Banning Smoking

The lead editorial in today's edition of The Boston Globe is headlined "Boston should ban smoking in all public-housing units".  Find it here.

And just as the editorial says, smoking is a smelly, nasty, unhealthy habit.  It is offensive to many people.  I wonder if it might not be offensive to other smokers.

And, this protection of us from second hand smoke is spreading. First it was, as The Globe says,

the city’s indoor workplaces, including restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.

Now public housing.  Where next?

The Editorial ties this into asthama:

Compared to other states and metropolitan areas, Massachusetts and Boston suffer from disproportionately high asthma rates, especially among young people and low-income populations.

On the other hand, how do we know that this is due to second hand smoke?  As someone recently noted, correlation isn't the same as causation.  Granted, an editorial is a short space to lay out a reasoned argument, but to crack down like this requires a good case to be laid out rather than an assertion made.

First they came for the smokers and then they came for the eaters and then they came for those who go to church and then...

No, that couldn't happen here.

Regards  —  Cliff