I'm not sure if we have that law here yet (I'm not a smoker, it doesn't affect me) but I know if we're not already, they're working on it. For years, cab drivers haven't been allowed to smoke in their own cabs, passengersaren't allowed to either. PLus we also have no smoking in any public buildings at all, no smoking in restaurants, no smoking right outside either because then people going in and out cop a face full of smoke. I do know that last bit gets partly ignored, because where I park at the mall (the disabled spots near the entrance) is also where a lot of the workers there gather to smoke, wven though there are no smokingsigns tere. If I take my lunch back to the car, I can't enjoy it because I'm surrounded by smoke.
Wokplaces are supposed to supply designated smoking areas for employees, and the mall doesn't have this yet which is why people smoke as much as they do near the entrance.
They're also looking at banning smoking indoors if you have children; so even in your own home, you have to go outside for a smoke if you have kids at home.
I know this sounds draconian. But I remember when my mother was alive and was struggling with her asthma. My father used to smoke while i was growing up, and my mother spent a lot of those years in and out of hospital. Her health improved amazingly when he quit smoking, which he did because he got emphysema. Then he and my mother discovered - in a smoke-free environment, both of them were much healthier. But if either of them even went somewhere where someone had been smoking heavily, even if there wasn'thank you any current cigarette smoke, it would still be enough to cause them breathing problems. My mother had to stop visiting my sister even when her husband wasn't home, because he smoked at home and the house smelt of cigarettes. The smell alone would make my mother really ill and risked putting her in hospital. Going shopping - if there was someone smoking, my mother would have to leave the shop. Outdoors in the wide open spaces, there was no problem if she could simply move so it wasn't blowing in her direction. But anywhere confined, or even concentrated near an entrance - she had to leave. She never said anything to anyone because she respected their rights, but I know it did upset her sometimes if it meant she couldn't get all her shopping done.
So I do sympathise with those of you feeling like the state is beginning to intrude just a bit too much in your own choices, but the impact of your smoking is perhaps greater than you realise.
I do get annoyed though, at laws which are passed but not enforced; then they try to deal with it by passing more laws. Better to enforce what you've got, than to keep trying to legislate and achieve even less. At least with laws that are enforced, you know where you stand. But laws that get ignored except when it's convenient to run someone in - that's not fair, it's not right.
As for difficult child's excuse that your smoking is what made him a smoker - rubbish. It's still a matter of choice. As I said, my father was a smoker, quite a heavy smoker at times. I grew up with a smoker in the house and NEVER in my life have I even considered taking up smoking. And at his age, to be smoking as much as he claimed - I'm with you on this one. Good for you to correct the claim and refuse the nicotine patch. He probably just wants to big-note himself with the other inmates.
Marg