning smoking from public places is a bad thing, but it may be is for some family members. Their lively hood is at stake. Each day they do not know if they will have a job or not because of the lower...