As instigator of the proposed smoking ban in White Rock, columnist John Martin, implies I am a "righteous bully in a regulatory jihad."
But every person should enjoy the maximum freedom possible.
So what happens when smoking in public causes someone else discomfort or harm?
The common assumption seems to be that smoke outdoors simply disappears -- no harm, no foul. But as smoking diners indulge their nicotine addiction on a patio, the breeze takes their smoke past the faces of others and often blows it into the restaurant's open windows or door.
Perhaps Martin's opinions would be different if he had asthma, a heart condition or understood the proven risk to children and expectant mothers.
Smoke kills over five times as many as the sum of all car accidents, murders and drugs.
Though historical tolerance blinds us from it, nicotine addiction has huge impacts on our quality of life.
Someone's nicotine addiction should not take priority over everyone else's health.
Coun. Matt Todd
White Rock