Smoking is one way of exercising your freedom of choice. Society creates laws protecting people and their right to choice, but only when there is some danger to society.

Research says that secondhand smoke indoors in unventilated rooms is a potential health hazard, so we have passed laws that keep people safe from this harm.

Smokers are now isolated enough to protect nonsmokers from being subjected to dangerous levels of smoke.

None of this research says there is danger in the mere smell of smoke a few times a day if outside, where smoke is diffused by the wind.

Now some people want to throw all smokers into shelters so that they do not have to smell or look at them. This is the problem I have with smoking shelters.

Shelters are a simple solution to an aesthetic problem, analogous to us making people who want to eat stinky cheese eat dinner in a shed out back.

While we may not all enjoy the smell of smoke, there is little to no danger presented to us by people we pass outside that are smoking, and the experience is not emotionally shattering.

Therefore, I believe it is acceptable to allow people to smoke in outdoor areas.

I also believe that if some people want to stifle this choice for the selfish reason of not having to smell something aversive they should either wear a gas mask (because bad smells are all around them), or at the very least not whine about having to help foot the bill for these shelters.

I can understand those who argue against smoking because it is dangerous to the individual, but the stigma associated with smoking is already bad enough without more people jumping on the bandwagon against smokers merely because it is a popular trend.Jason Zeliadt

Sophomore

Psychology