Jencunas: Conservative Case for the Downtown Smoking Ban
Friday, July 31, 2015
As a conservative, I have a healthy skepticism toward government trying to force its preferences onto citizens. There’s a big difference between encouraging healthy behavior and taking away people’s choices because the government thinks it knows best. The latter is the misplaced moralism of prohibition, the so-called “noble experiment” of the 1920s that was supposed to make the poor prosperous and the working class docile, but ended up only enriching gangsters and eroding social order. Conservatism, properly understood, opposes these attempts to remove personal responsibility in favor of micromanaging citizens’ lives.
Despite all this, I support the proposed smoking ban for Downtown Providence. The ban doesn’t outlaw smoking or force people to give up their vice, it simply regulates where people can smoke so they don’t harm others. If enacted, the proposal would prohibit smoking in an approximately one mile area downtown. This is a good public policy because smoking isn’t just a personal choice – second hand smoke hurts everyone, not just the person choosing to smoke.
Everyone agrees smoking is harmful. It’s the leading cause of lung cancer and can lead to heart disease, bronchitis, and many other illnesses. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, around 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. The American Journal of Preventative Medicine estimates that $170 billion is spent on medical care for illnesses caused by smoking.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTNo matter how harmful smoking is, it shouldn’t be outlawed. Living in a free society means that people have a right to put themselves in an early grave. What they don’t have is a right to harm others. That’s what the proposed smoking ban for Downtown Providence does – prevents unwilling pedestrians and downtown workers from being exposed to harmful second-hand smoke.
There are secondary benefits too: the decreased litter would make downtown more pleasant for residents and workers alike; Providence would be a national leader in preventing harmful exposure to second-hand smoke; and downtown business owners believe it would help attract more businesses. But even if it did none of those things, the proposal would be worth passing simply for the public health benefits.
Second-hand smoke is obviously far less harmful for someone than actually smoking. It’s still dangerous though, causing 7,000 cancer deaths each year according to the American Cancer Society. For children, the effects are particularly bad, as even small amounts of second-hand smoke can worsen illnesses like the flu and bronchitis for young patients.
Smokers are making a choice to harm themselves. Pedestrians downtown who are exposed to second-hand smoke aren’t making that choice, and are instead victims of other people’s harmful behavior. It’s unintentional on the part of smokers, but that doesn’t make it less dangerous. Protecting people from involuntary, harmful exposure to cancerous second-hand smoke is a responsibility of government. It’s similar to how we expect the government to protect us from toxins in our drinking water.
Providence will still have plenty of places to smoke if this law is passed. Cigar bars will still be found throughout the city. I’ll continue to go to them when I feel like a cigar. But I, and everyone else who goes in, will be making a choice to harm ourselves. People who don’t want to be exposed to smoke should also be able to make that choice. They shouldn’t have their choices taken away simply because some people think they have a right to smoke anywhere they want.
Brian Jencunas works as a communications and media consultant. He can be reached at [email protected] and always appreciates reader feedback.
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