Reply to Can someone give me some reasons why tobacco is not illegal?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"Someone sitting by himself at home smoking a cigarette is harming no one but himself."

This is only true if the guy is smoking in a sealed vault. If he lives in an apt building, or has his windows open, or has family members who live with him, etc. then he is harming others in addition to homself. And since it is impossible to smoke without negatively impacting others, it should not be lefal to do so. [/quote]

Yes, but once you are beyond the general vicinity of the person smoking, you are getting ridiculous.  We all breath the same air, which is full of pollutants, including those emitted by the factories that make your clothes, the car you drive, and the power plants that provide electricity to your home.  You are crazy if you think that, but for the individuals smoking cigarettes on your planet, you would be breathing clean air.  Furthermore, if you are looking to breathe strictly 100% oxygen, you need a bubble of some kind.  Criminalizing cigarettes is not going to make a lick of difference.[/quote]

The difference between tobacco smoke and the other things you mentioned (car emissions, power plants, etc.) is that those emissions either (a) do not contain the potent carcinogens and toxins that are found in tobacco smoke, or (b) are regulated and controlled in such a way that they stay below the threshold for human safety (this is why you have to have your car inspected every year -- to ensure that it is not producing emissions at a level greater than that which is considered safe.

The thing that sets tobacco smoke apart is that there is no "threshold" -- any amount, even fleeting, miniscule exposures, is considered unsafe by the regulatory bodies of this country (and the world, actually). There are only a handful of substances that meet this criterion (i.e., exposure is unsafe in any amount, even tiny amounts). Another example is asbestos.[/quote]

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