Is smoking a crime? Only if fat people are criminals and stupid people too. If you're walking down the street and happen to smell someone's cigarette smoke, you're not going to get cancer. If you're at a bar and happen to breathe in someone's cigar smoke, you're not going to get cancer. If you live with someone for 50 years who is a full-time smoker, then you may have a little more to worry about. Cancer is not caused by one factor only. You actually do have a greater risk of getting cancer by walking down the street and breathing someone's cigarette smoke...but the risk is from exposure to radiation, not the smoke. Why should fat people be criminals too? For the same reason some people here cited that smokers are. They are exposed to health risks when someone else is smoking. They can also be exposed to health risks when a fat person is walking down the street and they have to move out of the way of this fat person...they could step off a curb and twist their ankle. What about stupid people? Well, stupid people do stupid things. Some of them do these things while using deadly devices, like vehicles, guns, or lawn equipment. Others take their stupidity to the ballot booth where they can subject every U.S. citizen to their stupid ideas of the functions of our federal government. The fact of the matter is, real world analysis of second-hand smoke has not been conducted. Most of the reports you hear about "deadly second-hand smoke" are based on lab testing and misinterpreted or fabricated statistics. When second-hand smoke is tested, it is done in an enclosed environment (a lab) and the cigarette is burned inside a "box" where the smoke can be analyzed, which does not allow for natural dissipation into the air. This is how they are able to make such preposterous claims that non-smokers inhale more deadly chemicals than smokers do. Who would actually believe that? Oh, wait... Is smoking a filthy habit? Sure it is. Are smokers dumb for doing it? Sure they are. Is it annoying to breathe in someone esle's smoke? Definitely. Am I going to die sooner for visiting a smokey bar for a few hours on a Friday night once a month? No. But I might die sooner because I'm worried about such nonsense every hour of every day of my life. And we all know that stress can cause cancer. What Causes Cancer? *If you're interested in reading my articles, Click Here.

In a truly free society, a smoker's right to smoke ends where a non-smoker's right to breathe air begins. That's why just because a smoker goes outside, the potential harm caused by second-hand smoke doesn't automatically go away. When I lived downtown in San Diego after leaving the Navy in 1996, I used to walk from my room up Broadway for the few blocks it took to get to my PO Box. Because it was downtown and often crowded during midday--two big court buildings were two blocks from where I lived--I could count on getting stuck in a crowd of people on the sidewalk with someone walking on their lunch hour with a lit cigarette in hand; they make one or two puffs, but they let it burn and smoke out everyone who was behind them for the duration of the walk. The fact that you had to reach for the inhaler after passing smokers who didn't even have a clue that their smoke may harm other people in their proximity is the problem and certainly eliminates any "rights" they may claim to smoke in public. DO YOU HAVE THE WRITE STUFF?

mrbronco, no, it's not a crime. You want to smoke, smoke away, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with you that smoking is peaceful or relaxing or fun or simply enjoyable. As I feel the exact opposite and see smoking as a horrible thing. Just the other day I was walking down the street in my neighborhood when about two or three people passed by me and they were all smoking. I was caught in the middle and I felt like I was going to faint. I can't breath around smoke, be it from cigarettes or fire or whatever. You know what I take what I said back, it IS a crime. If I have to reach for my inhaler every time someone smokes in the street, then smoking is a crime. See that's what I hate the most, you Choose to fill your lungs with this thing, I don't, yet I have to endure it...

You are making a conscientious decision to smoke and I respect that. I am a civil libertarian and believe that you own you and I own me, so I have no right to tell you what to do or what to put in your body. The only quarrel I have is having to second hand smoke your cigs. DO YOU HAVE THE WRITE STUFF?

But, don't you want to live your life in the best health possible? Laying down can give you peace, doing something you enjoy could give you peace, etc. So why choose something that can ruin your health??? BTW, I had No Idea that there were 20 cigarettes in each pack. No kidding, I really didn't know. +1