That's true, but how many people are harmed by other disgusting, but legal, activities that go on every day?
Fortunately IMO, laws are slow to come about, and they need to be, one way or another, popular with the public or respect for the law wanes, which is like a cancer in the body of the republic.
I'm fortunate that I'm not overtly messed up by smoke. If I was, I never would have survived the military or the other workplaces I spent years in. Likewise, I thought nothing of smokers in cars, restaurants, stores, and all kinds of other places. Now I can go for days without even seeing anybody smoking much less smelling it or being bothered by it, AND now I notice. Things have changed for the better for people like pax. They're infinitely better compared to just a few decades ago.
Smoking used to be socially acceptable, but now it's not. People who smoke are met with disdain and dirty looks. Non-smokers comment behind their backs how seedy and dirty it makes them appear. Smoking carries a stigma as it gets more and more demonized in our society. Society's message is "if you smoke, you're stupid."
I have a lot of compassion for those who can't quit even though I've never been addicted to anything in my life except eating, breathing, and sleeping. As for those who like to smoke, I have neither sympathy nor compassion because it DOES harm everybody else and it costs me money as a taxpayer.
An old Virginia Slims advertising campaign slogan was "You've come a long way, Baby" hawking cigarettes to women. Smokers have come a long way in not bothering me in particular with the overt smells and discomfort from their habit, but I'm afraid the situation's now at the point that it would have to be banned outright to get any more incremental improvement for pax and those similarly affected, and this country simply is not going to do that while tobacco growing is subsidized. That's the political pragmatism that nualle talked about.
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